Chapter 5: Kicking Rocket a**…FOR SCIENCE!!!Last time on Let’s Play Pokémon FireRed, we caught a Pikachu, defeated Brock, and taught some astrophysics.
Here’s where we left off last time.
We have now entered
Route 3. There are about 4 new Pokémon to obtain here and none of them I’ll be getting.
There are a lot of trainer battles on this route as well. If I show all of them, this’ll take forever, so I’ll only show a few.
Let’s start with the pretty lass.
No, I’m looking down south.
…wow, that did not come out right.
This wench only has two Pokémon and they’re both Pidgey…
Yeah, I'm sure you guessed who I'd send out.
I think I’ll take this opportunity to explain abilities. Abilities are special characteristics and powers Pokémon can use in battle when certain conditions are met. For example, Pikachu’s Static ability paralyzes opponents who use moves that make direct contact with her body. There are many abilities in the game and not all Pokémon of the same species have the same ability.
I didn’t even bother showing the entire fight. It was two Pidgey against a Pikachu; who’d you think would come out on top?
No I’m not!
Okay, I lied.
And I’ll beat you again.
What’d I tell ya?
neutral 
I wasn’t going to show this fight, but apparently he has an
Ekans, a Pokémon we haven’t seen yet. Ekans can only be found on certain routes in FireRed. Its evolved form, Arbok, isn’t really that bad of a Pokémon, but I prefer the Koffing family better in terms of Poison-types. Still, it’s not a bad catch and its Wrap attack was the bane of your ‘mon’s existence back in Gen 1.
Fighting-types don’t do real well against Poison for some reason, so I’ll give Spearow a chance to stretch his wings.
Wow, Spearow took out half its HP with one hit…albeit, it used Leer first, but still. Spearow’s finally hitting hard.
Go for the eyes, Fawkes! Blind the Basilisk!
Say, that gives me an idea for a nickname. What do you guys think? Should I nickname Spearow “Fawkes?”
Me neither…
Shorts
are comfy!
I’ll be sure to buy a pair with this.
Oh, come on! Will these trainers ever end?
Oh well, who to take? Well, if I challenge the lass, there’d be no way to avoid the bug catcher because she’ll walk up and block my path. However, if I go for the bug catcher, I’ll be able to sneak past the lass.
Against my nature, I’m avoiding the lass.
I won’t show this fight because he had nothing interesting to fight with. I’ll be doing that often from now on. They got nothing interesting, I won’t show.
Now for this guy.
They were just Caterpie and Metapod…nothing we need to see.
Now that we have some grass, I think it’s time to grind and show some new Pokémon on this route.
This here is a male Nidoran. Nidoran come in two varieties:
male and
female. The male is more offensive oriented while the female is more defensive. Both families are great though; they have good balanced stats, but what makes them so useful is their deep move pool; they’re capable of learning a wide variety of attacks, very useful for creating a mixed attacker.
I’m not going to catch one, though. I used a Nidoran on my last playthrough and I don’t want to use one again this time.
Lastly is
Jigglypuff, a Normal-type. Jigglypuff and its evolution, Wigglytuff, are alright Pokémon. They’ve got a deep movepool, a ton of HP, and decent attack stats, but on the other hand, their defensive stats are very poor and they’re not very fast either. I won’t be getting one; there are better Normal-types out there.
One particularly annoying thing about the Jigglypuff line, though, is their uncanny ability to put foes to sleep by Singing. The Sleep status ailment prevents affected Pokémon from attacking for a certain amount of time; eventually they wake up, but the amount of turns it takes to do so varies.
I forgot this chick was a trainer.
I was going to say “Raping time,” but that probably would’ve offended some people.
...wait.
All she has is a pink thing. She should be easy.
Yep. I was just kidding about the rape thing. I like mine consenting...and not named "Robin."
Let’s continue our excursion.
We have arrived at the base of Mt. Moon. Since so many trainers pass through this route, they decided it would be pragmatic to build a Pokémon Center here.
Smart.
Really, don’t forget to heal before heading into Mt. Moon.
This guy in the corner will sell you a Magikarp for the measly price of 500 smackers. You may think this is a con deal at first, but it really pays off in the long run.
Here’s
Magikarp:
Magikarp itself is a very useless Pokémon. It starts off with only knowing a move called Splash, which does absolutely nothing. It eventually learns Tackle, but its stats unfortunately suck. Like I said, it’s pretty harmless and unthreatening.
