Stealing all the Pokeballs!

The next stop on what has become less of a pokemon gym challenge and more of a pokemon gym sight-seeing tour (there should really be a "Hard" mode) was the Pokeball Factory to the north of town.  I had already scouted this area before my gym battle, so I knew that Team Flare would be there and since they were blocking access to route 15 I knew I had to take them out of town.

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One of the things I really liked about Pokemon Red was that when Team Rocket takes-over Saffron City, you aren't forced to fight them right away.  As a matter of fact, you could go ahead and complete much of the rest of the game and come back to deal with them near the end.  Alternatively, you can fight them right after getting the Pokeflute and gather the sixth gym badge (Sabrina's badge) out of order--earlier than the fifth (Koga's) badge (something I only recently realized is atypical of first time Pokemon Red players).

Pokemon White and, to a lesser extent, Pokemon Y have a real problem with giving the player any control over their own journey.  They are like the overprotective parent who keeps a too-close watch over what their kid is doing, "No, no, no, you can't be going in the sandox now...You just ate, so no going near the pool...Wouldn't it be so much nicer to play ball here where I can see you?"  I think Pokemon Red is like a parent who tells you what you can't do and lets you go free and Pokemon WhYte is the one that tells you what you can do--and the difference is night-and-day.
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Team Flare had taken-over the pokeball factory in order to steal all the pokeballs.  I actually think this is a pretty good move on their part--if they are the only ones with pokeballs then they can either control who gets pokemon or they could get rich while controlling who gets pokemon.  Either way, they control who gets pokemon.

I find it funny how they were the bad guys for stealing all the pokeballs, but that I was the good guy even though I picked up what is most likely an equal amount of pokeball loot from items on the factory floor.  It's not stealing if you found it, right?  Or perhaps it's the universal gaming law of "finders-keepers".

Scrappy is having some trouble these days, so I'm hoping that he will evolve soon.

Current Team:

FROGADIER/Froakles/lvl.35
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.35
FLAREON/Hotfoot/lvl.34
SKRELP/Toxie/lvl.35
HIPPOWDON/Leviathan/lvl.34
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.35

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Pikachu, Lucario, Scrappy