A Heart of Gold: A Pokmon Story
Iridium - Part 11
I had just beaten Morty in an intensely close battle. My Pokemon were in bad shape after that, but a good rest at the Pokemon Centre had them feeling as good as new. Our journey could now continue.
Route 42
I knew the next Gym was in Olivine City but I decided to just peek into Route 42 and see what it was like. There was an entrance to a cave and as I got closer to it, a hiker came barrelling out and fully bowled me over. He was genuinely sorry and gave me
HM04 (Strength) to make up for it. Nearby I also found
TM65 (Shadow Claw).
It was here that I realised I had completely forgotten to show Professor Elm the Togepi that had hatched from the egg. I decided to go back home for a little bit and now that I had Surf and Strength, explore a few areas that I couldn't previously reach on the way back towards Olivine.
New Bark Town
It felt great to back in my home town. I made straight for Prof. Elm's lab and he was so surprised to see the Togepi that had come from the egg he had given me. He said that this development would help further his research and rewarded me with an Everstone, an item that would stop a Pokemon holding it from evolving.
Next I went to see my Mum and to check up on the money she had been saving me. Things were all good back home so I decided to head back towards Olivine.
As I left town, I got a call from the Bike Shop in Goldenrod. Turns out my riding the bicycle around had attracted a lot of business for him. So as a show of thanks, he let me keep the bike I was riding around.
Cherrygrove City
The first time I passed through Cherrygrove, I saw a man standing an a small island just across from the city. Turns out he was out there fishing. He gave me a Mystic Water that he had fished up. I gave that to Croconaw to hold as it powers up Water-type moves.
Union Cave
In the basement near the entrance to Union Cave was a large pool of water which I earlier couldn't cross. Now I could. I came across a couple of Hikers who wanted to battle. After beating them both
and catching an Onix (L6), I carried on and found that the basement led to a different part of the Ruins of Alph.
Ruins of Alph
In this part of the ruins, there was a patch of grass. I looked around and caught a
Natu (L22) and
Smeargle (L22). There was a Psychic there also who challenged me to a battle with his Girafarig. My Croconaw's Bite attack proved too good for it.
Union Cave
As I walked towards the cave exit near Azalea Town, I saw across a small pool some steps heading down into another basement level of the cave. Inside were two Poke Maniac's. Croconaw dealt with the first Maniac's two Marowak and Geodude fought off the other's Kangaskhan.
Heading down another level there was a massive subterranean room with a large pool of water in the middle. I surfed around and came across a few Ace Trainers who where down here training. They were more than happy for me to battle them and they put up a hell of a fight. They all had different types of Pokemon which gave each of my Pokemon a chance to battle. After defeating the last Ace Trainer, I saw some movement coming from the water closeby. It was a Lapras! This was the last place I'd expect to find one. I managed to catch it in the end to go with the Wooper (L14), Quagsire (L15), Golbat (L22) and Raticate (L22) I had caught along the way.
Lapras | Lvl 20
After this I left the cave and headed back into Azalea Town.
Slowpoke Well
A quick rest at the Pokemon Centre in Azalea and I was onto my next stop: Slowpoke Well. I went past where I had fought Proton and descended deeper into the well. In there I caught a
Slowpoke (L14) and saw a scientist studying how Slowpoke got bitten. He said they were more likely to be bitten if they were holding a
King's Rock, which he generously shared with me. A TM lay on the other side of the water. It was TM18 (Rain Dance). It's amazing where you can find these things.
Ecruteak City
After passing through the Ilex Forest, I was on Route 34, heading up to Goldenrod. I saw a small opening on the other side of the fences on the ocean side of the route and surfed down for a look. Well it turned out I had disturbed a private spot of three sisters. They weren't happy with an intruder showing up uninvited. The two younger sisters fought me in a double battle before they left me for the oldest sister to deal with. After overcoming the trio, they apologised for being so rash and gave me a Power Herb for my troubles.
Route 38
Right, now I was back on track after my small tiki tour of Johto. Route 38 was full of trainers and Pokemon, perfect for any trainer. I fought all five trainers and during the battle with Lass Dana, my Geodude evolved!
Geodude evolved into Graveler!
As well as Geodude evolving, I caught a Farfetch'd (L16) and a Magnemite (L16).
Route 39
There was a man standing at the start of the route and he introduced himself as Baoba, the former warden of the Safari Zone in Kanto. He said he was setting up a new Safari Zone here in Johto which got me very giddy indeed. He suggested that we exchange numbers so he could let me know when it would be open before anyone else. I happily did so, excited at the thought of catching a load of Pokemon at the Safari Zone.
Located on this route was the MooMoo Farm, famous for their delicious and nutritious MooMoo Milk. A visit to the ranch owner turned up the fact that his prized Miltank was very ill and that it needed some berries to recover. Fortunately I had been growing a few Oran Berries in my Berry Pots. After showing down a few berries, the Miltank was back to full health. The ranch owner's two daughters gave me a
Seal Case and some seals. Apparently you put these stickers on your Pokeballs and when you send out a Pokemon to battle, you get a nice effect.
There were a few more trainers on the route to take care. After that was done, I finally reached Olivine City.
Olivine City
The Gym was the first building I came across and who should come tearing out but my thieving rival Daniel. He said the Leader wasn't there as was taking care of a sick Pokemon in the Lighthouse. His talk of abandoning the sick Pokemon confirmed to me that he really was a bit of a douche.
A fisherman in a house near the Gym gave me a
Good Rod, which would catch more Pokemon and not just Magikarp. I went into the Pokemon Centre to heal my Pokmon, when a lady asked if I wanted to battle so she could show off the seals she had put on her Pokeballs. I obliged and she sent out her Bellossom, which appeared in burst of petals. Pretty. But pretty don't win you battles and Growlithe showed her just that.
Olivine Lighthouse
I thought I ought to pay a visit to the Leader and see how the sick Pokemon was doing and to see whether I could help. There was an elevator that went straight to the top but a sailor said there were trainers on the floors above. That was all I needed to hear as I raced for the stairs.
This place turned out to be a brilliant place for my Flaaffy, due to the glut of Flying and Water-type Pokemon the trainers were using. The battles were great. However, the building layout wasn't. At one stage there was a door that lead outside. The only thing it lead to was a big drop onto the balcony one level down. I could have been killed. How this building passed inspection, I'll never know. Perhaps the building inspector was killed when he walked out that very door.
A few battles later and I reached the top. The Leader was there with an Ampharos, who used to light up the harbour with the light from its tail. But it was sick and couldn't do it. The Leader, Jasmine, asked if I would go to the pharmacy in Cianwood City to get some special medicine. I agreed and left the room to check my map.
Cianwood is actually an island out to sea from Olivine. I looked out the large windows of the lighthouse at my next destination, a smudge of green on the open water.
Summary
Pokedex
Seen: 107 | Obatained: 46
Badges
Party
Croconaw - Lvl 29
Alakazam - Lvl 26
Growlithe - Lvl 22
Graveler - Lvl 26
Fearow - Lvl 22
Flaaffy - Lvl 28
Credit for pictures go to Marriland and Bulbapedia