Monferno

I go back to that same patch of grass as before. This time, I am attacked not be Machop, but by Geodude. I switch to Kazza. Geodude uses mud sport. I have Kazza use teleport. The battle ends. Teleport lets me escape from battles? I check. It only lets me flee from wild pokemon. But outside of battle, I can use it to return to the last Poke Center I visited. Not completely useless, but useless in battle for the moment, as is Apsu. Brahma is not much better. I may need to adjust my team. Or just teach Kazza hidden power, perhaps.

I encounter another Geodude. This time I switch to Articuno. Wait, what? That's not Brahma. I cannot help but feel that his has something to do with my earlier loss of consciousness and mysterious visit to the Pokemon Communication Club. Forget it. I tell Articuno to use ice beam. Geodude goes down easily. Then I see that I cannot go around the muddy slope. A wall is in the way. Back to Oreburgh City then.

There is no road east and no road south. The road north is blocked. The only way out is the way I came from: west. Just as I am about to enter the tunnel, Slave runs into me, again, literally, again. He tells me what I already know: that I cannot get through Route 207 without a bicycle. He intends to go to Eterna City, then dashes off. Am I destined to always follow this boy? I head north at the fork in the tunnel. Some boulders block my path. Oh right, rock smash. How fortuitous. Without that man giving me the HM for no reason, I would never be able to get through. I boot up the HM. Only Articuno and Hanuman are compatible with it. I choose Hanuman. He cannot know more than four moves, so I replace Scratch. Smashing is more fun than scratching anyway. With that taken care of, I proceed to have Hanuman smash every boulder in sight. This is fun.

I am interrupted by a wild Zubat. Catch it? Why do that when I can have Articuno blast it with ice. Articuno disobeys me though. I try again. Articuno decides to take a nap. The Zubat is attacking Articuno with everything it has. Articuno continues to nap. Finally, Articuno wakes up and uses ice beam once. Zubat faints. So this was what the old woman meant about pokemon obtained in trades. It would be a problem, but Articuno takes such seemingly paltry damage from anything these wild pokemon do. Another Zubat appears. Aerial ace takes it down. Another Zubat appears. Articuno is stubborn at first, but attacks and again lays the foe out in one move.

A psyduck attacks. This time I switch to Sekhmet. Water is bad against electric types, but Sekhmet still has no electric moves. Psyduck wins, but barely. I switch in Kazza, but realize that he cannot do anything. Your turn again, Articuno. One hit, as always. Kazza rises to Level 7 from the experience. I continue switching to Articuno, who has no problems with anything, other than obeying me. It occurs to me that I I have reached another point I cannot cross without a bicycle. How annoying. I backtrack. Articuno falls asleep against a psyduck. Articuno wakes up only to fall asleep again. Finally, Articuno sees things my way and uses aerial ace.

A Geodude appears. Well, Hanuman does know rock smash now. I switch him in. Rock smash does a lot of damage to Geodude, which makes sense. Just as I am almost out of the tunnel and back on my way to Jubilife City, I run into another Geodude. Rock smash again? Oh yes. Wait. What's this? Hanuman grows bright white and transforms into a larger and burlier monkey. The pokedex claims he evolved into Monferno. While the name is more taxonomically accurate, I must protest that this is not how evolution works. This process should be considered a metamorphosis perhaps. No one is listening. I exit the cavern and return to Jubilife City.