Spent most of yesterday doing IRL stuff and writing fanfiction, so the time I did get to play White I spent training. I figured I should clear out Route 5's Trainers before the Gym so they wouldn't hold me up later.
Today, though, I actually challenged Elesa (I dunno if you can do that before checking out the Musical. I mean, I tried going into the Gym, and Clyde let me continue, but I figured I'd better not do any sequence breaks). Despite having only two Pokemon that could really fight hers, I had a much easier time than I expected. Elmo took out the first Emolga with his newly learned Rock Slide in one shot (The presence of Cut has forced me to make some tough decisions, but them's the breaks). I sent out Darbus against the second Emolga, figuring that I could take it out and let Zebstrika KO him while I healed Elmo, but Emolga Volt Switched out, which of course meant Zebstrika came out right into a Fire Punch. Elesa used a Hyper Potion while I used Work Up, and after barely surviving Zebstrika's Spark, Darbus OHKO'd it, leaving the other Emolga, whoch was rather uneventful. Either way, Bolt Badge get!
So I left town, battled Cheren, met Alder and fought a tag battle with two preschoolers and their damn Herdiers (WHY did they make the two most common Pokemon in the game hell for the player?! (Lillipup and Patrat lines)). Then the Drawbridge was lowered, and Cheren and I entered Driftveil City where we met Clay, who tasked us with arresting escaped Team Plasma members.
So that's how we ended up at the Cold Storage. We tracked down Team Plasma and kicked their asses, and I even found a Scald TM for Conch! Unfortunately, Ghetsis rescued the Team Plasma members we worked so hard to arrest, including one of the Seven Sages. Now all that's left to do is battle Clay, but I'm gonna save that for tomorrow (Silke and Conch will most likely be my star players in the upcomong fight, though I really hope to avoid using Elmo if I can help it).