• Starter Pokémon

After selecting your character’s gender and name, you will be thrown into a moving van. Once the van comes to a stop, exit to the right and you will meet your Mom. She will lead you inside your new home, and send you upstairs to your room to check out the clock that your dad bought you as a gift. Set the clock to a time, and head back downstairs.

Once you are done talking to your mom, head to the other house in the town and go upstairs. When you attempt to pick up the Pokéball, your rival will walk into the room and introduce himself. After he finishes talking, head to the Lab. In talking to the scientist, you will find that the professor, your rival’s father, is out doing some field work. Exit the lab and attempt to leave the town via the north exit. A girl will stop you and state that she is hearing noises up ahead. She will then ask you to go and check it out.

Obey, and you will find Professor Birch being chased by a Zigzagoon. He will call for you to go into his bag and take a Pokémon to help him. Your choices are Mudkip, Torchic, and Treecko. It is mostly up to personal preference as to which one to take. Once you have selected a Pokémon, you will be sent into battle with the Zigzagoon. It is a very simple battle, so just attack with Tackle/Scratch/Pound until the enemy faints. Once you defeat the Zigzagoon, you will be taken back to the Lab.

In your talk with the professor, you will be complimented on your battling skills. Professor Birch will allow you to keep the Pokémon that you selected, and will then tell you to go see his child, your rival.

Once you are finished speaking with the Professor, head out of the northern exit onto Route 101. There isn't much on this route other than tall grass and some random NPCs to speak with. You may train up your Pokémon on the Wild Pokémon here if you wish, but other than that just make your way north to Oldale Town.

There isn't much of interest in Oldale Town, however if you have been training your Pokémon you may want to consider resting up at the Pokémon Center. There is also a Pokémart in this town, where you can stock up on supplies. However, you can't buy very many things there quite yet. If you speak with the shopkeeper standing outside next to a house, he will tell you about Pokémarts and give you a free potion. Once you are finished here, continue heading north.

Continue north out of Oldale Town, and onto Route 103. Head to the top of Route 103 and you will find your rival standing there, doing field work for the Professor. Once you talk to your rival, a battle will be initiated, so it is recommended that you save your game first. In doing this, if you make a fatal mistake you may simply reload your game and try again. This is recommended to do before any major battle or event. It may also be a wise decision to train your Pokémon up to at least Level 6. This will give you a large advantage over your rival. Anyway, once you are ready, initiate conversation with your rival.

• Rival Battle - May or Brendan

Rival

• • • • •

300

If you picked Treecko:

Torchic Lv. 5

• Scratch
• Growl

If you picked Torchic:

Mudkip Lv. 5

• Tackle
• Growl

If you picked Mudkip:

Treecko Lv. 5

• Pound
• Leer

This battle with your rival is quite easy, and doesn't require any real strategy. Simply beat on the opposing Pokémon with your attacking move, which unless you trained up on Wild Pokémon, will only be Tackle/Pound/Scratch, depending on your starter. If your opponent scores a critical hit or you make a wrong move and are in a position where you would lose, you can use that potion you grabbed. You did grab it, right? Anyway, once you have finished the battle, and hopefully won, your rival will tell you to head back to the lab. Follow him/her all the way back to Littleroot Town.

Once you get to the Professor's Lab, head inside and speak to him. He will tell you about the Pokédex, and then give it to you. You fill out some information in your Pokédex when you see a Pokémon, but you won't be able to see all of it until you catch the Pokémon. The goal of the Pokédex is to fill it out completely, however that is optional. If you do manage to fill it out completely, you will earn some interesting rewards. You will also acquire 5 Pokéballs, which may be used to capture weak and low level Pokémon. You may also now buy Pokéballs from the Pokémart.

Exit the lab once you are finished speaking to the Professor and your rival, and head up towards the exit onto Route 101. Your mother will stop you and give you the Running Shoes as a parting gift before you head out on your journey. These are very useful for getting around faster. With all of that finished, it is finally time to head out on your grand journey.

• The Journey Begins

Once you are finished in Littleroot, head back up through Route 101 into Oldale, and then make a left onto Route 102. Be careful, this route has the first regular trainers that you will fight in the game. These trainers are very easy however, and are good for some experience. You may also catch some interesting wild Pokémon on this route. A Ralts can be a good choice, though they are quite rare to find. However, a powerful Psychic type Pokémon can be well worth it. If you do catch some Pokémon and want to train them up, simply enter a battle, be it Wild Pokémon or a trainer, with the Pokémon you want to train in the first slot of your party. As soon as the battle begins, switch out to your more powerful Pokémon (likely your starter), and defeat them. They will split the experience.

Just defeat all of the trainers in the area and make your way down the route. If you find yourself low on health or PP, you can return to Oldale Town to use the Pokémon Center. At the northern part of the route, about halfway through, you will see some plant-like things. These are berry plants. You may take berries from them, which can be used in battle and other assorted things. You may also plant the berries to grow more, which can be very beneficial for some of the more rare ones. The Oran Berries will restore health, and Pecha Berries will cure poison. Grab them, and continue onwards. There will be another female trainer, and beyond her if you head down you can find a potion. Grab this if you wish, and continue onwards into Petalburg City.

