Pewter City

Pewter City

Obtaining our first Gym Badge

-- Pewter City --

Located in northwest Kanto, Pewter City is Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader, and is the closest metropolis of any size to Mt. Moon.  A famous science museum is located in the city, a museum that contains interesting old fossils and an opportunity for a clever trainer to obtain some very rare and unique Pokemon if they apply themselves.

As you enter the city you will see that there are a fair number of citizens wandering around -- we may as well chat them up first for some local gossip -- and an escort to the museum.

-- The Pewter City Museum --

There is a $50 admission fee -- pay the bloke at the desk -- and then you are free to roam around, examine the displays, and chat with the other visitors.  On the ground floor is a case with a Kabutops Fossil, and another with an Aerodactyl Fossil, and near the second case is an old man you can chat with.  Up the stairs you will find more people -- a father and his daughter (who wants a Pikachu), a member of the staff who tells you that this month they have a space exhibit, and two other visitors who do not have that much to say.

A model of the Space Shuttle is on display near the stairs, and in a large display there is a meteorite called the Moon Stone that was found on Mt. Moon.  That is really all that there is to see -- but you will notice that there are people behind the desk that you could talk to if you could reach them, and when you exit you should notice the other door that you cannot enter, because it is blocked by a tree.  We will return here once we have the Cut TM...

In the small house to the east after you exit the museum you can talk to a man who will fill you in on the difficulties of Outsider Pokemon, and in a garden to the south you can learn about Repel.  In a small house to the southwest you can learn about TM's and using Status Ailments to help in capturing Pokemon, while the other buildings here are a store, the Pokecenter, and the City Gym.  For now hit the store if you need to replace any of your kit, then the Pokecenter to heal and save.

-- The Pewter City Pokecenter --

Inside after you heal and save take a look around -- talk to the girl in the corner to set your profile by answering a few questions that describe you as a trainer... In fact I set my profile to say "I am a Pokemon Trainer" which she seemed to like a lot.  Plain, direct, and to the point -- the perfect profile!

A pair of blokes are trading Pokemon at the nearby table, and the old man by the door talking on his cell phone does not have time to be social -- but you overhear him talking about Team Rocket being at Mt. Moon!  In the upper left corner is a trainer with a Jigglypuff -- don't get too close if you do not want that Jigglypuff to sing you to sleep mate!

Nurse Joy is behind the counter, and up the escalator you can find the business side of the Pokecenter!  When you get upstairs Teala will brief you on the wireless communications system, starting with an overview of the Pokecenter itself. 

First she tells you about the Union Room, where you can gather with a group of other real life trainers via the wireless connectivity that is provided by the snap-on device that came with the game.  In newer games that use Wi-Fi you can connect to people via the Internet as well, but not in LeafGreen.  The other room is called The Direct Corner, where you can battle and/or trade with one specific partner using either the Wireless dongle or a GBA Connection Cable. 

There is a PC here for managing your stored Pokemon that is the same as the one downstairs, and in front of each of the rooms are the clerks who will admit you to them if you request that.  Near each clerk is a video display that, when you access it, will display your statistics for the use of each of the rooms respectively, basically showing you your battle results, and that concludes our tour of the Pokecenter!

Assuming that you have completed leveling your team -- and you have all but the 6th temp slot at a minimum of Level 13 -- it is now time to visit the Pewter City Gym and begin the process of battling our way to Brock!  I say begin the process, because before we can face Brock to earn our first Gym Badge, we have to defeat his Assistant Gym Leaders!  But that is okay!  It is extra XP and battle experience that will give us a peak at what we are facing with Brock, as he trained these Assistants!

-- Pewter City Gym --

 As this is our first Gym Battle, and our first shot at a Gym Badge, we will cover the event in some detail, but the first matter we should discuss is basic battle strategy...

Gym Battles are about domination -- it is a battle in which you are meant to prove not simply that you can beat a Gym Leader -- anyone can do that if they are lucky -- but rather that you know your moves and your Pokemon well, have a good relationship with your Pokemon (evidenced by the fact that they will take your orders and battle fiercely for you), and that you have developed a minimal level of skill as a Pokemon Trainer.

That translates to using the most suitable Pokemon and their best moves against whatever opponent they happen to be facing.  You may have noticed that each Pokemon is of a Type or Types -- for example Charmander is a Fire Type.  The Gym Leader you are facing today is Brock, who is famous for becoming one of the two regular companions of Ash Ketchum, the boy who would be Pokemon Master.

Brock's area of interest and skills as a Gym Leader lie in the Rock Type Pokemon, so naturally his own and those of his Assistant Gym Leader are of that type.  Brock is actually pretty good at what he does, but then, our job is to be better, and he is at a decided disadvantage -- you see we know what Type he favors, and therefore we can arrange our team to present Pokemon who have an advantage over his.