It’s
evolved form on the other hand…well:
Image belongs to AlreadyOverWhat, Deviantart. (http://alreadyoverwhat.deviantart.com/)…that’s a whole different story. I highly recommend that one.
Despite my high recommendation for Magikarp’s evolved form, I won’t be getting one. I’ve already decided on my Water-type. It’ll arrive later on.
Sounds like a bunch of ne’er-do-wells.
Don’t worry, I’m sure the police will handle it.
Be sure to pack plenty of supplies before heading into Mt. Moon. Aside from the usual medical provisions, I recommend Repels for limiting annoying wild encounters and having an Escape Rope handy in case you get lost.
Well, here we go.
We’re now at our second dungeon,
Mt. Moon. There are a good number of new Pokémon to find in this place. The caverns are a natural labyrinth, so it’s easy to get lost if you don’t know what you’re doing.
One thing this Mountain is famous for is it’s one of the few places in this world to get Moon Stones, an evolutionary stone that makes certain Pokémon evolve. It’s also famous for being one of the few places to catch Clefairy.
That item on the left of the entrance was a TM containing Bullet Seed. Bullet Seed is a pretty decent grass-type move; it hits for a certain amount of damage multiple times per turn.
There are many trainers in this cavern. Fortunately, there’s usually enough room to sneak past them if you don’t feel like battling.
Near that one trainer in the top left corner is a Paralyz Heal.
First encounter you’re probably going to have in this dungeon is one of these guys. This is a
Zubat; be prepared to see these things
very often. I don’t really recommend Zubat all that much, but if you have enough patience and make it very happy, its final form Crobat is a very good Pokémon; good stats with lots of speed.
Most people hate these things though, mainly because they show up in every cave in the game and there’s so many of them.
Being in a cave is risky if your team is on its last legs. Every single step you take is a potential wild encounter. Don’t run unless you have to; it increases the chance of being attacked.
I’m going to battle this girl because she has a Pokémon I’ll have to go over eventually.
What she has is a
Clefairy. These things are pretty rare Pokémon, but they can be found here on Mt. Moon. Clefairy evolves into Clefable when exposed to a Moon Stone and Clefable is a pretty good Normal-type, better than Wigglytuff in fact.
Did I mention Clefairy can also put foes to sleep?
No, b***h just killed Spearow!
Mankey! I want that pink thing's...head? Arms? Whatever, just kill it.
blaugh 
In this dungeon you’ll find several ladders that will lead to lower or higher levels.
This is
Geodude, a Rock/Ground-type; we saw these earlier in Brock’s Gym. Geodude and its evolved forms make great physical tanks with good move pools. However, it’s really slow and can’t dish out or take special attacks very well. I wouldn’t recommend getting one unless you are able to trade with someone; its final form can only be acquired via trade and playing on an emulator makes that impossible for me.
Head to the very bottom-right corner of this floor and you’ll find a Rare Candy. Rare Candies increase a Pokémon’s level by one. It’s a very useful item for raising Pokémon fast, but as the name implies, they aren’t very common.
I decided to give it to Spearow since he won’t get much opportunity to level up in here.
Head directly north of the Rare Candy spot and you’ll come across an Escape Rope. These things will transport you out of the dungeon and you’ll wind up back at the entrance.
Mr. Saint sure took his sweet time ensuring our trip through the mountain will be less strenuous.
It’s once again time to become...Solid Tyler.
The last wild Pokémon we’re going to be encountering here is
Paras, a Grass/Bug-type. Paras and its evolution, Parasect, are decent Pokémon, but not very practical in higher tier battling. However, they make excellent Pokémon to catch other Pokémon with due to their arsenal of status changing moves, including Spore, a very potent sleep-inducer.
On a related note, take some time to read about
the inspiration behind Paras and Parasect and good luck wanting to evolve your Paras ever again.
Nightmare Fuel aside, remember that ladder I talked about earlier? I’m gonna go down and check things out.
We’re now on a lower level of Mt. Moon.
There appears to be some suspicious loiterer over there.
Oh, great, it’s those criminals the old man in the Pokémon Center was talking about.
Our first encounter with Team Rocket!
His first Pokémon is a Sandshrew.
Spearow needs to get some fresh air…or air that’s as fresh as can be within a cave.
Spearow learned Fury Attack a little while back. It’s a multiple-hit move, pure and simple.
Excellent!
His next two Pokémon are Rattata and Zubat. I’m not showing those fights.
