The next couple of gyms in Pokemon Crystal really went by quickly. It’s not that the span between them is much shorter than in other games. My team just wasn’t able to grow, thanks to the game being inconsistent with the anime. I expected this, though. As I said, the only game in the Pokemon franchise which remains remotely true to the anime was Pokemon Yellow.
I was advancing Pikachu and Chikorita side by side, switching to the other one as soon as the first one went a level ahead. I think I’ll try doing this with my entire team in time. It really makes things simpler and more relaxed and enjoyable.
I really need to get an everstone, one way or another.
Soon after the Violet City gym, I was forced to start cancelling Chikorita’s evolution, since she only evolves much later in the story. Luckily, my old partner, Pikachu, doesn’t have this issue. I’m seriously thinking about cheating my way into owning a couple of everstones, simply to make it less annoying.
I solved the puzzle, but I’m not interested in Unknown.
I stopped by the Ruins of Alph and solved a puzzle there, but all that got me was the option to fight and capture Unknowns, which I’m not sure Ash ever encountered in the anime. It’s an interesting side quest, but not for me or this challenge. Pretty soon, I was in Azalea Town, beating the second gym. This one was bug based, so I used Pikachu again.
After that, I finally got to Ilex Forest, where Ash catches a Noctowl in the anime. There are only Hoothoots in the game here, though, so Noctowl will have to wait. I did get one very important thing, however – Headbutt. As soon as I got it, I backtracked to the area before Violet City and used it on some trees there. After a couple of tries, I encountered and caught my Heracross. My team is now 50% larger!
List of moves Heracross uses in the anime
- Tackle
- Horn Attack
- Endure
- Leer
- Take Down
- Fury Attack
- Megahorn
- Sleep Talk
- Focus Punch
- Hyper Beam
I spent some time helping Heracross catch up in experience and then moved on towards Goldenrod, passing through Ilex Forest and leaving my newly hatched Togepi at the Day Care Center along the way. The owner gave me another egg to carry with me, though.
Rival battles are always worth it.
Goldenrod City was the big city of the game. It had a bike shop, a flower shop, a gym and a department store, a game corner as well as an underground area full of trainers. Most of it didn’t interest me, but I spent some time at the underground area to train and to at least pick up the coin case, even if I won’t use it.
You actually need to talk to Whitney twice to get the badge. Evil!
The gym was normal based, so this time, all three of my Pokemon were able to contribute. The only difficulty I had with the place was with the gym leader’s last Pokemon, a Milktank. That thing is basically an overpowered Chansey. Well, I’m not sure if it’s overpowered, but it’s at least as powerful and annoying as Chansey was. By the way, is it just me, or the gym types in Crystal a bit “different” compared to the other games?
I moved on north of Goldenrod but soon found a Sudowoodo was blocking my way. A nearby NPC said it hates water, so I’m guessing I’ll need to go to the flower shop. More on that later, though. This is where my session ended.
