Part 5 :: Gold, Silver and Crystal Walkthrough

Route 33, Slowpoke Well and Azalea Town
By Iceduck

Outside Union Cave

Once you exit Union Cave, you'll probably need to heal your Pokémon straight away. Don't worry - you don have to go through any long grass unless you want to, but there's a trainer nearby which you'll have to dodge if your Pokémon are low on HP. Hell also ask you for your number. Give it to him if you e planning on training ice, water, flying or psychic types - he's good for easy experience. Otherwise, he's not worth the bother, because he phones every chance he gets.

There's nothing new in the long grass, so the only reason for coming back to this area is to train.

Speaking of training, any Pokémon you wish to use in the future should be trained to around :L16. This includes Magikarp - it'll learn Tackle at :L15, making it marginally easier to train. The useless Sentret will evolve into the overall average Furret at :L15. Zubat should learn Bite soon, marking the end of your horribly weak Pokémon and the beginning of a useful partner. Bite is a Dark move in GS, and can destroy Psychics - one of RBYs hardest challenges. Magikarp will also learn Bite after evolving - notice the pattern? The weak Pokémon become extremely strong compared to other Pokémon at this stage of the game.

Before doing anything else, I suggest you catch a Paras in Ilex Forest (they're always quite rare, but they're slightly more common at night). You can also catch an Oddish at night, and if you catch two you can get a Bellossom and a Vileplume.

You may have noticed several people discussing Slowpoke tails. Slowpoke tails are very expensive, and Team Rocket, who supposedly broke up three years previously, are trying to make money out of them.

Kurt's House Outside

Go to the house at the highest point in Azalea Town, and you'll meet Kurt. Before Pokéballs were invented, people made them out of hollowed-out Apricorns. These weren't always reliable, but Kurts hobby is making Apricorn balls. At the moment, though, he's got other matters to take care of - he's going to try and save the towns Slowpoke population.

Unfortunately, Kurt is very old and hurts his back jumping down the well. Go down the well (east of Azalea Town) and defeat all the Rockets, and the Slowpokes will be returned to their real owners. Kurt will also give you a Lure Ball.

The Lure Ball is as effective as a Poke Ball. You might think this isn't very good, but then it was free. However, it does have an advantage over Poke Balls - throw it at a Pokémon you caught with a rod, and it'll be three times as effective. Even more effective than an Ultra Ball. Save the Lure Ball for a hooked Pokémon. Behind Kurts house is a tree that grows white Apricorns. White Apricorns can be made into Fast Balls! These are more effective for catching Pokémon that like to run away like Magnemite, Teddiursa or the legendary dogs.

Get Pokéballs here!

Give Kurt an Apricorn every day, even if it means having dozens of the same ball. You never know when you'll meet a Pokémon that's easier to capture with a special ball. Kurt takes a day to make a ball - not twenty-four hours, but a day. Give him an Apricorn at 5 to 12 at night, and come back at 5 past 12. It'll be finished! It still requires some patience, though, especially when you haven got HM02 (Fly - it helps you get around the world quicker).

If you try entering Ilex Forest after saving the Slowpokes, your rival will fight you. His Pokémon are on very high levels in comparison with the gym, so I recommend fighting the gym first. If your egg hasn't hatched, walk back and forth until it does. The Pokémon that hatches from it will evolve when happy, so the gym is a perfect opportunity to improve its happiness. The same goes for lil Zubat. Make sure Zubat knows Bite first, though. Leech Life is super-effective against bug types, but some bugs in Bugsys gym are also poison or flying types. Use Leech Life against Paras, Caterpie and Metapod.

Bugsy's Gym!

Here's my suggested team for taking on Bugsy:

Spearow
Pidgey
Mareep
Cyndaquil (if you chose it at the start) or HootHoot (if you didn't )
Zubat
Newly-hatched Pokémon

NOTE: This'll be the last walkthrough page Ill be refraining from naming the Pokémon in the egg. If you don want to ruin the surprise, don read any more pages until it hatches.

TEAM NOTES:
Many Pokémon I've suggested evolve at a reasonably low level. Use your common sense - if I suggest Mareep, a Flaafy will be just as good, or sometimes better.
Pidgey and Spearow are essential for this gym - make sure Pidgey knows Gust, though. Spearow knows Peck anyway, so you don need to worry about that.
Bugsys final Pokémon is a flying type as well as a Bug, so you'll need a Mareep that knows Thunderbolt.
Fire is also very good against bugs, but since Cyndaquils the only fire type you could have at this point of the game (unless you trade, of course, but traded Pokémon tend to get unruly by the time they e strong enough to fight Bugsy) you'll have to choose HootHoot if you didn't choose Cyndaquil at the start. Make sure it knows Peck, otherwise it won be very useful.
Zubats Leech Life is good against most bugs, but Bugsy will cause trouble. Bite is a very good move, but it isn't super-effective against anything you'll see here. Use only when you really need it.
ON NO ACCOUNT should you use your newly-hatched. Even if you e putting it against a poisoned Pokémon, it'll be a close thing. It can deal any damage, but you still need to build up its happiness.

BATTLE TACTICS:
Bugsy first two Pokémon are Metapod and Kakuna. They e better than average, though, since they know String Shot and either Poison Sting or Tackle. Zubats Leech Life can be used against Metapod, but its easier to use a flying or fire move against both Pokémon. Don send Mareep out - save it for the final Pokémon.
The final Pokémon is Scyther. It knows Fury Cutter, which gets stronger each turn. Lower its health as far as possible with your birds and Cyndaquil if you have one. Then send Mareep. Chances are you won need to, but Thundershock should wipe Scyther out anyway. Nothing to hard here - if you e forced to send out Zubat, don't use Leech Life. If you e forced to send out your newly-hatched, hope as hard as you can.

There's nothing too challenging about Bugsy. Most trainers will be able to beat him on their first try as long as they have an adequate team. For winning, you'll get a badge that allows you to use Cut out of battle and makes Pokémon up to :L30 obey you. You'll also get the Fury Cutter TM.

You e not done yet! You've still got to fight your rival on the way to Ilex Forest. Hell have a :L12 Gastly, :L14 Zubat and his starter (on its second evolution stage) at :L16. Butterfrees Confusion should wipe out Gastly. Mareeps Thundershock will take Zubat down. His starter depends on what he chose - for Croconaw, use Bellsprouts Vine Whip or Mareeps Thundershock, use Geodudes Magnitude or Woopers Water Gun against Quilava, and use Spearows Peck or Pidgeys Gust against Bayleef.

Now continue into Ilex Forest, and you e on your way to the biggest city in the game - Goldenrod City!