What to do next... oh right Normal gym. Mel's Mach Punch kept everyone on the ropes up until Norman's Slaking, for whom I swapped out Lepida. Psybeam, Protect, Psybeam, Protect, Psybeam, Protect, Psybeam, Protect, Psybeam, Protect, Psybeam, Protect, Psybeam, Protect, Psybeam, Protect, Psybeam, Protect, Psybeam, Protect, Psybeam... uh, swap Mel back in and Mach Punch the last few HP away for the KO. This gives me the HM for Surf and the ability to use it, so I teach it to Lyyke. Beats Water Gun any day.
Route 104: I catch a Wingull thinking I'm already in Route 105. I'll let it go when I get to a PC.
Route 105: Tentacool (Terrence)
I cross Route 106 on land, accidentally KO the two random encounters I have on Route 107, and don't run into anything on Route 109. Oh well.
New Mauville: Magnemite (Fukkin)
Mauville: I swap TheShocker for Fukkin, even though I don't understand how Magnemites work. I release the aforementioned Wingull.
Route 118: I catch a... Wingull. I name it Bill.
Route 119: K... Kecleon? I thought didn't show up in random encounters! Oh well. I name it Unexpected. I hope I never have to use it.
Weather Institute: I earn the obligatory Castform. I name it JackFrost because I hee-hope to use it as an Ice-type for a while. I'll add it to my partee-ho and see how that turns out.
OH FUCK MAY BATTLE DAMMIT
Given my party setup, I don't have anyone strong against Grass-types except JackFrost with Powder Snow. Two Leaf Blades from Grovyle and JackFrost is down... then I remember Lepida has Gust. Dammit. Oh well.
Weather Institute: I put Clyde back into the party to re-replace JackFrost.
Route 120: I run into two Mightyenas, but they Roar me away before I can catch them. Next up is an Absol, which I name Ution. I run back to Fortree to swap him out for Clyde. Then it's time to grind up a few more levels for everyone, because next up is the Grass gym and Lyyke won't help me much here. Come to think of it... I have such lousy coverage against Grass-types that I pull Vesuvius out of storage and grind him up, too. This is not going to be pretty.
...oh. Fortree's gym is Flying-type. WHY ARE YOU IN THE TREE CITY well I guess birds live in trees FINE GAWD I'll go respec my party. All that leveling... :(
I drop Vesuvius for Lyyke back in the party, and swap Mel for TheShocker.
...Winona's Altaria is the end of my obscenity-named Magneton, DoNotHug, and Ution. Dragon Dance and Earthquake is BRUTAL. TheShocker manages to wall her Tropius with Thunder Wave and a natural resistance to Grass and Flying, and her Tropius is pretty damn good at walling TheShocker with Sunny Day and Synthesis. I have to Howl five times and Super Potion a couple times before I Quick Attack her Tropius to the KO (note to fourth-gen players like myself: Spark is based on Special Attack in this generation, which is part of the reason Manectric sucks so damn much). Skarmory goes down without a fight, and her Pelipper takes my last Spark PP to destroy. I've won again, but as usual it cost me half of my team.
Post-Fortree team: TheShocker, Lepida, Lyyke, Mel, Vesuvius, Clyde (that's Manectric, Dustox, Marshtomp, Breloom, Camerupt, Mightyena). In storage: Marril, Tentacool, Swablu, Wingull, Kecleon, Wynaut. My type coverage is truly suffering here.
Route 120: A Ninja kid's Koffing Selfdestructs, taking Lyyke with it. Bastard! Coward! Bastard!
Route 121: Shuppet (Ansley)
Lilycove City: I dismiss Lyyke. Losing my starter last game was the beginning of the end, and having to take either Tentacool, Wingull, or Marrill as my water-type instead of Marshtomp really hurts. Well, what the hell. Tentacool, you're my new Surfer. Wingull, hope you can Fly. Shuppet comes along too. Current party: Wingull, Manectric, Breloom, Camerupt, Shuppet, Tentacool. And I'm off to very carefully level everyone up. Thank God this emulator has fast-forward.
Safari Zone: Oddish (Roflesia)
Route 122: Another Goddamned Wingull (AGW for short)
Route 123: Gloom. Even if I didn't have a grass-type and a two poison-types, I just caught a damn Oddish. I name it Redundant!, including the exclamation point.
