>>53748201You are expected to face Erika as soon as you get to Celadon. Between that and Koga, you are expected to clear the rocket base under the Game Corner, climb the tower in Lavender, clear a Snorlax, and then either clear cycle road or the route to the south east of Celadon to reach Koga. There are plenty of battles between the two. It can look a little weird if you choose to do some of that interim stuff before facing Erika. You can also potentially enter Saffron, clear Silph Co, clear the fighting dojo, and beat Sabrina before doing some of the aforementioned steps. Essentially, the game opens up once you reach Celadon. The curve is fine if you follow the "expected" path, but can be a bit weird if you don't. Either way, you always had enough choices such that you weren't stuck with only low level wild pokemon to fight.
