I can understand that. I was fortunate enough to get brought to a town with a Center to do my early training in soon after my arrival by a friend of mine, but if that hadn't been the case I'd have probably been very worried for Spike by the time I got to Cherrygrove.

Less often here than I used to back home, but that's largely because I'm spending most of my time studying or training. Do you have any idea how long you could spend just looking trough the Pokedex for new information? It's amazing!