Team

Bayleef Lv32
Pidgeotto Lv31
Furret Lv29
Quagsire Lv30
Ampharos Lv30
Jumpluff Lv28 /Togetic Lv29

Johto League

Falkner--Bugsy--Whitney--Morty--Chuck--Jasmine--Pryce--Claire

I'm going fast, so I'm covering 5 days in a row. On the way to Ecruteak I caught the Sudowoodo and met Sunny of Sunday, who gave me the Magnet(same as usual). Ecruteak itself is largely unchanged, but you don't fight the Kimono Girls right away. Four of them are actually scattered all over Johto, and it's your job to find them(don't worry, nothing too hard, you'll bump into them along the way). So it's off to the Burnt Tower to fight your rival, see off Raikou, Entei and Suicune, and meet Eusine. The tower is annoying though, with Pokemon that inflicts poison. The Tin Tower....I'll give that a miss. I'm not playing Heart Gold, so it'll be a while before I backtrack here.

You get the Dowsing Machine(itemfinder) which is even more intuitive than the one in Platinum. When you use it, the itemfinder appears on the bottom screen and you have to touch and slide across on the screen. The itemfinder will beep when you're nearby and shows you the exact location. You can move and it won't be affected at all. Very nice. Bill is in Ecruteak(I knew it.), so back to Goldenrod to get my Eevee, and then to fight Morty. I got Surf from the guy in the Kimono Girls building too.

Extrasensory on Togepi helps a lot, as the early Ghost types are all Poison hybrids, so I have an extra attacker while Furret is useless here. The Gym loos great, and quite hard to navigate, like in the original. Morty himself was pretty easy, save for the last Pokemon, Gengar. What a pain. With Hypnosis, Shadow Ball and a crazy Speed stat, he's quite a tough one. Dirty tactics saved the day: switch to Pidgeotto, rendering Shadow Ball useless. Sand Attack Gengar until he can't possibly land Hypnosis. Slowly chip away at his HP. Win. Togepi evolved during this battle. I got a Togetic! My secret Elite Four beating plan is nearly complete....now I just need that Dawn Stone.

Moved to Route 38 and then to Olivine, stopping by the Moomoo Farm on the way. Good thing I had Oran Berries planted- I'll come back later to nurse the sick Miltank back to health. I caught one myself, together with a Tauros. There's nothing much in Olivine yet, you can't go to the port to board the S.S. Aqua, the Battle Frontier is closed until you beat the Elite Four, and Jasmine is looking after the lighthouse's Ampharos. The lighthouse has been redesigned a lot though, there aren't any midway holes to fall into. It's rounder, and there's a part where you have to jump out a window and land on another part of the lighthouse (zomg 3D perspective!).

Route 40 and 41 were tiring, but Togetic, Quagsire, Jumpluff and Ampharos (yes, all in their final forms now) made quick work of the Pokemon there. I arrive in Ecruteak all tired out. Got the SecretPotion and stuff too. I decided to fight Chuck (Norris) while I was here. Chuck (Norris) is training under a makeshift waterfall in is Gym. Well, that's new, but that also means I can't stir him any way. The only way was to make it to the top of the Gym(passing by the Gym Trainers), and turn off that blasted water spouter. Now the bugger stops training and battles me. Pretty easy battle, this. Pidgeotto completely destroyed his first Pokemon, and Poliwrath, well....Bayleef handled that. Trying to Focus Punch me was the mistake he made. Battling him yielded HM Fly (Yes. Finally).

Oh, there's a small cave by the side of Ecruteak. It was closed before I fought Chuck (Norris), but now I can go in. I'll do that on Day 15.

Tomorrow, a trip to New Johto, Route 47!