Grunts are usually pathetic. You can come across Bug Catchers more challenging than they are.
Head right after beating the Grunt and you’ll come across a Star Piece. These things don’t really do anything, but you can sell it at a Poke’Mart for a good price.
I’m heading back up to the top floor.
Head a little north, and then go west to proceed further into the cave. We’ve found another ladder. Let’s see where it leads.
Oh, goodie. More bad guys. This one might be avoidable at least.
A TM containing Thief can be found on this…I’m not sure what to call this rock formation I’m standing on.
Anyway, Thief is a Dark-type move that has a chance of stealing the target’s held item if it hits.
Well, so much for this guy being avoidable. He has a Zubat and Ekans, nothing we haven’t seen before.
This small rock formation contains an Ether. Ethers restore the PP of a move by 10. This reminds me, I don’t think I’ve explained PP yet. I will sometime later in a battle.
Back on the top floor, we find an item and another ladder. This ladder you must go down, as it leads to the right path to the exit.
The item is a Moon Stone, which evolves certain Pokémon like Clefairy. I’m not using any Pokémon that require it, though, so it’s probably going to get stored in my PC.
Heading down the ladder will eventually lead you to the bottom-most floor.
Head a little north from the ladder and you’ll come across a Revive. These things will restore a fainted Pokémon to battle-readiness with about half of its max HP.
Another hapless grunt.
Thankfully this one’s avoidable.
Geez, this wall sure is long.
There’s no way to avoid this Rocket.
Wait, there’re fossils here?
Just think! Secrets of creatures long past. Missing links to areas of the Pokémon phylogenetic tree! Evidence of several Pokémon being linked by common ancestry! All of that in the hands of these low-life criminal scumbags!
We must kick some a**…
FOR SCIENCE!!
Only two Pokémon. His first Pokémon is Rattata. I think I’ll skip that one.
His next one’s a Zubat. I’m showing this one because Lizardo needs some screen time. Lizardo hates not having screen time.
m/
Burn the bat!
Lizardo hates annoying bats.
You have been defeated in the name of science!
You have also been mugged in the name of science!
We’re almost out of this place. We just need to take care of this guy here.
NO!!
Now, now! No need to be avaricious.
Oh my God, it’s a NERD!!! Stop wasting your time making Let's Plays that no one reads and get a girlfriend!!!
His first Pokémon is a Grimer, a Poison-type. These things are basically pollution gone semi-sentient.
They also look like the product of this nerd’s quality time with his right hand. Want proof? Look at
its evolution, then spell its name backwards.
I’m not taking any chances with this thing. I’m paralyzing it. Paralysis will lower the victim’s speed and also prevents it from attacking on a random basis.
Uh-oh…
Great, Pikachu’s been poisoned. The Poison status ailment will damage the Pokémon at the end of each turn. Poison will also remain outside of battle; every several steps you take cause the Pokémon to take damage. Fortunately, you can cure this easily with an antidote.
Kill it with thunder!
No more blob-monster!
His next Pokémon is Koffing, another Poison-type. This thing’s got pretty high defense, so we’re going to need to utilize special attacks…Lizardo’s expertise.
Lizardo hates gaseous cloud things.
His last Pokémon is a Voltorb, an electric-type Pokémon with an explosive personality…literally.
The Burn status ailment works like Poison, except it also lowers the victims’ Attack stat and it doesn’t continue to hurt outside of battle.
I hate that move. So. Much. "Harshly fell" means it lower by a large amount, rather than a normal amount.
Lizardo hates…balls? *sigh* I don’t even know what to say anymore.
Yay, we beat up a nerd! It’s like high school all over again…except it’s not me getting beaten this time!
Beating up people to get them to share…the American way!
Exactly.
Well, we’ve got two fossils to choose from.
The Helix Fossil will eventually net us an
Omanyte.
The Dome Fossil will eventually net us a
Kabuto.
Both of these Pokémon are Water/Rock-types and pretty good ones to boot.
I think this is the perfect place to leave off. I was planning on ending after we got out of Mt. Moon, but this is the perfect opportunity for a poll.
What’ll it be, guys? The Helix fossil or the Dome fossil?
You decide.
Next chapter:
The closest thing to an actual city we’ll have seen so far…This Let's Play is brought to you by LightsideDarksider, aka Tyler. Tyler is a sophomore Biology major at CSU Monterey Bay and is secretly a vigilante who kicks criminal a** in the name of science.
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