How this battle will play out has more to do with which Pokemon you selected as your Starter than any other factor -- two of the Starters are pretty useful against Rock Type, while the third -- Charmander -- is not as useful.  Why, then, did I pick Charmander as my Starter?  I did not say he was completely useless!  In fact just the opposite -- Charmander can be devastating versus Brock, but only if you have made the effort to train him up to at least Level 13, unlocking the move Metal Claw.

To sum it up, 90% of your success in this Gym Battle will fall to preparation, and 10% to skill, because you do not have a lot of the latter at the moment, and the former is all that you really need to win this battle.  That, and unlike future Gym Battles, where you will be facing nearly complete and complete teams, Brock and his AGL only have two Pokemon in each of their teams!

-- The Gym Battle --

For this battle I placed my starter at the head of my team -- and you should do the same.  As you enter the Gym you will see a man standing to the right called the Gym Greeter (they all have them).  His job is to give you sage advice about how to handle this Gym -- if you are willing to ask and listen -- but other than that you do not have to interact with him if you choose not to.  He is standing beside the pillars that list the name of the Gym Leader, and the most recent trainers to master him in battle.

The path ahead is clear -- and as you can see, Brock only has one AGL at his Gym.  You will need to defeat the AGL first, before you can battle Brock.  That is an understandable requirement, as after all any decent Gym Leader does not want just anyone to be able to come in and challenge them until they have established that they have at least the minimum level of skill required for that battle, right?

-- The AGL Battle --

The Assistant Gym Leader for the Pewter City Gym is Camper Liam, whose team consists of a Level 10 Geodude and a Level 10 Sandshrew.  This is a low-key, low-pressure battle, and a good opportunity for you to experiment with your moves to see how they work against these opponents.  For example your Starter's special move might be very effective here, so now is a great time to find out!

I used Charmander's special move -- Ember -- but I learned that it was not very effective at all!  That is OK, I was expecting to need to use Metal Claw anyway, based upon my lengthy past experience as a Pokemon Trainer -- even though we are starting out as a newbie here, we still have all of the knowledge and experiences from the other games to guide us, right?

The audio and video effect that you experience when using a particularly effective move is  distinctly different than that of an effective or non-effective move, which you have just discovered.  It is of course comforting to hear and see the devastation of a well-planned and executed attack!  Once you have narrowed in to the best move, the battle will not last very long, which is a good thing, as you want your Pokemon to take as little damage as you can manage.

If you watch this sections video, you will see that I had some bad luck -- my first calculated attack with Metal Claw failed, and instead of that gratifying sound I had a miss; but my next attack connected, and then it was only a matter of moments before my opponents Pokemon was rendered helpless.

Next Liam brought out his Sandshrew.  I decided to use my Manjey, because I knew that he would be a much more effective choice -- there was a reason why I made sure to catch and level a Mankey!  A you can see in the video, Mankey's attack was not classified as a Super Effective, and yet it still brought the opponents Sandshrew down  in the exact same number of moves that a Super Effective would have used!  Why is that? 

It is simple, really -- although a SE class move does the maximum damage, all that the sound effect and that label are meant to indicate is that you have chosen a particularly appropriate move.  The move that we used with Mankey, Karate Chop, also does the maximum damage per blow, despite the fact that he is not a member of the strong opposing Type for that opponent!  I knew this from past experience in being a Trainer -- and perhaps you did too -- but if nor, you do now.  The point to this lesson is that while it is always a good idea to use the opposing Type in a battle, you have other options.  Get to know the weaknesses for each Type, and you will better be able to use your team members in battle.

-- The Gym Leader Battle --

The Pewter City Gym

Brock is something of an enigma -- he is a very good and well disciplined Gym Leader who clearly cares about his Pokemon, and treats them well.  In turn, he has their absolute loyalty.  He is also an amateur chef whose specialty is cooking for Pokemon -- and he has been known to whip up some very tasty meals for both Pokemon and his human companions while on the road and cooking rough.  He is friendly, loyal, and affable, and genuinely a good traveling companion.  Those are his good traits.

On the bad side is the fact that Brock is a Horn Dog.  He has never met a woman that he did not want to sleep with, except perhaps Misty, but I believe that she intimidates him, which would explain his lack of attraction towards her. 

While Brock is a serious Horn Dog for practically all women, when he encounters one in uniform -- and particularly Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny -- he must be physically restrained to prevent him from rubbing up against them and drooling on them.  I guess we all have to have our kinks, but I often pause to wonder about this...  Apparently Japanese children are much more mature and able to process and accept this sort of emotional aberration -- event he heavily edited and revised version of the show that appears in TV outside of Japan makes his predilection clear, if perhaps softened, but the original versions of the show pull no punches.