Mt. Pyre: I accidentally KO the two Shuppets I ran into on the way up (Vesuvius's Rock Slide is better than I thought). Once I hit the summit, I find a Chimecho right off. When I remember how long I ran around up here looking for one the first time I ever played, it's super-annoying to run into one now. What "luck" to run into such a rare-but-weak Pokemon! I name it GoodChimes.
Magma Hideout: I have to teach somebody Strength to get in, so I replace TheShocker's Howl. This place is full of Geodudes and (IIRC) Gravelers and not much else as random encounters. I put Ansley on point since she's immune to SelfDestruct, which saves me on three occasions while wearing down some random encounter HP. The fifth guy I run into is a Torkoal, and since those don't blow themselves up I catch it and name it Eddie.
Aqua Hideout: The closest thing to random encounters here are the fake-item Electrodes, so I catch one of those and name it Edortcele. Yeah, I got nuthin'. Mel makes quick work of the Water and Dark types Team Aqua are so fond of.
Route 124: Tentacool (Rocket)
Mossdeep: Super Rod get! Now I can get into some random encounters in areas I couldn't before. Sort of.
Petalburg: Corphish (Creole)
Dewford: Wailmer (Titan)
Slateport: Wailmer (HugeGuts)
While doing my city tour, I run into May again in Lilycove. I guess I missed her earlier. This fight is no problem, and access to the Department Store nets me a Substitute move tutor on the roof. I teach it to Mel, then burn my Focus Punch TM on him too. It's a classic combination. Anyway, once I'm done I go fishing and catch yet another Wailmer (Phobos).
Route 125: Wingull. I'm not even naming this one.
Shoal Cove: Spheal (Wilford). I fly to Mossdeep and swap out Spheal for Tentacruel and Swablu for Wingull. Why? Because what the hell. At this point my PC storage is half Water-types.
Mossdeep Gym: I drop off Breloom and Gloom in the PC and bring in Mightyena and... uh, Camerupt. Yeah. There are lots of double battles in the Psychic gym, so my Ghost-doll and Dark-wolf combo will be headlining throughout. Unfortunately, a brutal assault from Liza&Tate's nigh-invincible Claydol and their Calm-Mind-happy Xatu wipes my entire party.
Back at the PC Box, I bid farewell to Banette, Sealeo, Mightyena, Manectric, and Altaria. I need to choose a party that's resistant to Psychic and Earthquake, plus whatever Liza&Tate's Lunatone and Solrock are packing. Unfortunately, that rules out Electrode, Torkoal, Oddish, Gloom, Breloom, Dustox, and Tentacool and Tentacruel. I'm left to choose from Marrill, Wynaut, Chimecho, Kecleon, Corphish, Pelipper, Wingull, Wingull, Wailmer, Wailmer, Wailmer. Super lame.
Okay, so. Corphish is Water/Dark, or will be once it evolves, so that resists Ground and is immune to Psychic. Let's go with that. Pelipper ignores Earthquake but will die to Rock Slide, which I'm pretty sure their Lunatone and Solrock are both packing, so I'll have to be careful with that one. Chimecho resists Psychic and ignores Earthquake due to its Levitate ability. So there's three.
Um.
Hmm.
TWO WAILMERS AND A KECLEON I'm going to die.
Time to level up.
Corphish learns Taunt right before it evolves, so that'll at least keep the pair from using Calm Mind. OTOH it means they'll be on an all-out offensive with powerful moves, so I'm not sure how much that'll actually help. Crawdaunt doesn't actually have a Dark move better than Knock Off, though, and his Water move is Crabhammer! Hahaha I'm doomed!
The Wailmers pick up Mist, so that even if Taunt wears off (I honestly have no idea what the duration is) or if Corphish goes down, I can remove the Calm Mind buffs from their guys. Phobos evolves at 40 like usual. I stop Titan from evolving in hopes she picks up Water Spout, and sure enough, she does at 41, so I let her evolve then.
Kecleon picks up Substitute, so maybe he'll die more slowly. Maybe.
God, there goes a part of my life I'll never get back. Back to Liza&Tate!