New player seeking some advice

[Untixx]

I discovered Reborn a few days ago and am loving it so far. Already sunk quite a few hours into the game and beat the first gym. However, after reaching the second gym I ran into a kind of wall. Right now, I can't seem to find a way to beat Fern before the gym battle with Florinia. His Roselia with mega drain walls most of my pokemon, and I don't have any fire type pokemon that can normally just go through this fight pretty easily. I don't know if I should just be focusing on grinding, or if I should just be training up specific pokemon for the fight

My team currently:

Grotle, level 21, with tackle, withdraw, absorb, and razor leaf

Teddiursa, level 21 with feint attack, fake tears, lick, and fury swipes

Noctowl, level 21 with tackle, reflect, peck, and hypnosis

Espurr, level 22 with psybeam, light screen, charge beam, and disarming voice

Luxio, level 21 with charge, charge beam, spark, and bite

Pineco, level 22 with take down, substitute, rapid spin, and bug bite

(Don't know where to get the fancy signature things, sorry)

I also have a single substitute, a Linoone that's level 21 with pin missile, headbutt, cut, and sand attack. He's going to become more of an HM slave though, hence why he has cut.

I just want to know if there are any good spots for grinding for levels before the gym and the battle with Fern, and whether or not I should be focusing on catching and training a different pokemon. A little bit of research has shown that grinding a Makuhita up to level 24 to get a Hariyama before the gym is a good choice, and that getting a fire type for the battle with Fern is also a good idea. Just searching for an opinion from someone who has more experience than I do, because I'm generally a more casual pokemon player.

EDIT: Just thought of this. If anyone can point me in the direction of any TMs that might make my time easier, or at least help with the current battles I am stuck on, that would also be highly appreciated

Edited July 18, 2015 by Untixx

[Anvilicious]

I think right before the fight with Fern you can go into an apartment in the Onyx ward, where one of the NPCs will let you onto the roof when you talk to him. That place is the area with the highest level of Pokemon available to you at the moment.

You can get a Pansear beneath the bridge on the farthest right part of Peridot when it's raining (There's a street rat there who mentions it). It got me through much of the early game; and that Roselia.

EDIT: Also, I can't expound enough on the Epic Beastliness of Trubbish/Garbodor in the early game. Toxic Spikes and Acid Spray (which harshly lowers Sp. Def. and so makes consecutive Acid Sprays or that Espurr of yours hit harder) wear down a lot of choice Pokemon that might otherwise wall you. Roselia might soak up Toxic Spikes, but lowering it's Sp. Def. is helpful for other Pokemon to destroy it.

Edited July 18, 2015 by Anvilicious

[Untixx]

I think right before the fight with Fern you can go into an apartment in the Onyx ward, where one of the NPCs will let you onto the roof when you talk to him. That place is the area with the highest level of Pokemon available to you at the moment.

You can get a Pansear beneath the bridge on the farthest right part of Peridot when it's raining (There's a street rat there who mentions it). It got me through much of the early game; and that Roselia.

I've been considering training up the pansear. As for the thing on the roof, I can't figure out how to get there in the latest episode. There used to be an ace trainer there that would let you up, but now he's not there. All that I can find that mentions the roof is an old man next to the elevator to get up that talks about people leaving the gate open, which may be Ame's way of laughing at me

[Darvan Korematsu]

Pro-tip: There aren't really any good grinding spots until later on. Hariyama will certainly not disappoint in the upcoming battle, and can have some long term use up through the next few badges. If you REALLY want to destroy Florinia, go back to Peridot Ward, near the train tunnels in an apartment. There will be a Kricketot. Train that thing up till it learns Fury Cutter. Kricketune is the perfect Pokemon for noobs in this game and the first few Gyms. Fury Cutter Kricketune + Hariyama makes extremely quick work of her.

[Untixx]

Pro-tip: There aren't really any good grinding spots until later on. Hariyama will certainly not disappoint in the upcoming battle, and can have some long term use up through the next few badges. If you REALLY want to destroy Florinia, go back to Peridot Ward, near the train tunnels in an apartment. There will be a Kricketot. Train that thing up till it learns Fury Cutter. Kricketune is the perfect Pokemon for noobs in this game and the first few Gyms. Fury Cutter Kricketune + Hariyama makes extremely quick work of her.

Thanks for the tips, I need to look into the Kricketune. As a question about substitutes, would the slugma prize from the game corner do well against the gym? It comes with rock throw, harden, incinerate, and clear smog. It seems like I could find a way to just set it up with hardens, and then just sweep most of the gym. I don't know too much about Florinia's team, but I might try it against Fern's.

[Dragon116]

Her team is pretty weak. A good kricketuning and sluma should be able to carry you until cradily. You'll need a fighting or ice type for that (only ice is vanillite from candy store event).

[Commander]

I remember on my Challenge Run this Fern gave me a ton of trouble. I think Spoink was my lifesaver with confuse hax and Psybeam. If having too much trouble, bring something that can Paralyze it and you should be able to slaughter it then. But yeah, it takes a bit of time getting used to reborn.

As for TMs, there are no good tms until Shade, but he lost his precious Shadow Ball tm which was a godsend.