Pokémon Emerald/Rustboro - First gym

Route 104

This route is connecting between Petalburg to Rustboro. Which in the middle of it resides Petalburg Woods.

First part

This part of route 104 from Peltaburg is half grassy, half beach like. Both of them have trainers.

Trainers

Assuming you will want to battle here them all, those are the trainers:

1. Down in this beach area, you will find guy who leaving his footprints on the sand, if you encounter his eyes, it will trigger the battle. Youngster Billy will have 2 Pokemon: Lvl5 Zigzagoon and Lvl7 Seedot.
2. Still in the beach area, go upstairs and you will see fisherman (the red clothed guy) facing the sea, talking to him will trigger the battle. Fisherman Darian will have one Pokemon only: LvL9 Magicarp.
3. In the grassy area, before entering the woods, you might meet Lady Cindy eyes. She has one Pokemon only: Lvl7 Zigzagoon.

The first trainers you can actually avoid battling. While Lady Cindy might be tricky to avoid, but it possible when being fast. Still, it's recommended to fight them all. Especially if you have Torchik, you will want to evolve it before the first Gym, so he will have effecting moves against Rock types.

Items and Exploring

Except for berries (as in route 102), there's an item in unaccessible area at the moment of this part. Only after entering the Petalburg Woods it's possible to take it.

There's also Mr. Briney Cottage here. But at the moment he's not here. This will be a house we will return to in the future.

Petalburg Woods

Trainers and Items part 1

As soon you will enter the woods, go right 'till the end, you will see bushes with some empty spot. Go besides the empty spot and click A to find hidden item - Potion.

Going down from there and you will come back to the inaccessible spot in route 104 you couldn't reach before. Take the item to acquire a PokeBall.

Now, you can go back to the woods either from where you entered this spot, or either jump through the ledges and enter the woods from the beginning to avoid Pokemon in the grass. Either way, now it's time to go left from where we began our journey to the Petalburg Woods.

The first NPC you will meet there is a bug catcher trainer Lyle. He will have 4 Pokemon, but not be afraid as they are all Lvl3 Wurmple. While they could be beaten by almost any Pokemon, if you hadn't chose Torchik, it is recommended to catch Taillow in Route 104 to beat all the Bug Pokemon you gonna encounter in the woods and the bug catcher trainers here.

After beating Lyle, going upstairs will reveal new item, pick up a Paralyze Heal. If your Pokemon gonna be paralyze by Bug Pokemon in the woods, use it to heal them, or rather use your bought heals if you bought any.

Continue right and once you will attempt to go up, a scenario is gonna happen.

First battle with Team Aqua

You will meet a Devon worker that needs help finding Shroomish, immediately following the dialogue, a Team Aqua grunt gonna show up. Follow the dialogue to your first Team Aqua grunt battle.

This grunt have only one Pokemon Lvl9 Poochyena. While it will be the highest level Pokemon you fought so far, your starter Pokemon should be around this level. Wether they are or not, he will most likely use Howl attack several times to increase it's attack, taking advantage of that and beating him should be piece of cake.

Follow the dialogue to understand that Team Aqua are up to something in Rustboro City, and then the Devon worker will give you Great Ball as thanks.

Trainers and Items part 2

Continue right from where you fought the Team Aqua grunt, and right where the road starting going up, you will encounter bug catcher James. He's going to have 2 Lvl6 Nincada.

Continue upward and you will find another item to pick up an Ether.

In the left there will be cuttable trees, that later could be cut away. Since we don't have something else to do here, continue up to exit the woods to continue Route 104.

Second Part

Follow up the road to find Pretty Petal Flower Shop, go in. The first NPC will teach you about berries, but won't give you nothing. The NPC behind here on the other hand will give you Wailmer Pail, which will enable you to water berries in soil grounds where you took berries from. Talk to the third NPC in this house and she will give you Persim Berry.

Now get out from this house, go left and upward to the bushes area. In the first clear sport area, there's hidden item to pick, a PokeBall. The non-hidden item is a Potion. Little upward from this item in another clear spot you will find hidden item Super Potion. And that's it for this area.

Now get back to the main road and go left.

The first trainer you will encounter will be Rich Bou Winston. He's gonna have one Pokemon Lvl7 Zigzagoon. While beating Zigzagoon probably will be a joke right now, he have some potions in his sleeves to heal him if you won't beat him in 1-2 strikes.

Continue left and you will see a bridge in the water. Before entering it though you will encounter another trainer, Lass Haley. She have a Lvl6 Lotad and Lvl6 Shroomish. If you caught Taillow this should be piece of cake. Beware though that Shroomish might make your Pokemon fall asleep.

Continue upward the Bridge, and before encountering the next trainers make sure your Pokemon are healed, since you gonna have your first Double Battle in the game. One you go right the twins Gina and Mia are gonna Double Battle you. They have Lvl6 Seedot and Lvl6 Lotad. This should not be a hard battle, but be aware to the Double Battle strategy. Note that if you have only one Pokemon, or if your other Pokemon are fainted, this battle would not be triggered.

Continue upward the bridge, and we are right in Restburo City entrance.

If you want, you can talk to the Fisherman besides the water to trigger a battle, Fisherman Ivan will have 3 Magikarp with different level - Lvl5, Lvl6 and Lvl7. EXP Points won't be hight, so you might consider this off.

In the Right corner of the water after the fisherman, an NPC will give you Chesto berry to plant, or to use it yourself.

Before going up the city straightforward, you will see that the city fence is open in the right side, go in that road to pick an item in the end - X Defend. Go back the road and finally enter the city.

Restburo City & First Gym Battle

Restburo City Pokemon Gym

In Emerald, you will encounter three trainers before challenging the Gym Leader, Roxane. You can bypass them of course, but either for EXP or to test wether your Pokemon can stand against rock type, here's those trainers:

Youngster Josh - 1 Geodude, Lvl10

Youngster Tommy,Hiker Marc - each have 2 Lvl8 Geodude. This could be either Double battle if those two sees you at the same time, or if you choose to talk them separately, it will be single battle.

Gym Leader Roxane - She's gonna have two Lvl12 Geodude, and Lvl15 Nosepass. Her signature move and TM reward is Rock Tomb, which cuts speed. Winning reward you Stone Badge which heighten your party Attack, and enable using HM Cut.

Tips: If you have Treecko or Mudkip, this Gym will be much easier. If you chose Torchik, you can either grind to Lvl16 and evolve him to Combusken to have Double Kick which is Fighting move, or catch earlier on Water types (Wingull is option in Route 103), or Grass type (Lotad or Shrumis). Just be careful to level them to at least Lvl14.