Welcome back to my quick guide through Pokemon D/P. I will have a special this time
around. I'm covering Pastoria City, Hearthome, and up to the Canalave Gym.
After heading down Veilstone to Pastoria you can battle Crasher Wake right away. You may
want to check out the first house you see when you entered the Pastoria. The woman inside
will give you a berry to reduce certain weaknesses. That might come in handy in the
future. The Great Marsh area also holds some rare pokemon you won't find elsewhere.
Skorupi or even Drapion are available for capture on randomized days. Check the binoculars
upstairs to check all six areas. They don't go in any order, so memorize the areas
carefully. If you want to skip all that, head towards the gym.

This gym is straightforward. Click the different buttons to raise and lower the water
level to advance and reach Wake. I won't get into detail with that since it's
self-explanatory. Since this gym is water type, grass and electric work well here.
Torterra is a good choice, but Floatzel can make things harder with Ice Fang. Thats some
pretty heavy damage. Gyarados's ability can also lower physical attack. Infernape is fast,
but fighting moves won't excel when fighting Gyarados. Even if you though it Grass Knpt,
some of the pokes are heavy enough to cause some real damage. Empoleon stands a fair
chance here. Flying type moves are the way to go if you have no other option. Luxio or
Luxray will absolutely destroy. Even with an Intimidate attack drop, Spark or some other
electric move will definitely OHKO Gyarados. Floatzel can prove a problem, but due to its
low defenses a solid hit will also OHKO it.

After you clear Wake, head to the pokemon center to heal. You see that Galactic Grunt
outside of Great Marsh? Talk to him and follow him. You'll bump into your rival before you
leave the gates though. Make quick work of him and keep following that grunt. You'll make
your way close to Sunnyshore City, but you can't enter the area yet. That's for later on.
Battle the grunt and he'll run off. Cynthia will come by and give you a Secret Potion.
Remember those Psyduck above Solceon Town? You can to give them the Secret Potion. So head
over there and work the magic. Once the Psyduck are clear Cynthia will want you to give
her grandmother something at Celestic Town. So head north and go to the town. Once you
make it there head to the town center and beat the grunt. After some conversation, her
grandmother will give you HM Surf. This is a great battle move to teach any water pokemon.
Fly back to Hearthome and the gym is now open.

For this gym all you need to do is answer some simple math questions and advance. Wrong
doors will yield trainers. Battle them if you want EXP. Fantina focuses on ghost types. So
there aren't many open weaknesses. All the starters do neutral damage for the most part.
Torterra and Luxray can learn Crunch which may be useful.

After clearing this gym you can now use surf. Now its time to head over the Canalave City.
Go to Jubilife and head to the west gate. Surf further west to reach Canalave. Heal up any
pokemon you want at the PKMN Center. Your rival is waiting for you at the bridge. So take
a battle and see what he has to offer. After beating him you can head toward the gym. But
talk to the sailor below to go to Iron Island. Here you will find something similar to
Cheryll in Eterna Forest. This time you'll be partnered up with Riley. He has a Lucario,
pretty cool and useful. You'll notice it doesn't have much survivability, but some nice
moves. Once you clear the Island and beat the two grunts at the end, he'll offer an egg.
Take it if you have an extra slot. Come back later if you don't. Inside is a Riolu, the
pre-evolution of Lucario. It evolves into Lucario in daytime hours only and with max
happiness. A good way to train once is to hatch the egg before you challenge the Canalave
Gym. Once its hatched, give it an EXP Share and go through the gym. It'll gain levels and
happiness. It should evolve by lv.30 or so if you did it right. Give it items like
Proteins and stuff. That will raise happiness. But back to the actual gym.

All starters excel here. Infernape dominates with fire and fighting moves. Torterra
crushes with Earthquake. And Empoleon makes easy work with Surf. There is one random
trainer with an Azumarill, but don't worry about that. Just follow the rising platforms to
make your way to Byron. He has a few good steel types, most of which are slow. A single
powerful move will OHKO all his pokes. Bastiodon can be a problem with high defense. Try
to get a x4 move on it like fighting or ground.

After the gym is done, head outside. You'll be asked to head to the library north of the
gym. So heal your pokes and head to the library. You'll see your rival, Rowan, and Rowan's
helper. A conversation will go on and than a big shake. Follow through more of the
dialogue. You'll have to head to Lake Acuity, but I will cover that in my later guides.
Until next time gamers!