Karakusa Town

Head right over to Prof. Juniper at the Pokemon Center and she'll lead you inside. Bianca is already in there, and the two will oversee you healing your Pokemon. Make sure you heal them, otherwise they'll scold you until you do. You should know how to do this already if you've played any Pokemon game, though.

She'll then show you the PC, which is another extremely essential piece of any Pokemon Trainer's success. It is now to the left of the desk rather than off on the other side, making it arguably a little more within reach. You start off with only 8 boxes, but don't worry, you'll get more way later in the game after you've gotten the National Dex, so the 8 boxes will hold plenty in the meanwhile.

Lastly she'll take you over to the Poke Mart, which is now included inside of the Pokemon Center. After more dialogue, Prof. Juniper leaves, but Bianca sticks around and recommends you buy some Potions and Poke Balls. Actually, that's some smart thinking, Bianca; I recommend the same thing. You should have between $3000 and $4000, depending on how badly you won against your friends. Buy about 5 - 7 Poke Balls and maybe 2 Potions, totalling up to $2000. That still gives you plenty of cash leftover.

The other shop just sells stupid stuff like mail, so don't worry about it.

As you leave the Pokemon Center, some guys outside will be all like, "Something's going on!" They go and check it out. Over there, you'll find Cheren watching as well. This creepy dude with some creepy music shows up, calling himself Ghetsis. He spares no time in introducing himself as the leader of Team Plasma. Then he blabs on and on about his diabolical scheme to restore the balance with humans and Pokemon. Or something like that.

His speech eventually ends and he heads off with the rest of his goons. Then everyone disperses like nothing ever happened. Well, everyone except for this one dude in a black cap! Whoa! He introduces himself as "N", and after some dialogue, he challenges you to a fight.

N's Purrloin can use Growl and Scratch. Growl is particularly annoying if your Pokemon uses Physical-based attacks, and Scratch is fairly potent early on. The thing is also pretty fast at that. However, it's not too tough, and you should have Potions just in case. After beating it, you'll earn a nice chunk of EXP and $700. He'll leave and then Cheren will tell you about the Gym Leader in Striaton City, so that's where you should go. Just be sure to heal up your Pokemon after battling N!

Now, one fun thing you can do in town is climb the stairs up by the Pokemon Center leading to a house up there. Talk to the people inside and one of them will ask if you want them to play the piano while the other asks if you want them to play the drums. If you have them play the instrument, it changes the music slightly in town, even if you leave the building.

In one of the houses on the west side of town, if you go upstairs and talk to one of the guys up there (there should also be a Patrat running around), he'll give you a free Poke Ball. Awesome! You can also play a variant of Rock-Paper-Scissors with the little girl up there, except with Fire-Grass-Water instead.

That's about all of the excitement left in town, so make your way westbound over to Route 2, crossing through the slick new gate leading you there!