Azalea Town

Azalea Town

We meet Team Rocket

Azalea Town Beasties List

-- Aipom #123 (Any) Headbutt
-- Heracross #114 (Any) Headbutt
-- Spearow #013 (Any) Headbutt

As you approach the entrance of town near the well you spy a local confronting a thug -- a thug from Team Rocket!  The thug gives away a bit of information and then knocks the local on his butt.  The local takes off -- and the thug moves over to block the entrance to the well.  If you walk up and talk to him the thug will politely decline to allow you to pass, so we may as well head into town, right?

First thing that you should do is hit the Center and heal up, and then the Mart in case you need to re-supply.  Directly south and east of the Center is a house outside of which is a woodpile -- click on the woodpile and you will obtain a Full Heal!  The mailbox outside says that this is the Charcoal Kiln -- inside you see some Farfetch'd and a few locals who are worried about the fate of the Slowpoke.

The building to the west is the Azalea Town Gym, but the entrance is blocked by another Team Rocket thug.  North and a bit west is Kurt's House -- someplace that we want to visit!  Grab the white Apricorn from the tree outside,  then head inside to introduce yourself.

Kurt is not in the mood to make balls today -- in fact all that he wants to talk to you about is Team Rocket and the missing Slowpoke!   After he fills you in Kurt tears out the door, vowing to deal with the thugs -- and you chase after him!  When you reach the well you find that the Rocket thug is missing, and you can now head down into the well... 

-- The SLOWPOKE Well --

The Slowpoke Well Beasties List

-- Goldeen #078 (Any) Fishing
-- Magikarp #076 (Any) Fishing
-- Seaking #079 (Any) Fishing
-- Slowpoke #080 (Any) Normal
-- Slowpoke #080 (Any) Surfing
-- Zubat #037 (Any) Normal

As you reach the bottom you discover an injured Kurt who, having fallen down the well cannot move.  He urges you to take the fight to the enemy, and hey there, you do!  Inside the first area you encounter the thug that had been guarding the entrance, and boy is he angry!  Take out his pair of Level 9 Rattata and then grill him to learn that they have indeed been cutting the tails off of Slowpoke!

Fight the next Team Rocket Grunt, who has a Level 9 Zubat and a Level 11 Ekans -- then grab the Super Potion from the nearby treasure ball before continuing on to the next fight, facing a trio of Level 9 Zubat.  Past the two poor Slowpoke who are missing their tails is the next fight with Team Rocket's Executive Proton, who fields a Level 9 Zubat and a Level 12 Koffing.

He talks a little smack during the fight but his Pokemon are weak and you emerge victorious.  Despite his loss he reveals more about Team Rocket and then runs off.  Kurt appears and congratulates you and then leads you out of the well to his house. 

Note: You can catch a Slowpoke without needing to move the boulder or surf, the odds are just higher for Zubat, so be patient and you will get your Slowpoke!

-- Kurt's House --

Kurt rewards you with a Fast Ball -- and then notices that you have a bunch of Apricorn and offers to make you some balls!  All that you need to do is give him the Apricorn that you want to have made into balls and, a day later, return to receive them.  His granddaughter then exchanges numbers with you so that you can ring up her grandfather whenever, and you are good to depart.

As you head towards the west gate you are stopped by your rival, who wants to fight!  For this fight he has a Level 14 Gastly, a Level 18 Croconaw, and a Level 16 Zubat.  After you defeat him -- you DID defeat him, right?  After you defeat him he fills you in on his major hate for Team Rocket and then storms off, and you?  You head to the Center to heal your team, that is what you do!

-- Azalea Town Gym --

Now that we have defeated the local cadre of Team Rocket grunts and their leader the Gym is no longer blocked -- and it is about time for us to obtain our second badge, right?  Head over to the Gym and enter, and have a chat with the bloke who is standing just inside -- he is something of a greeter who is in most gyms.  He tells you that this Gym was created by Bugsy, and contains a huge nest of Bug-type Pokemon (no surprise here).   He also offers you some tips: Bug Types do not like fire, and flying type moves are pretty effective -- this is good advice!

