Bubbles' Pokémon Journey - part 4 · 1:31am Feb 13th, 2018
(I have recently started a Pokémon Crystal play through on the 3DS virtual console, this is a retelling of thas adventure)
Hi there Pokémon fan! It's me, Bubbles here again to entertain!
So last time I had made it through Union Cave and into Azalea Town! I went to the Pokémon Center and then tried to head directly to the gym!
You see, Azalea Town's Gym Leader, Bugsy, is actually roughly my age AND he specializes in the Bug type! I've actually been really anticipating this showdown, ever since I started to bond with Naria my Spinarak. She's become something of a signiture Pokémon for me, even if all she has are Poison Sting and Constrict so far. I really want to train her up a bit more and take her to challenge Bugsy and see who is the best at training Bugs around here!
But there was a weird guy in front of the gym, trying to get me interested in those darn Slowpoke Tails again and he wouldn't budge! What a creep. And people were murmurring thing about Slowpokes dissapearing too.
I figured the guy would move eventually so I decided to do a little training in Ilex Forest. I encountered the cutest little Oddish! I just had to capture her. Since it was night when I caught her I nicknamed her Moondancer. I'm thinking she might, eventually, be a good fit for the team but I'm not sure. I always thought Bellosoms were cute so that could be something... and they lose their Poison typing in that form so I wouldn't have to double up Poison typing. After that, as the weird guy hadn't move yet, I went to see Kurt, someone Professor Oak recommended. Kurt makes artisanal Pokéballs out of apricorns! It's crazy to imagine that's how all Pokéballs were made... like... you go the technology to turn Pokémon into energy...but not to mass produce plastic shells?! Weird.
When I went the old man was in a rush. He didn't have time for me. He said that Team Rocket were at the Slowpoke Well and were harvesting Slowpoke Tails! Team Rocket was disbanded by a kid three years ago but apparently they were crawling out of the woodwork! Kurt rushed out foolishly to the well and try to get Team Rocket to leave the Slowpokes alone. I kinda had to follow, since I couldn't let an old man handle everything on his own! I'm not sure he even had Pokémon with him!
And it's a good thing I did because he actually fell going down the well and hurt himself! I considered going back up but he instead asked me, a complete stranger, to deal with Team Rocket. There was a couple of grunts and honestly they were no match for me. Miracle, Bitey and Naria just destroyed them. I even got to send Moondancer after some wild Slowpokes while I was there. I chased them all and helped Kurt back to his house where he gave me one of his Lure Ball (and I gave him a White Apricorn I picked up in his yard).
I felt pretty good about all of this! So I decided to go back to some Ilex Forest training... without stopping at the Pokémon Center... And guess who just so happen to show up at that very moment? That jerkwad Edge! He blathered on about how he didn't believe I could beat Team Rocket, that he was going to crush them himself and that they are cowards who only feel strong in a group... I guess if he's against Team Rocket he can't be all that bad of a guy. Doesn't mean I was going to go easy on him! Even in my weakened state I took him on and beat him in a wild Pokémon Battle! His Chikorita had evolved into a Beyleef but it was no match for my Naria!
Even better, after that battle Bitey evolved into Croconaw!
He got away, but that didn't matter to me. I defeated him and I felt invicible! After a quite healing trip to the Pokémon Center I went to challenge the gym trainers! The tail salesman had run off with the other Rocket members so I could finally get back to my gym challenge.
I tore through the Gym Trainers, sending Naria to slow them down and then switching to Miracle or Bitey to pick them off. I even brazenly sent out Eggbert a few times to get more experience! Metronome Battles are fun but can also be frustrating. Finally, Naria learned a new attacking more: Night Shade!
This was it guys, the time to challenge Bugsy! I sent out Naria and she took on his twin cocoons, Metapod and Kakuna, with very little damage. Night Shade inflicts a set ammount of damage, it doesn't care about your Harden! I had to admit I was hoping Bugsy would use a Spinarak of his own, or maybe a cool Ledian, so those two cocoons with Tackle and Poison Sting were a bit dissapointing.
Then came the main event! Scyther! Naria opened with Poison Sting and go a free poison right away! But he began to use Fury Cutter. That wasn't good. I attacked with Night Shade but as his Fury Cutter got stronger I began to fear Naria wouldn't last long enough to beat it, so I took the chance to hit Scyther with Scary Face so my other Pokémon would have a chance... this proved to be a mistake. I didn't get enough time to finish it off with Night Shade and the poison wasn't strong enough yet to end him. I had to switch into Bitey...but even after Scary Face Scyther was faster! I was one hit away from victory but his Fury Cutter had grown too powerful! Scyther mowed through my entire team with one hit KOs...
I collasped on my knees when I realized what just happened: I... had lost.
Oh no! Yeah, Bugsy is surprisingly difficult thanks to that Fury Cutter, and he's not even the most dangerous of the early Gym Leaders - there's still Whitney, too...