Day 89: Gym Leader Whitney

 So Whitney is notoriously tough. Here goes nothing!

“...You!

I saw you at the Radio Tower just now.

Everyone was into Pokemon, so I got

into it, too!

Pokemon are super cute!

You want to battle?

I'm warning you—I'm good!”

For the first turn, I try to get Rhianna to use Stun Spore - it misses, of course. Meanwhile Clefairy uses Metronome for Uproar, an obnoxiously damaging attack that lasts 2-5 turns.

 On the second turn I get Stun Spore to stick.

 Rhianna goes down due to an unfortunate crit. I'm forced to bring out Diane.

 I spend the first turn reviving Rhianna. Next, I use Flame Wheel.

It does decent damage. At this point, I'm focused on baiting Whitney - she has two Super Potions and it's far better for me in the long run if I force her to waste them on Clefairy. Instead of finishing her off with Flame Wheel, I use Quick Attack.

 On the next turn my little ploy pays off.

At this point I just spam Vine Whip.

After a few turns, we're both nearly dead. Oddly, Whitney doesn't use her other Super Potion - either the AI only uses one item per Pokemon or it always saves at least one for the final Pokemon.

I use a Super Potion of my own.

I finally kill it. Whitney brings out her Miltank...

Stomp brings Rhianna's health down to 15. You can tell I'm in bad shape when I'm popping Super Potions constantly...

Even after the Potion, Miltank begins Rollout, taking her back down to 33. I switch to Diane.

...Nevermind. I switch to Nelly.

Desperate, I try to buy a few turns with Supersonic.

It doesn't work and Nelly dies. I bring out Rhianna.

I switch to Kyle.

So this is going to sound like a cop out, but I saw this coming - I wanted to gauge how much I need to train. I've learned a few key things:

• You can't bait Whitney into wasting both of her potions, just one.
• Rhianna's type resistance to Rollout does not make up for her piss-poor defense. 
• Diana does the most damage, so I should focus on her for training.
• This is bullshit.

Anyway, Mom calls in. Maybe she will give some words of encouragement...

“Oh, hi, Stalin! How are you?

I found a useful item while shopping, so

I bought it with your money. Sorry!

But I asked the deliveryman to take it

to you, so you should stop by the

nearest Poke Mart or Department Store

and pick it up! I know it'll be useful!”

Day 88: Lass Cathy

Cathy's hair clip began to vibrate.

"Agent 88, do you copy?"

"Agent 88 here."

"The Pinko has been spotted. Repeat, the Pinko is heading your way."

"Roger, Blood Falcon. How long do I have?"

 "He's fumbling with the wall maze, trying to find the way over to your location. Hard to say. Not long. Two minutes, tops. Hurry up."

"Shit! Okay, almost ready," she said. Cathy was not yet fully disguised. She hastily slipped into her tight-fitting schoolgirl outfit.

 "How the hell do kids stand wearing this every day?"

"That's why you were chosen, 88. You were the only one who looked the part."

"You mean I'm short," she grumbled past a sock she was holding in her teeth.

"And you look like a twelve year old."

"Fuck you."

"Nice talking to you, too. I got a newcomer coming in. That Youngster with the Ratata. Blood Falcon out. Yo! Champ in the making!"

"He forgot to turn off his mic, as usual," she thought as she pushed a button on the hair clip. She rushed out of the changing room, disguise complete. In a moment, she became a completely different person. She put on a bubbly smile and added a certain spring to her step, seemingly shaving 10 years off her age. Right on cue, the Pinko walked up to her.

“But I have strong and cute Pokemon!"

Stalin nodded and summoned his Bellsprout. As she sent out her Jigglypuff with an airy "Jiggly-Sue, I choose you!", she observed him out of the corner of her eye. He looked older than his age with his full handlebar mustache. His eyes were focused on the battle and did not seem to notice the woman grown that was his opponent; he was focusing more on her Jigglypuff. Somehow, without uttering a word, the Bellsprout knew to open with Stun Spore.

Jiggly-Sue fought off the spasms the best she could.
"C'mon, Jiggly-Sue! Use sing!" Cathy commanded. Jiggly-Sue expertly rattled off her melody, but the Bellsprout simply ignored it and gashed open her forehead with two Vine Whips, fainting her.
"Shit!" Cathy shouted. Stalin looked up from the battle, eyebrow raised.
"I mean, gee golly! Tee hee!" she said. She withdrew Sue and brought out Jiggly-Jill.
"You got it, Jiggly-Jill! Use defense curl!"

"That'll stop those nasty Vine Whips!" she said.

