>>50855051The curve notably plateaus for awhile after Morty because the game becomes fully nonlinear for Badges 5, 6 and 7. You're allowed to progress the narrative however you want and tackle any location, dungeon or gym (save for Clair) in any order, and every single area you can access in the Johto region that isn't behind the "7 Badges" requirement henceforth reflects this.
It's only when they reconvene for the Radio Tower Takeover that they fail to adjust, most of the fodder is still grossly underpowered and doesn't at all help you prepare for Clair, nor do any of the NPCs south of Blackthorn since due to that nonlinearity, you CAN travel all the way there through Ice Path or Dark Cave with the right HMs.
Things start to somewhat normalize after the fact, but then it "spikes" again at the Elite Four (see: NPCs using actually decent Pokemon instead of Level 30-40 unevolved shitmons) since they expect you to exploit all the items you can to compensate for the level difference you'll likely have when you get to Lance.