Back to the battle -- after you finish your battle with Camper Liam, pause to assess the damage that your team has taken, and repair as needed.  In my battle Charmander took a few hits, so I applied a Potion to his wounds to heal him up so that he was in top form for the coming Gym Leader Battle.  You may want to do the same.

Brock is waiting for you at the head of the Gym, and when you approach him he starts off the encounter by bragging up his team -- but that is OK, any good Trainer is going to want to use at least a small amount of psychological tactic at the start of a confrontation, and he has more to lose here than you do after all.  If he wins, he has proven you are not ready, whereas if you win, he is obligated under the rules of the Pikemon League to provide you with a Gym Badge and reward for your victory!

Unlike Ash Ketchum, who often manages to obtain a Gym Badge without properly winning the Gym Battle, you and I are going to do this the right way, and beat his team into the dirt!  The battle opens with Brock's Level 12 Geodude facing our Starter -- and getting taken down very quick because we now know which of our moves are the most effective against a Geodude!

Next he brings out his Big Gun -- a Level 14 Onix.  The Onix is a formidable opponent, but we know how to deal with Rock Types now, so we are not afraid.  As you can see in the video, I allowed my Starter to begin the battle -- this is a good idea mostly because your Starter can open things up and deal a little damage for you to soften up the opponent before you bring out the closer to KO it!

Metal Claw takes out a nice chunk of its health, but Brock uses Rock Tomb, a particularly devastating attack against many Types, including Charmander.  FYI you do not want to let a Flying Type or a Bug Type get hit by that move -- it can one-shot it.  Still, Charmander takes the hit with stoic aplomb, because he knows we know what we are doing, and that we will pull him out of the fight now that he has taken serious damage.

Our closer for this battle is our Mankey -- I named mine Muhamad, and I am sure you can figure out why.  Brock goes for another Rock Tomb, but that is not an effective move against a Mankey, which is a Fight Type Pokemon better suited to brute force attacks.  A quick series of Karate Chops is all that it takes to leave Brock's Onix moaning on its back in the dirt at our feet -- I call that a clear victory with no doubt as to whether or not we deserve to be awarded that Gym Badge!

Brock agrees with us, and is both humble and honorable in admitting that he grossly underestimated our abilities.  Perhaps he recently fought Ash? That would easily explain why he thought he could take us...  After presenting us with our Boulderbadge -- which he is obligated to do per the Pokemon League Policy, Brock goes a step further and gives us $1400 and TM 39 -- Rock Tomb -- and we now have a TM Case in which to store our TM's.  You will find the TM Case in our Key Items Pocket in our Bag.

TM's -- or Technical Machines -- are one-time-use devices that will teach a move to a Pokemon, and then be destroyed in the process.  For that reason you want to be very careful to use it strategically so that you teach that move to the right Pokemon.  The opposite of TM's are HM's -- Hidden Machines -- which are devices that teach a special move and can be used over and over again.  Unlike TM's, HM's have additional requirements in order to be used -- mostly they require you to have a certain number of Gym Badges before you can use that move outside of battle.  The HM's are how you teach a rare set of special moves like Cut, Fly, and others which allow your Pokemon to access restricted areas of the Region and move themselves -- and you -- quickly to and from any town or location you have already visited.

The Boulderbadge allows your Pokemon to use the special move Flash outside of battle -- but we do not have that move at the moment, as Brock points out.

-- After the Battle --

Now that we have succeeded in besting our first Gym Leader, go ahead and open the menu and select your Trainer Card -- as you can see we have already affixed our first Gym Badge to our card.  In the TV show you might have pinned it to your hat or jacket, but pinning it to our Trainer Card works OK here as well.  One down, seven to go!

The first thing that we should do is return to the Pokecenter, heal and save.  Next hit the store to replace any kit we used in the Gym Battle.  At this point you should have, at a minimum, the following items as your working kit:

-- 10 Poke Balls
-- 5 Potions
-- 3 Antidotes
-- 1 Awakening
-- 1 Paralyze Heal
-- 1 Burn Heal
-- A Town Map
-- A Teachy TV
-- A TM Case

The Status items are there for emergencies -- the reason you have three Antidotes and only one of each of the others has more to do with the frequency at which your Pokemon will be poisoned than anything else.  So prior to continuing on, it would be an idea to see to your kit!

A note on purchasing Poke Balls: While you should always try to maintain a minimum of 10 Poke Balls as part of your active kit, more is clearly better!  But when purchasing this item you do not, as was common in previous games, purchase it in quantities of 10, because the store in this game does not give you a bonus Premium Ball when you do that.