Preview

So, I thought I would give you guys a preview of what's to come in this blog. While waiting to pick up my Black version from GameStop--I paid it off entirely with trade ins and I'm really proud of myself--I am continuing my journey through SoulSilver. I'm currently training for the Elite Four and I'm so close I can taste it. Except for Lance. Lance is annoying.  Every time I've attempted to beat the Elite Four, I can get all the way to Lance no problem, but so far, he has kicked my butt each time I face him. 

Well I guess the first thing to explain is my team. My current battle team in SoulSilver consists of the following:

1. Bulbasaur (Speedy) Level 35, Naïve:

- Razor Leaf

- Flash

- SolarBeam

- Leech Seed

2. Dragonair (Xiao Long) Level 44, Relaxed:

- Dragon Rush

- Waterfall

- Surf

- Blizzard

3. Rapidash (Epona) Level 45, Lonely:

- Headbutt

- Strength

- Flame Wheel

- Fire Blast

4. Umbreon (Shadow) Level 46, Naïve:

- Dark Pulse

- Dig

- Cut

- Faint Attack

5. Lugia (Kouka) Level 46, Lonely:

- Extrasensory

- Fly

- Avalanche

- Aeroblast

6. Pikachu Level 50, Naughty:

- Thunder

- Iron Tail

- Rock Smash

- Thunderbolt

For the remainder of this journey I will try to refer to each Pokémon in my team by his species, but if by chance I accidently call him by his nickname, just tell me and I’ll fix it. ^_^ I’m rather bummed that my Pikachu can’t be renamed—he’s Ash’s Pikachu from the event at Toys R Us. A friend of mine picked him up for me since I didn’t have the gas money to go all the way to Toys R Us—the closest one to my house is a 45 minute drive and with gas prices how they are…yeah it wouldn’t have worked out. But anyways, I am extremely happy with my current team. Especially Speedy, my Bulbasaur! Speedy is the newest addition to my team other than Pikachu. When I realized that you cannot get the Kanto starter Pokémon until after you obtain all 16 badges I was so sad. But my friend came to my rescue again and she agreed to breed a Bulbasaur for me as well as a Squirtle—I’m content with waiting for Charmander. Speedy is actually the son of the Bulbasaur she bred for me. The Bulbasaur she gave me was female and I wanted one just like Ash’s Bulbasaur from the original Pokémon so I bred my own Bulbasaur using the Bulbasaur she gave me and my Ditto. I did the same with the Squirtle she gave me so that I could have one to keep in its original form and one to evolve through each stage. But on to my adventures for today!

I've been having difficulty finding any good spots to train lately. This is a topic we frequently discuss in my Pokémon battle thread on ACC. Once you get through Victory Path, there really isn't anything that poses a challenge--other than the Elite Four itself. My friends and I battle each other on occasion, but given that you do not receive experience from these battles, they do not help with training. So, today when I sat down to play, I started by seeking out the few trainers who wanted to rebattle me and beat them without much effort. I really wish they would present more of a challenge. After I finished with them, I flew on Lugia to Blackthorn City and proceeded down Route 45 to train Bulbasaur. There were Geodude and Graveler’s aplenty so I had no trouble training, except for those rare times when the Graveler’s used Selfdestruct. I hate the Selfdestruct move. It is so annoying! About halfway down, the egg I’d had with me hatched into a Pichu and so I flew back to Blackthorn and switched it for the Pikachu in my PC.

To end my day, I attempted the Elite Four again. I had no problem with the first three Leaders. Umbreon’s Dark moves creamed Will’s Pokémon and Rapidash reduced Koga’s Bug and Grass Pokémon to ashes. Bruno’s Pokémon faced Lugia and they too were soon brought to their knees. And then I got to Karen. The first few in her team went down with little effort thanks to the fighting and electric moves of Pikachu. But then she called out Houndoom. I’ve faced this Houndoom before with little difficulty, but this time I barely scratched the fire dog! He decimated my team, wiping out every member with a single move! I was shocked! I couldn’t believe that I had lost so easily when I had several Pokémon with type advantage moves. So, tomorrow I’m going to attempt to focus on heightening the defense of my team so that this does not happen again.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this little preview of mine and I look forward to our next meeting! I’ll not be writing tomorrow as I am spending the night at my grandmother’s—my grandfather isn’t doing too well and so I want to check on him—and they do not have internet. Well, until next time!

Gotta Catch ‘Em All!

How it came about

So, a month or so ago, my advisor suggested that I start a blog so that I could have something to put on my resume when I start looking for a job after I graduate this May. When I asked her what she thought I should write about, she said something I knew a lot about that I was interested in. That night, I watched Julie and Julia and I came up with the idea to write a blog about Pokemon.

The world of Pokemon has been in my life since the game originally came to the States in 1998. I started out with Blue version. My dad bought Red and Blue for my brother and I so that we would have access to all the Pokemon in Kanto. Since then, I have played through each generation and though I prefer the older games, the newer games are still very fun to play.

My plan is to play through all five generations of the Pokemon world in one year. I did have one problem: which game should I play first? On one hand, I really want to play through generation one, but at the same time, I want to play through generation five as well. I finally decided that, given that generation five is new and therefore generally unknown, I will start with generation five and work my way backwards to generation one. My first official post will be March 6, 2011 as soon as I pick up my copy of Black version from GameStop. I will play through each day and then write about the Pokemon and activities that I encounter. For generation five, I hope that maybe I will be able to help others as they play through the game with me.

I also will be setting up a section called "Trainer Tales" where I will post stories of other trainers. These will consist of tales from my friends as well as my readers. So, if you have a story of a Pokemon battle that was particularly hard or interesting, feel free to message me and I will put it on my blog. ^_^

Well, I hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as I will enjoy writing it. Until next time remember...

Gotta catch 'em all!