Pokémon Sword and Shield/Route 1 and Wedgehurst

After you've said goodbye to your mom and gotten your preparations for your adventure, it's time to head out and into Route 1, for real this time!

Route 1

You'll meet up with Hop who tells you to head to the Pokémon Research Lab, while he'll probably be training Grookey a bit in Route 1. Some Wooloo are blocking the easy way out, so you'll have to go through the tall grass this time. Since you're equipped with Pokéballs, maybe it's time to start catching some team members. And you have a LOT of choices.

Pokémon

Pokémon		Games		Levels	Rate
Grass
	Skwovet	Sw	Sh	2-5	40%
	Blipbug	Sw	Sh	2-5	30%
	Caterpie	Sw	Sh	2-5	15%
	Grubbin	Sw	Sh	2-5	10%
	Hoothoot	Sw	Sh	2-5	5%
Overworld
	Skwovet	Sw	Sh	2-5	50%
	Rookidee	Sw	Sh	2-5	30%
	Wooloo	Sw	Sh	2-5	15%
	Nickit	Sw	Sh	2-5	5%

Pokémon	Analysis
Skwovet Type: Normal	Skwovet is the definition of mediocre. With its pure Normal type you already don't expect it to do much, but with its only stat over 100 being HP and its only other notable stats being Attack and Defense, with its HORRIBLE 20 base speed in its evolved form, it's not really ever going to get the chance to do much. On the bright side, with moves like Stockpile and its new signature move Stuff Cheeks, which has it eat its berry in exchange for sharply raising Defense, it can be good at annoying your opponent by just... not fainting. Besides that, with the removal of HM's having happened a while ago, Pokémon like this aren't as useful anymore. Either way, many other Pokémon do Skwovet's job much better than it, so it's hard to recommend.
Blipbug Type: Bug	Perhaps the most interesting regional bug of all time, Blipbug may start as a pure Bug-type, but it will very soon evolve into the first ever Pokémon to have the Bug/Psychic type. And that's not all - in its fully evolved state, it has some very good defenses, which paired with a decent Speed stat and moves like Calm Mind make it a force to be reckoned with, defensively AND offensively. All in all, a very interesting Bug-type that trades the super early evolution of other regional bugs for much more power than the average bug. If it evolved into its final stage any earlier, it'd probably be one of the best regional bugs out there, but as it stands, it's still good!
Caterpie Type: Bug	Our first non-Galarian Pokémon is the original bug itself, Caterpie. And as always, it's... not that good. After Butterfree got its small boost in SpAtk in generation 6, it's become a bit better. In this game, its levelup moveset has been buffed, as it trades access to moves like Silver Wind for the ability to learn Psybeam, Quiver Dance and ESPECIALLY Air Slash at earlier levels. This makes Butterfree a much more reliable early game partner to have. Not much else to say about it, it's a decent early game choice, but it's nothing TOO notable.
Grubbin Type: Bug	Its evolution method has been changed to be actually accessible, and boy how accessible it is! It still evolves into Charjabug at level 20 just as before, but Charjabug can now evolve into Vikavolt using a Thunderstone, which you will find very very soon. Additionally, stone evolutions now have access to any move you may have missed out on by evolving too early through the move relearner, so as soon as you DO get that Thunderstone, if you plan to use a Vikavolt, just evolve it right away! Not only will you have a 145 base Special Attack, WAY higher than most other things you'll find around, but you'll have instant access to Thunderbolt AND Discharge right away, giving Vikavolt a great set right as soon as you can evolve it! It's become an early-game powerhouse due to technicalities, and it's awesome. Of course, Vikavolt still has to deal with its horrible Speed dragging it down, but at the very least it's a great early game choice.
Hoothoot Type: Normal/Flying	Hoothoot is... the same as it always has been. On the positive side, it can now get both Calm Mind and Nasty Plot, as well as getting Heat Wave by TR instead of needing a tutor. So in that side, it HAS become better. But let's face it, that's not really enough to make this line good. It's yet another Normal/Flying type that tries to be a Psychic/Flying type, but in reality it's outclassed in just about every way by Xatu. Unfortunately, it's not recommended, early or late game.
Rookidee Type: Flying	Moving on to a much, MUCH more positive regional bird, Rookidee is the first of the early game birds to have a pure Flying type instead of the regular old Normal type hindering it. Along with that, it gains the Steel type when it fully evolves, and it doesn't even NEED that to be good. It learns Power Trip at level 4 and Hone Claws soon after, meaning that even in its base form it can sweep through entire teams in the early game. Rookidee's a great bird that never really falls off due to gaining that Steel type later on when it becomes a Corviknight. The only really bad things that can be said about this line is that it takes longer to evolve than birds like Pidgeotto, even if only by 2 levels, and its fully evolved stats aren't that spectacular. But do you REALLY need spectacular stats when you have a reliable way to sweep through teams right from level 8? Whether you think it's a good late game option or not, you have to admit that it's one of the most reliable early game Pokémon out there.
Wooloo Type: Normal	Wooloo is hard to use, to say the least. It has horrible stats across the board until it evolves and those become... okay, and it learns almost no moves until it gets to that point, all the way at level 24. Even after the evolution, Dubwool isn't even that good, as it tries to be a tank and fast at the same time, but ends up failing at both. If you want any kind of good moveset on this thing, you're going to have to load it up with TM's and TR's, and even then, it doesn't even get that many good ones! Oh well, at least it's still cute, and it has a great shiny, right?
Nickit Type: Dark	Yet another Dark type that could be pretty good but is completely DESTROYED by its stat distribution (or by its learnset, depending on how you look at it). Though its stats obviously point to it being supposed to be a special attacker, it learns a SINGLE special attack by levelup, and it's SNARL of all things. Add to that Dark Pulse from TR, and you've got yourself a whole 2 STAB special moves that you can put on this thing. Nickit and its evolution Thievul could really be a force to be reckoned with, if only their stats were geared towards physical attacks, as are their movesets. It's a shame, as a Dark type on the first route IS interesting, but Nickit is nothing more than a disappointment.