Once you arrive in Petalburg city you may want to take them time to rest your Pokémon at the Pokémon Center after those trainers. Other than that, there is not much else to do in Petalburg before we continue onwards. You may consider going into housing and seeing what people have to say, or stocking up on supplies from the Pokémart. Once you are finished, head into the Gym at the northern part of the city. Inside, speak to the man standing there. This man is your father, the Normal Type Gym Leader. He will talk to you, and tell you that you should come challenge him once you get stronger. Before you can leave however, a boy named Wally comes in asking for a Pokémon. Your dad will tell you to go out with Wally to help him catch one, but really he will be showing you the basics of catching a Pokémon.

Once you are all done with that, you may attempt to leave Petalburg City from the western exit. Before you can you will be stopped by a man in sun glasses. He will ask you if you are a trainer, but before you may answer he will decide that you aren't one. How rude. Anyway, head out onto Route 104.

Once you leave Petalburg City, you will find yourself on Route 104. Head north past the house and fight the trainer out side the entrance to Petalburg Woods. You may also look around in the tall grass for Pokémon, or train up your Pokémon. You may also grab the berries that are sitting at the north-eastern corner of the route. Other than that, head up into Petalburg Woods.

• The Darkness of the Forest

Petalburg Woods is fairly straight-forward. From the entrance, head left and wind your way north. Defeat the trainer and be sure to pick up the Parlyz Heal. You can also catch some interesting Pokémon here, such as Slakoth. Anyway, after a short run through the forest you will come across a man talking to himself. He will come up to you and ask you about Shroomish (which you can also catch here), but before you can answer, a Team Aqua Grunt will come up behind the man. The man will then hide behind you, and you will be entered into a battle with the grunt!

• Team Aqua Grunt

Team Aqua Grunt

• • • • •

180

Zigzagoon Lv. 9

• Tackle
• Howl
• Sand-Attack

This grunt isn't really more difficult to fight than any of the other trainers you have fought so far. Just beat him down with your strongest attacks. Once you defeat him, he will run off. The man will give you a Great Ball for your troubles. Keep heading through the forest and fight the last trainer. Be sure to grab the Ether before you leave the forest. We're almost there!

Out of the north exit to Petalburg Woods is the other part of Route 104, which is the previous route that we were on. This route takes us to Rustboro City, where our first gym battle is located, so let's get moving. First however, speak to the man standing close to the exit from Petalburg Woods. He will give you TM09, Bullet Seed. Also speak to the woman standing outside of the building, who will give you a White Herb. Next, head inside the building to find that it is the Flower Shop. Talk to one of the women near in the northern part of the building to get the Wailmer Pail, which may be used to water berries that you have planted. You may also speak with a girl here to get a Leppa Berry. While you're at it, grab the berries that are outside the Flower Shop.

Next, continue down the path and defeat all of the trainers that are found here. Head north up along the wooden path and you will find your first double battle. In these battles, there are two Pokémon out at a time for both sides. Other than that, they work just like a regular battle, though you should be careful as some moves will only target one Pokémon, where as others will target all of them. That could include your other Pokémon on the field! Anyway, continue onward and defeat all of the trainers. Grab the berries to the east once you reach land again. Speak to the woman standing by the berry patch to get a Chesto Berry. After that, head north into Rustboro City.

Welcome to Rustboro City, the first big city that we will be visiting on our journey through the Hoenn region. Likewise, it is the first city with a gym who's leader we will be facing. There are some things that we can take care of before the gym, but we will leave those for the next chapter. It's time to fight a gym leader. Heal up your Pokémon, and consider purchasing some supplies such as potions from the Pokémart. When you are ready, head into the gym located in the north-eastern corner of the city.

This gym puzzle is very easy and straightforward. Simply make your way through the maze, defeating the three trainers as you go for the experience. Once you reach the Gym Leader, Roxanne, be sure to save your game and return to the Pokémon Center to heal before the battle. Once you are ready, go challenge Roxanne!

• Leader Roxanne

Leader Roxanne

• • •

1500

Geodude Lv. 12

• Tackle
• Defense Curl
• Rock Throw
• Rock Tomb

Geodude Lv. 12

• Tackle
• Defense Curl
• Rock Throw
• Rock Tomb

Nosepass Lv. 14

• Block
• Harden
• Tackle
• Rock Tomb

Welcome to your first gym battle! If you picked Treecko or Mudkip, this battle is a cinch. Simply attack her Geodude and Nosepass with your grass or water move, and you will win easily. If something goes wrong with the Nosepass, who can hit for a lot and has a lot of HP, simply use potions to tank through the damage until you can attack. Overall, this battle is simple with the grass or water starter.

However, if you picked Torchic this battle is going to be a bit more difficult. Rock-type attacks hit for a lot on our poor little fire bird, and fire does very little to these rock-type Pokémon. You could attempt to defeat Roxanne with Torchic, however it is likely a lot easier to train up one of the many grass-type Pokémon that were available for you to catch. I would suggest Lotad, as it learns it's grass-type attack at only level 5. Ludicolo (it's final evolution) can also be a powerful asset later on in the game, especially if you picked Torchic.

Anyway, once you have defeated Roxanne, she will present you with the Stone Badge, and TM39 Rock Tomb. Congratulations on defeating the first gym!