Bubbles' Pokémon Journey - part 5

(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, your friend Bubbles is back.

Sorry I've been quiet. I was pretty devasted after that defeat at the Azalea Town gym and it took me a day to get back out there. I don't even remember how I went back to the Pokémon Center after that battle.

At first I felt like I had been overconfident. That my team wasn't as ready as I expected so I went back to training in earnest. Got a Fast Ball from Kirk, then I went back to the Slowpoke Well, and then back to Ilex Forest. While there I helped out the charcoal makers catch their lost Farfetch'd and I got the HM for Cut for my service! The fact I can't use it until I get my badge from Bugsy kinda stung a little, bug pun not intended.

The more I trained though, the more I realized that I hadn't actually been over confident... the reason I lost is that I thought Naria was going to be downed in the next attack and had her use Scary Face to help my other Pokémon... I didn't trust her to be strong enough to take out Scyther! The time I lost could have been used for another Night Shade that would have been plenty enough to take it out, especially with the poison wilting its resolve away.
The realization hit hard. A trainer needs confidence in his Pokémon if the pair of them are to succeed! So, after another day of training, I took Naria aside and apologized. I asked her if she wanted a rematch with Bugsy's Scyther and I'm pretty sure she was raring to go!

That's my little trooper!

The next I went ahead and challenged Bugsy once more! This time I had a different strategy. I opened with Miracle and used him to take out Metapod, then he spent a couple of turns to blind Kakuna with his Mud Slap. Only then did I switch in to Naria, had her use Night Shade to take out Kakuna.

And here we were Pokémon Fan, back to the critical moment! Scyther came out to play! This time I decided to go all in! No matter what Scyther did, Naria would keep hitting with Night Shade! To my surprise, Scyther showed it had Quick Attack before it began to use Fury Cutter again. That Quick Attack hurt a lot more than the first two Fury Cutter hit and I was getting worried again. He tried to Quick Attack once more ,probably getting desperate after three Night Shade hits. That attack hit hard and sent Naria reeling, but she braced herself and didn't fall down! Instead she retaliated with a Night Shade and took out Bugsy's Scyther once and for all!

And that is how I earned the Hive Badge and my very own Fury Cutter TM! I'm still not sure if I want to use that move, it's kinda complicated to use properly. We all celebrated around town before I went to the PC to grab someone who could learn Cut and decided to head on forward through Ilex Forest!

That forest is kinda spooky you know. There's barely any sunlight getting in, Pokémon will jump at you even outside of the tall grass, there's a mysterious shrine that gives a weird sensation when you stick around it, and a weird guy who headbutts trees! That last guy at least gave me the TM for Headbutt. I figured Miracle needed something more hard hitting than Tackle so I used it on him. That little guy is a pretty impressive powerhouse. While I traversed the forest I took the opportunity to train Moondancer and Eggbert some more. Moondancer now has Poisonpowder and Stun Spore, she's pretty good at status effect. I also gave her a Miracle Seed I had found earlier to boost her one Grass -type attack move. She tougher than I expected for a little bulb.

In the end I made my way out of Ilex Forest and before my very eyes a great sight appeared! The biggest city in all of Johto, with its radio tower reaching for the sky and all of its many buildings: Goldenrod City!

This will be where I'll get my next badge! And this time, I don't intend on it taking more than one try!