Items

Item		Location	Type	Effect
	Potion	Between the first 2 patches of grass.	Item ball	Heals 20 HP.
	Parlyz Heal (x2)	Within the third, biggest patch of grass.	Item ball	Heals paralysis.

After you've finished picking the items up and building up your team as you'd like, move on to Wedgehurst.

Wedgehurst

As soon as you enter town, head east to get to the Pokémon Lab, in front of which Leon is waiting for you. Leon once again comments on his horrible sense of direction, then you both go in.

You're greeted by a Yamper, and then by Sonia, the professor's assistant and former rival to Leon during their Gym Challenge. As Yamper and Leon go out, Sonia calls out your Rotom Phone, and then asks if you know a lot about Pokémon. No matter what you answer, she'll give you the Pokédex feature for your Rotom Phone. Sonia asks that you go down route 2 to meet her grandmother to tell her that you've received the Pokédex. Nothing much to see in the lab, so head out.

You're met with a man that gives you a Potion for free. Then head west and north to meet back up with Hop. He'll give you a small tutorial on what all you can do in a Pokécenter. Basically, to your left, the man behind the counter acts as the Name Rater, the Move Relearner and the Move Deleter all in one, and all for free. On the right, you have your standard Pokémart, and in the middle you have, of course, the nurse who heals your Pokémon to full health. You can't purchase Pokéballs right now, so stack up on some Potions and maybe a couple Revives if you think it's necessary and head out.

Heading north a bit more, you'll meet up with Hop again, who will tell you a bit about the Gym Challenge, and how you have to be endorsed to take part in it. He's going to Professor Magnolia's house in Route 2 to hopefully get endorsement. Now you can explore the town freely.

Points of interest

• West of the Center you'll find a man selling Oran, Cheri and Pecha berries, each for 80.
• Going further West, you'll find your first clothes store. Here you'll find a lot of customization for your character, though some of it is pretty expensive.
• In the station, you'll find a man selling some items, but it's the exact same as the Mart in the Pokécenter, so there isn't really any point to buying anything here specifically.

Items

Item		Location	Type	Effect
	Potion	Given by a man after exiting the Lab.	NPC item	Heals 20 HP.
	Poké Doll	Next to the clothes store.	Item ball	Allows you to escape from an encounter without fail.
	Revive	On a rock at the top of the stairs to Route 2.	Hidden	Revives a single fainted Pokémon with 50% HP.

After you've finished collecting all the items, go ahead and move on to Route 2.