Fog

I head north on Route 210. I notice something odd in the thick, tall grass ahead. Apsu has to beat down a wild Ponyta for me to get closer. Easy enough. And it turns out that what I saw was just some kid who thinks he's a ninja. We battle, of course. Apsu makes quick work of his Geodude with dragon rage. I switch to Inanna, put the next Geodude to sleep, and bring in Hanuman to rock smash the helpless, uh, rock. And of course, my opponent's third and final pokemon is another Geodude. Ninhursag gets this one (in a single hit).

I fight my way through weeds and little flaming ponies to another anomaly in the field that can only be another fake ninja. This one uses Zubat. Sekhmet is confused. This calls for Articuno. Next is a cute little guy called Skorupi. Cute, but outmatched by Sekhmet.

From what my opponents have said, there are three fake ninjas hiding out here for no reason. I hunt the last one down in the same manner as the first two. He only has one pokemon. It's Stunky. I keep things simple and just let Apsu dragon rage my problems away.

Cynthia said something about rare pokemon living in this direction, but so far all that I've seen have Ponytas and Kricketunes. Maybe I'll find something good later.

Or maybe it will get impossibly foggy just as I'm thinking that and I'll be attacked by a Psyduck. Probably one of the ones who blocked this road earlier. You're going down, roadblock. Sekhmet defeats the annoying pokemon in one hit, but suffers some damage herself. She'll need healing before she enters combat again.

And then there's the matter of the fog. Some guy is saying that the move defog could clear this stuff. It's not impossible to get around here, but I'd rather adventure elsewhere. Maybe I'll see about that defog move later. I fly back to the Poke Center, heal my team, and am on my way again.

I know! Wayward Cave. Apsu could push the boulders out of the way with the move strength. I would also need a gym badge to use the move for some reason. How does that even work? What power does the gym badge have? If only I could remember, but I haven't paid attention that nonsense. While I'm considering this, a policeman accosts me. He might be onto me. Have I committed any crimes? I probably have. I'll probably have to kill him...

...or battle him? And that's really easy because his two pokemon are weak and go down in one hit each. With that out of the way, I consider the situation. I need a gym badge to use strength outside of battle, for whatever twisted reason. There's a gym in Hearthome City, but the leader wouldn't battle me. I fly back just to check on that. Maybe she's ready? Flying is awesome.

But the gym leader is still ducking me. Slave's name on the statue in the entrance mocks me. He beat her, but when I show up, she's nowhere to be found. Enough of this. I have a delivery to make. Forget the fog. I can navigate through anything. Or just fly back to town once I'm impossibly lost and start over. Either way, really.

Unfortunately, the fog also seems to have the property of making attacks less accurate in battle, as I find out when the next ninja boy challenges me. Apsu brings down one Zubat. I get so tired of missing the second one that I eventually switch to Articuno, whose never-missing aerial ace is useful in this situation. Sekhmet defeats the boy's Golbat. Against his Skorupi, I use the fog to my advantage by having Ninhursag leech seed, then switching to Inanna and using minimize repeatedly. It's a slow, but tortuously inevitable ending for my opponent.

Inanna evolves into Blissey. Yes! Too bad she has literally no offensive capability. Still, she manages to sing a Grotle to sleep in my next match, which is fun. Eventually, I switch to Articuno and win. The fog turns out to be more annoying than actually impeding. So I press on.

I am challenged by two trainers at once. They use Raichu and Gyarados. I switch Apsu out for Ninhursag and try to hit Gyarados with an electric attack. It works, but Sekhmet is wounded. Enter Hanuman. Eventually, Raichu falls.

Most of the trainers here are "ace trainers" (but they're not actually good or anything, that's just what they're called). The next one tries to use Mothim to poison Apsu, but of course I use an antidote and hit back too hard for the bug to handle. Onix is next, and sounds like a job for Ninhursag, who wins in one attack. Finally, there's Luxio, and I resort to the leech seed/minimize trick again.

The next trainer is far more annoying. He uses Dustox. It seems impossible to kill. Eventually I just use Articuno. That works. After that, I face a gi-wearing trainer who uses Machoke. I have to heal both Ninhursag and Inanna. This fog has definitely become irritating. The Machoke succumbs to leech seed and I continue stumbling through this infernal fog.

I meet another ninja boy. This one uses Croagunk (one hit from Hanuman's flame wheel) and Golbat. Sekhmet is too weakened to beat Golbat, although the fog is what really makes that difficult. Apsu finishes the job. I keep walking. I am challenged by a bird keeper. Apsu makes quick work of her owl pokemon.

Finally, just when I think I'm about to get out of this fog-infested abyss, I am ambushed by an old man. He leads with Buizel. I switch from the badly damaged Apsu to the only mostly damaged Ninhursag. I use toxic spikes, leech seed, and then giga drain, which misses enough times that my opponent's aqua jets and quick attacks nearly force Ninhursag out. I switch Inanna and let the toxic spikes do their job against the old man's Girafarig. Or rather, I would, but the Girafarig does a few moves, then uses baton pass and brings in Machoke. Tricky. But now both of them are poisoned. Machoke takes Inanna out with low kick. I don't have much left. I need to heal my team. But Hanuman isn't too damaged right now. I call him in. The poison still does most of the work. Girafarig's psybeam devastates Hanuman. Sekhmet is badly damaged and Ninhursag couldn't take a psybeam. So it's all up to Articuno. And of course, Girafarig is useless against Articuno.

I loot some berries and head into Celestic Town. I make a beeline for the Poke Center. We need the rest.