As we pass through the next door the new area has large bugs that we can use to cross -- take the center bug to face the first Gym Sub-leader, Bug Catcher Al, who has a Level 12 Caterpie and Weedle.  Despite the good advice of the doorman I used my Flaaffy Peep, who did very well using a Thunder Shock and a Tackle to finish each off.  Fire and Flying are not absolutely required is my point.

Ride back across then take the spider on the far left to reach the center area on the other side -- there is no challenger on the left side so we do not have to take the right-hand spider..  Our next challenger is Bugcatcher Benny, who has three Pokemon: a Level 7 Weedle, a Level 9 Kakuna, and a Level 12 Beedrill.  The first two should be one-hit kills, with the Beedrill putting up the most fight, using his Fury Attack.

As you approached you no doubt noticed the red and blue levers and the corresponding beams in the spider tracks.  For right now do not touch them -- just walk on to the next spider and it will take you across and to the left side, where you will face a pair of twin trainers, Mimi and Amy.  I am pretty sure that this is the first doubles battle that we have had in the game so far -- I do not recall there being an earlier one anyway.

First up is a Level 10 Spinarak and Level 10 Ledyba.  I used Flaaffy and Wooper for this fight, with Flaaffy one-hitting the Ledyba with Thunder Shock and Wooper taking out half of the Spinarak's health with Water Gun on the first exchange.  There was no full second exchange since Flaaffy took out the Spinarak on the opening move using Thunder Shock.

That takes care of Amy and Mimi!  At this point you may need to use a potion or two on your Pokemon if they took a little damage.  If they took a lot of damage or you ended up in a prolonged fight you may want to retreat to the Center to heal and recover PP -- either way you are heading back across to the other side now.

Back on the other side use the blue switch and then cross again to reach the trainer on the far-right, Bug Catcher Josh!  He fields a Level 13 Paras who will use Poison and Leech Life very effectively.  I switched to Hoothoot and did a one-hit using Peck to end this fight, but I still had to deal with Flaaffy being Poisoned and I hate having to use resources, even in a Gym Battle.

Cross back over and throw the switch, then cross again and throw the switch by the twins.  Now cross and throw the red switch, and the path is clear to the area with the Gym Leader.  You may want to save here in case things go bad, right?

Bugsy is very confident, and he has three rather well trained Pokemon, starting with a Level 17 Scyther!  The Scyther has a Sitrus Berry so expect it to heal itself at least once, and then for Bugsy to use a Super Potion.  This is the same as in the original I think, but either way it is a tactic you should be familiar with from the other games. 

Scyther might use U-Turn, which will take out your Pokemon and recall Scyther all in one move, which can be devastating if that was your heavy hitter, so you may need to revive here. Next comes a Level 15 Metapod that should be an easy take-down for you, and then back comes Scyther!   Fortunately Scyther usually uses Gather Energy as its first move, so you have a chance to either one-hit it or weaken it considerably and then take it out on the next turn, which brings up his last Pokemon, a Level 15 Kakuna.  Not too bad, it could have been another Scyther, right?

Just pull out your Fire Type and one-hit the Kakuna with a Fire attack and this battle is over!  Bugsy gives you the Hive Badge, which means Pokemon up to Level 30 -- even traded ones -- will obey your commands.  Pokemon knowing Cut can use it outside of battle, and he gives you TM89, U-Turn.

Now reverse the switches to leave.  Outside you get a call from Mom telling you that she bought you something -- some Tanga Berries with your money -- and that you should look for the delivery guy.  Great.  Hit the Center and Heal then Save.  If you left Apricorns with Kurt and a day has passed pick up your new balls now too -- I got 10 Friendship Balls from him myself.  Grab the package from your Mom and then head to the West Gate.