So, I've finally decided to replay one of the Unova games and chose to play through Black 2. That version got the most mileage for me, so I wanted to see how this experience would compare. I decided to stick to the canonical names and play as Nate, while keeping my rival's name Hugh. The first time around, I started with Oshawott. This time, I decided to choose Tepig and name him Crispy (bacon is crispy, and he's literally a fire pig so it made sense). With two tail whips and two tackles, Crispy made quick work of Hugh's Oshawott and won our first battle, gaining a level in the process (7 exp shy of having gained 2 levels, which is an annoying but minor occurrence). I hadn't checked prior, but Crispy has a Hasty nature. I do tend to prioritize speed so this was a nice surprise. I'll have to invest in some Attack EVs, but that won't be the end of the world.
I continued out to Route 19 to train up a little and, after meeting Alder, ended up in Floccesy Town. I headed on to Route 20 to find Hugh and give him his Town Map, subsequently arriving at Floccesy Ranch. While I was looking for Hugh, I was also looking for our first addition to the team, and my first encounter was a Riolu. While I have no intention of using Riolu in this playthrough, I caught him just to help out until I get to Castelia City. I didn't realize that Hugh would be challenging me to a battle the moment I found him, but fortunately Crispy was still able to hold his own, although it was a much closer battle than before. I forgot to heal my pokemon after the battle and almost lost to a Sewaddle, but all went well. After some hunting, I found the true next addition to our team - a Psyduck. I named her Webbigail, and then proceeded on to rescue Herdier from the Team Plasma grunt.
I grinded up Webbigail to about Lv10, Crispy was already at Lv12, and then I went back to Aspertia to challenge the gym. Webbigail took down the gym trainers by herself and did well against Cheren's Patrat, but inevitably fainted. Crispy cleaned up Patrat and defeated Lillipup for the win and our first badge.
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Round 2:
I went out to Route 20 to grind up a bit and to flesh out my team a bit more. General strategy is to try and use a well-rounded team of pokemon that I haven't really used before so my first thought was to catch a Venipede. I found one fairly quickly but it had the Swarm ability. After about an additional hour or so of searching, I finally found a Venipede with Poison Point and named him Fubsy (synonym for roly-poly, idk I thought it was cute.) I arrived in Virbank City and cleared out the complex, with Crispy evolving into Pignite. I took advantage of the shaking grass Audino encounters, got my team up to Lv19 and entered the gym. I led with Fubsy, and much like in Aspertia, Fubsy was able to make quick work of the gym trainers but fell to Roxie's Whirlipede. Crispy came in and cleaned up, and now that's two badges down. I finally sent Riolu to the PC and headed over to Pokestar Studios.
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Badges 3 & 4:
So a decent amount happened over the past few days. I finally ended up in Castelia City and completed the Harlequin Hunt, cleared out the sewers, and wiped the floor with Burgh. I proceeded out to Route 4 where I was able to defeat Colress, and then spent some time grinding up at the Desert Resort. In the process, I caught a Sandshrew who I named Nyla (atla reference), who quickly evolved into Sandslash. I proceeded through Join Avenue to Nimbasa City. I went on to Route 5 to grind and ended up catching an Emolga who I named Electra. I cleared out the sports complexes, proceeded to the new gym, and Nyla and Fubsy took care of Elesa. After the battle, Fubsy evolved into a Scolipede. I went back towards Route 5, helped Hugh defeat some Plasma Grunts, took care of Charles and his rotation battle, arrived in Driftveil, battled Sage Rood, and added a Zorua to my team.
