Kanto Part 5: The Grind

We continue our journey with a few goals in mind: get as many encounters as I can, grind as much as possible, and take on Koga and Sabrina. Side note, I messed up the image at the end, but all the encounters listed in this section are correct. It just has some spoilers for the coming posts.

We revisited Route 8 to start off our grinding nothing too crazy happening here. Skrillex grew to level 29 and LL grew to level 27. After our first battle on Route 10, Skrillex leveled up to 30 and learned bite. I also happened to use my thunderstone:

Evolution

Species: Jolteon

Name: Skrillex

I taught him double kick and shock wave here as well. Route 10 was a quick trip (Spears grew to level 28) and we moved back to Celadon to see what Team Rocket was up to. Again, nothing too crazy here, but we did get to meet the leader of Team Rocket who gave us the Silph Scope. We made our way to the Pokemon Tower to see if we could find Mr. Fuji who apparently had gone missing. Our trip was immediately interrupted by Kris who was itching to pick a fight. 

Rival Battle #4

This was a very short battle. Kris once again led Pidgeotto who was easily ko'd by Skrillex. He then thought his Gyarados would be able to get rid of Skrillex, but he was easily mistaken. LL handled his Growlithe and Kadabra, while Birdman took care of Ivysaur. After Kris left in shame, we continued up the tower only to be stopped again, but this time by a new friend.

New Pokemon

Species: Gastly

Name: Ghost

Nature: Calm
Ability: Levitate

We ran through the rest of the tower and saved Mr. Fuji who gave us the Poke Flute so we could now wake up Snorlax. We ended up critting the one on Route 12, however the one on Route 16 was more willing to join us.

New Pokemon

Species: Snorlax

Name: Meatloaf

Nature: Hasty
Ability: Immunity

I decided to go back and get some fishing encounters since we received the Super Rod.

In Vermilion City:

New Pokemon

Species: Horsea

Name: Gaga

Nature: Naive
Ability: Swift Swim

In Viridian City:

New Pokemon

Species: Poliwag

Name: LitaFord

Nature: Adamant
Ability: Damp

Next, we made our way along Route 13, 14, and 15 grinding and getting encounters when possible.

Route 13: 

New Pokemon

Species: Magikarp

Name: Eminem

Nature: Gentle
Ability: Swift Swim

Route14:

New Pokemon

Species: Venonat

Name: Bieber

Nature: Naughty
Ability: Compound Eyes

We failed Route 15, 17 and Paras ran from us in the Safari Zone, but on Route 18 

New Pokemon

Species: Doduo

Name: Rush

Nature: Serious
Ability: Run Away

Everything was going smoothly and the team was shaping up nicely. I knew the bikers on Cycling Road would be an issue because of explosions and I didn't have the best things to deal with poison types. One of the bikers named Hideo decided to test my skill. He led with Weezing and I led Birdman who hit him with a fly doing almost 50%. Weezing returned the favor by poisoning Birdman. We decided to fly again, taking 12 damage from poison. This time, Birdman hits Weezing for just under 50% and it lived on 1 HP. Weezing lands a crit sludge dropping Birdman's HP to 12....which was unfortunate as I watched her slowly die to poison. This death hit the team hard as it was just bad luck, but we had all grown extremely attached to Birdman.

Death comes for ye:
Birdman the Fearow

Evolution

Species: Blastoise

Name: LLCoolJ

With the loss of a friend, we carefully laid her to rest and decided to add Meatloaf to the team for some extra bulk. We finished the Cycling Road and headed back into Saffron City. We cleared out all of the Silph Co., gained a little gift, and battled Kris once again.

New Pokemon

Species: Lapras

Name: BeachBoy

Nature: Brave
Ability: Shell Armor

Rival Battle #5

Again Kris' battle was underwhelming as it was almost a repeat of before. Skrillex took care of Pidgeot and Gyarados with 2 shock waves, LL surfed all over Growlithe, and Meatloaf put in the finest of work against Venusaur and Alakazam.

We finished up here and made our way to the dojo for a few more levels before taking on Sabrina. I chose to battle Sabrina first since I was already in Saffron.

Saffron City Showdown

Sabrina's gym was a scary place for me so I avoided all the trainers and headed straight for her. Apparently her goal was to set up on me and my goal was for Meatloaf to flatten everything she had. She led Kadabra and immediately went for a calm mind as Meatloaf finished it with a body slam. Mr. Mime was the exact same play. Next was Venomoth. She used psybeam as Meatloaf went for a body slam. Next she healed and Mealoaf attacked with return. The third psybeam was able to confuse Meatloaf who hurt herself. I decided to use a full restore because I wasn't going to be playing that game. Venomoth went for a gust and Meatloaf ko'd with a body slam. Her Alakazam was another repeat of the start of the battle. However, Zam lived the first body slam so Sabrina healed, but it wasn't able to live the second.

With another badge earned, we headed right for Koga. 

Fuchsia City Showdown

Koga wasn't a huge problem for the team. White handled the first Koffing with a couple strengths, Migos ko'd Muk with a magnitude 7, LL surfed the second Koffing, and Meatloaf finished the battle with a huge body slam on the Weezing. She was able to paralyze Weezing on the first body slam and Koga used a full heal on the second.

Run Update

Team: 6

LLCoolJ the Blastoise

Level: 38

Water Pulse

Bite

Surf

Protect

Skrillex the Jolteon
Level: 39
Shock Wave
Bite
Thunder Wave
Sand-Attack

Meatloaf the Snorlax

Level: 39

Body Slam
Return
Rest
Sleep Talk

Spears the Vileplume
Level: 38
Giga Drain
Acid
Sleep Powder
Cut

Migos the Dugtrio
Level: 39
Dig
Magnitude
Rock Slide
Slash

White the Arbok
Level: 38
Acid
Dig
Strength
Glare

Boxed: 17

RatPack the Rattata - Level 3

Yardbirds the Pidgey - Level 4
OZZY the Zubat - Level 9
B52S the Weedle - Level 7
Criss the Meowth - Level 14
R. Kelly the Drowzee - Level 13
MELLO the Jigglypuff - Level 17
Ludacris the Voltorb - Level 16
BahaMen the Growlithe - Level 17
Ghost the Gastly - Level 14
Gaga the Horsea - Level 23
LitaFord the Poliwag - Level 22
Eminem the Magikarp - Level 5
Bieber the Venonat - Level 26
Crimson the Goldeen - Level 20
Rush the Doduo - Level 24
BeachBoy the Lapras - Level 25

Deaths: 2

TLC the Butterfree lvl 5-17
Birdman the Fearow lvl 3-35