Let's Play Pokémon HeartGold, Episode 8: Now That's What I Like to Call Progress!

Day 8 (and 9) - Saturday, April 24th 2010

As you may or perhaps not know, originally, I planned for there to be four episodes of this in one day. But, on the same day that I played these, I confirmed a YouTube account, which I've been waiting to have for awhile now. The four episodes were supposed to be a celebration for reaching 2,000 tweets on Twitter, but I think, at least for me, the YouTube thing is enough of a "celebration". (I will definitely post some stuff about that when it's up and running) So, you only get two. Sorry.

Anyways, welcome back to HeartGold! I went on Bulbapedia a couple days ago and found potential team members for the future, all of which are common in the areas they can be found:
Mankey (Route 9 and 42)
Pikachu (Route 2 and Viridian Forest)
Diglett (Diglett Cave and Route 48)
I think I may have already passed Route 42 (I think I saw it when I was doing my enormous trek back to Professor Elm), but I'm not backtracking that far right now. I'm gonna find a Flying slave (Howl-Owl will probably be the candidate for that) so I can fly around and get places faster.

So, yeah. After about two and a half weeks of blowing this game off, it was time to finally kick it back into gear. I got 3 potions from the Pokewalker during the break, and they were immediately sent to my inventory. So, in this episode, we'll just be continuing on Route 35.

The last trainers I fought were a boyfriend/girlfriend couple, and I think I dodged a fire...man... thing. Flameburners, I think they're called? Something like that? I dunno. Anyways, I run into him, and HOLY CRAP HE HAS A MAGMAR.
....Why? Why does he have a Magmar? Well, it goes down within one Rock Throw from Dwayne, then... oh my God. He has two? Why does he have two? More importantly, why are they, like Level 20? (I guess I'm used to seeing like Level 78 Pokemon because of BikdipOnABus's LP of a FireRed hack, which he's very far into - 83 episodes, to be exact). Whatever. The second one goes down with 2 Rock Throws, and the flame...guy is defeated-ed.

I fight another trainer that isn't worth noting, then decide to twitch around in the grass a bit and find... a male Nidoran? Uh... okay, I'll take it. Anything to get Toga off my team. It's a Level 12, and as always I use Tackle instead of my usual Flame Wheel tactics so it doesn't go down too easily, and I catch it! I name it Ned (I was gonna name it, like... Sandwich or something, but, meh), and it's added to my team, then find a Paralyze Heal.

After that, I catch a Level 10 Ditto. Holy crap. Why am I catching so much stuff? Whatever. I name it Splat, and it's transferred to the PC automatically (first time for the run). After that, I... CATCH A FEMALE NIDORAN? Seriously, is the game taking pity on me now? Whatever, I name it Barbara (pronounced bar-bar-uh, not bar-bra), go to a Pokemon Center to heal, then put Toga in the PC. So, now my team consists of Bernard, Dwayne, Sprout, Dwayne, Ned, and Barbara. I look at Ned's thingies and see he is "capable of taking hits" with a Gentle nature. Doesn't make sense to me. I guess it's possible to be sturdy and non-violent in RPGs, but it's a rare occurance.

I decide to take a break from fighting and go over to the Pokeathlon Dome. I'm over not finding a Poliwag (I mean, I found everything else), so I don't hate the guy who runs it anymore. I go in there, and... Whitney, what the fudge are you doing here? I thought I made you cry. Oh, God, don't make me fight that freaking Miltank again. Okay, good. So, I change into... what looks like your normal wardrobe in Sapphire, then go into the Speed test with my three fastest Pokemon: Bernard, Dwayne, and newly-acquired Ned.

I didn't bother seeing what Pokemon the other contestants had, but one of them had... a freaking TEDDIURSA. THEY... MUST... DIE! I didn't like them at all, but here's the results:
Challenge 1: 1st place
Challenge 2: Last place
Finals: 3rd place
I got last place overall, and the lady outside said good job and to come again. Uh, yeah, FAT CHANCE OF THAT.

I decide to go to the National Park, and find nothing of interest, then go on to the only place so far I haven't visited: Route 36. There's a "weird tree" there, and a random guy who says if I spray water on it, it'll move, and it just has to be a Pokemon. It is, I know, but I don't know how to get it... oh, well. I unintentionally run into a trainer who has a Tangela... who is unTANGIble (that wasn't funny). It takes forever to kill, but after, I kid you not, 25 minutes, Sprout learns Wrap... and no one levels up.

I fight three trainers in the National Park who have: Voltorb, Oddish, Oddish again, Cubone, and Raichu. Basically everything I don't have that would be cool to have (especially Raichu *points at potential members list*). After healing, I go into the little "in-between building" thingies and talk to the guy and prepare to enter...






...the Bug Catching Contest.

What, were you looking for something amazing? Too bad.

I don't have a game time for this, since I just did this as one straight episode with no saving. But, that's the episode of Episode 8! See you next time for the Bug catching Contest and more Route 36 wonderment.

Thanks for reading!