>>50853231I found your map pretty empty, so I decided to fill in a lot of geography. I've loosely based this on Panama, so we now have a canal splitting the region in two. You start in the small island where you get your initial tutorial before you're sent off on the ferry to see the professor on the main land. From there you can explore the first part of the map basically freely. If you stumble upon that upper city without a gym, you'll discover the canal's third lock, learn about something called the "Lock League", and meet a powerful trainer you get to know. They'll give you some hokey words of advice you'll probably forget. After getting all three badges, the professor says you're probably ready to see the rest of the region, but first you'll have to make it through *The Lock League*.
In order to reach the only port that'll take you, you'll need to make it through the canal's three locks, each headed by a Lock Master. This is basically a mini E4 and midgame boss rush. If you learned about the Lock League earlier, you'll rediscover the powerful trainer from before is actually the final Lock Master, who's excited to see you again. Before you battle, he asks you if you remember the advice he gave you. If you do, his team will be much stronger and you'll earn way more prize money, along with hints for the rest of the game. From there, you arrive in the north most city and the game really opens up.
>Gym 5.5In the branching paths from Gym 4, you have the option of hitting up either Left City or Right City, who are fierce rivals with competing gyms. Which ever you go to first will welcome you with open arms while the other will treat you pretty badly in comparison (higher pokecenter prices).
>The hidden paths straight to the Pokemon LeagueThis pokemon League won't check your badge numbers before letting you challenge the league. If you can find the stupidly hidden paths (the best hint you'll get is from the Lock Master), you can challenge the Champion very early
