Emerald II to Lilycove

Couldn't update last week because work was crazy and Google didn't think I was a human being.  o_o

First -- Petalburg to Fortree

When I last posted, some serious training was being undertaken towards toughening up the team for the Petalburg Gym.  It mostly worked.  I still had to run out and heal after almost every trainer, but in the end, it was Samson who one-shotted most of Norman's Pokemon with Leaf Blade.  Gonna have to feed him some PP Up for that move.

That got me Surf, which got me access to the eastern half of Hoenn.  Instead of running up to Fortree right away, I spent a while at the Berry Masters' farm, growing a crop of Leppa and an assortment of status-cure Berries.  I also dodged over to the Desert and made the round of the trainers and items there.

With the Berries all harvested and the Desert explored, it was time to make the long run up to Fortree.  In the rain.  Still, all that levelling for Petalburg paid off.  Nothing was all that much trouble -- not the trainers along the road, nor Team Magma at the Weather Institute, nor the rival battle with neighbor boy.   I walked into Fortree with Tropius and Castform recorded in my 'Dex, and HM Fly tucked away in my bag.

Before I could get to the Gym, though, I had to run over to Rt. 120 and grab the Devon Scope from Stephen to reveal the Kecleon blocking the way.  I spent a frustrating little while running about trying to catch one of the invisible Kecleon scattered about, and finally succeeded.  'Dex entry safely recorded, it was time to take on Winona.  Tabasco got me through most of the Fortree Gym with Blaze Kick. 

That got me my sixth badge, and obedience to lvl 70.   Amusing to think that this still wouldn't make my team from the original Emerald listen to me here, since they're all lvl 70 or above!

By that time, Twitter had learned Aerial Ace, which is the last attack I'd wanted him to learn, so I let him evolve to a Swellow before putting him away and taking out my hard-caught Skarmory.  Knives immediately got taught Cut and Fly.

Second -- Fortree to Lilycove

The game got put down for most of the week due to general work craziness, but last night I finally set out for Lilycove.  The route wasn't nearly as much trouble as last time, again due to the team's high levels.  I put Exp Share on Knives to catch him up some with the rest of the team, and took a second to dodge down past Mt. Pyre to Rt. 123, where a gal will give you Giga Drain if you've got a Grass-type with you (mental note: must do this in original Emerald as well).  I ended up teaching it to Samson instead of Sancho.

Because it was already waaaay past bedtime, I left Mt. Pyre and the Safari Zone alone, and just went straight for Lilycove....where the annoying neighbor boy is waiting for me again, in front of the Dept. Store.

So the next things will be to do a few turns through the Safari Zone for some 'Dex entries, then to make the pilgrimage up Mt. Pyre and advance the plot a bit.  Probably should take a minute to smack down the neighbor boy again, and get at least a couple ribbons for the core team.

Also, Tabasco and Sybil are refusing to be fed vitamins, so I should swing by Slateport and see if it's time for Effort Ribbons.  Possibly for Twitter and Sancho as well.

Speaking of Sancho....I'd originally intended to have him as a partial HM slave, with Surf and Strength, and then get Giga Drain to go against the very water-heavy last half of the game.  But now that he's one level away from learning Uproar, I'm not so sure. I'd much rather have Samson as my go-to Grass type.

So now I'm leaning towards fixing Sancho's moveset to replace the HM moves with some from his own learnset, evolving him, and then trading him back to the original Emerald.  Same with Roland, actually.  I should probably hold out on that at least until I make it to Mossdeep and can catch a Spheal from Shoal Cave.  At that point, the Spheal can become my Surfer, and Knives can take over Rock Smash and maybe Strength from Roland.   I really HATE how many HMs this game has, and how many are actually necessary to do certain things.

The final team is shaping up to be Tabasco, Sybil, Samson, that Spheal, and...I dunno yet.  I did want to raise dear little Drama, and maybe a Dusclops.  Perhaps once I get to a point where I can rotate the team somewhat, I can go back and do some catch-up training with the Macho Brace.