Again, with an uncanny silence, the Bellsprout used Stun Spore. And again, it gashed Jiggly-Jill with a few brutal Vine Whips.
"Defense Curl doesn't help against Vine Whip, does it, Jiggly-Jill. I'm so sorry!" she said as she withdrew it and brought out her final one.

"Jiggly-Peg, I'm counting on you! Use pound!"

This time Bellsprout went first, and like clockwork, opened with Stun Spore.

Dutifully, commanding her body to move, Jiggly-Peg threw herself on Bellsprout, crushing its leaves and sending them both to the ground. Prone as it was, the Bellsprout still shot its tendril-like vines with incredible velocity. Jiggly-Peg did not bleed, but began to bawl uncontrollablly.
"Oh dear, Jiggly-Peg. Come back, I'll get you healed!"

Stalin observed her intently.

“discouraged...

What to do...

Well... If I lose, I'll just try harder

next time!”

Stalin nodded in recognition, and began to walk off.

"Wait!" Cathy said. "You forgot to take your money!" she said, holding out her cash. Stalin took it and shook her hand respectfully, then headed off to places unknown. When he was out of sight, she breathed a sigh of relief, allowing her true age to leak out like a beer belly escaping a belt. Cathy knelt down and pushed a button on her hairclip.

"Blood Falcon, Blood Falcon, come in. This is 88."

"Did you do it?"

"Yes. Jiggly-Peg managed to bug his Bellsprout."

"Nice job. You can get out of those clothes now."

"I've never been more relieved to hear what you have to say in my life."

"Don't get used to it! Blood Falcon out."

Day 87: Lass Carrie

 Moving on in the Gym, we meet Lass Carrie.

 I begin with a Stun Spore, and Snubbull responds with a Bite.

Vine Whip gets a lucky crit. Snubull wastes her turn on Mean Look. Mean Look lowers my speed
rather harshly but the speed penalty from being paralyzed is greater.

Two vine whips later and she's done.

Communists.

Day 86: Beauty Samantha

 After a stop at the Pokecenter, I take on the next Beauty.

 Meowth goes first with Scratch. Rhianna's defense was never great so it does a decent amount of damage. Still, Vine Whip does more damage overall.

 By the second turn Meowth is dead but Rhianna isn't in much better shape.

She brings out another Meowth. I use a regular potion to even the playing field.

 It doesn't work.

 Nelly adequately finishes the fight, ending up about as healthy as Rhianna did when she beat the first one.

"I'm so sorry!"

 

Day 85: Beauty Victoria -- Goldenrod City/Goldenrod City Gym

 There's a lot to see and cover in Goldenrod, so I'll just give you the highlights. First, I head to the Radio Tower.

 Inside I take a little quiz to earn the radio app for my Pokegear. That's Whitney, the Goldenrod Gym Leader with the pink hair over there. When I win the quiz she comes up to me...

“question was surely apricots!

Oops! It's time to go back to the Gym!”

 For now there's not much to see in the radio tower. However, I do pick up this bit of info I never knew before...

“That's why you don't see many Pokemon

when the radio plays lullabies in the

tall grass."

 I might use this in the future, if I'm going insane and want to get out of a long dungeon. Interesting nontheless.

 Next, I head to the Department Store to see what Mom bought me. She got 5 Babiri Berries and 5 Shuca Berries, which weakens enemies' super effective Steel and Ground moves, respectively. Not... a great use of my money, but maybe they'll become useful down the line.

 On the basement floor of the Department Store are a few free items; Ultra Ball, Ether and Burn Heal. All you need to do to get them is talk to the NPC's. They order the Machokes to move boxes around, opening paths to the items.

 On the sixth floor, I buy a lot of lemonade, which are better than super potions and half the price. I also buy a few Revives from the second floor.

 Here's the Bicycle Store. The Bicycle shop owner loans me one for free for advertising purposes. Huge contrast to the jerk from the first generation.

 Up next is the inexplicably Gypsy-themed Name Rater. I change Quilava's name to DIANE to fit all the other names my team has.

 Now for Gym #3. Unlike last time, there's no silliness you need to take care of first.

“This Gym is home to Normal-type

Pokemon Trainers.

I recommend you use Fighting-type

Pokemon.”

 Suprisingly terse for the champ-in-the-making-guy. The theme for the normal-type gym is garish patterns and stairs.

 Victoria has three Sentrets. I open on the weakest Sentret with Stun Spore, then Vine Whip. Vine Whip one-shots it, so the Stun Spore was kind of pointless. Oh well.

 I do the same strategy on the second Sentret. She gets a few blows in with Quick Attack and Fury Swipes before she goes, but two Vine Whips take care of her.

 The final Sentret is level 16 and Rhianna's Stun Spore missed, so I just switch to Diane and one-shot it with Flame Wheel.