Played for ages today, but didn’t actually progress very far. Spent most of my time leveling up my Aron, Zigzagoon (which is now a Linoone), and a Whismur I caught (and is now something else, but I can’t remember what).
Had a few attempts at defeating the Electricity Gym Leader, and finally beat him, gaining the badge he had. That meant I could use Rock Smash, finally, which let me into two areas – one I’d already been (I’d just opened a shortcut), and some new place with lots of volcanic ash.
Along the way, I defeated a family of Pokémon owners, and collected a load of ash so some guy could make me a blue flute. Caught some more pokeymen too, including an Oddish. Erm, ACE! Probably.