Pokemon Pearl - Getting Started

Started out naming my character, named my "best friend" Simon (though I find his headstrong rush into anything and everything to be annoying, especially as that everything included ME on a few occasions thus far) went to Lake Verity to find a Red Gyarados (shout-out to Gold and Silver, correct?) and only found trouble with a wild Starly.

I chose Turtwig (Grass, female, Lv. 5) and fought it off with a few Tackles. Simon said that we needed to give back the Pokemon we had taken from the old man's suitcase, and before we could do anything Dawn came by and grabbed the suitcase, worried about us having taken the Pokemon. We went ahead and met up with the professor and Dawn on the way back to town, and were told to meet them at the lab in Sandgem Town.

I went back home to Twinleaf Town, rested up, then headed over to Sandgem Town. I went to the lab and received my Pokedex, and named my Turtwig Annabelle. I admit I was surprised that I received a female starter; I figured they'd only be males to keep people from breeding starters, assuming of course the child takes after the mother. I'll need to know more about breeding going into X and Y, I think, especially if I can offer Turtwigs for other starter Pokemon I'm missing from my collection.

Dawn gave me the obligatory Pokemon Center and Poke' Mart explanations, and I went ahead and bought 3 Pokeballs while I was there, thinking maybe I wasn't going to be getting any Pokeballs from her after she just left. I went back home, got into a couple battles on the way and built Annabelle to Level 7, then when I got home we rested up, talked to Mom about my decision to go adventuring, got some Running Shoes as a gift, then received a package from Simon's mom that needed to be brought to him (sounded like he was too busy rushing to pack and get started to tell his mother much of anything or to hold a conversation) and I headed out on my adventure.

I went down Route 201 and caught a Starly (Normal/Flying, Male, Lv. 2) after a short battle, and named him Marcus. I then continued on towards the next town, meeting up with Dawn, who showed me (belatedly) how to capture Pokemon, THEN proceeded to give me 5 Pokeballs. I felt foolish spending the money on Pokeballs at the Sandgem Poke' Mart, but I know I'll be using them soon enough anyway. I went into the tall grass down Route 202 towards the next town, found a Shinx (Electric, Male, Lv. 3) and sent out Marcus, but switched out to Annabelle because Marcus seemed too weak to do much. I caught the Shinx and named him Maximus.

While traveling through Route 202, I came upon another Trainer, Tristan, who proceeded to challenge me, claiming our eyes met and thus we must battle (even though I wasn't even looking at the fucker). He sent out a Level 5 Starly, and I sent out Marcus. Marcus unfortunately got badly hurt with just one attack, and I sent out Annabelle after, though she had received some injuries from wild Pokemon battling in the bushes before. She missed a couple Tackles, got banged up, and I used a Potion to bring her health back up. After a few more Tackles I defeated him, and Marcus grew to Level 3, and Annabelle grew to Level 7. Got chump change from beating him after all the trouble, not even enough to make up for the Potion I had to use...

I think I'm going to spend a while longer on Route 202 to train my Pokemon and get them to about Level 10. Marcus isn't going to be much use until at least Level 5, and I don't think Maximus will be either. I need them to be at some kind of fighting strength before I get to the next town.

Current Team:

Annabelle (Turtwig, Grass, Lv. 7)
Marcus (Starly, Normal/Flying, Lv. 4)
Maximus (Shinx, Electric, Lv. 3)