Ugh the faces in this are so bad I'm so sorry I drew these like a year ago and I just haven't touched them. Old line art is old. Also, definitely going to shorten the pages and color only the more important scenes to encourage actual working on this.
I came to a similar problem on the same route. But my Poochyena was a little tougher, and my starter was mudkip, so I only gave it enough time to get one (thankfully non-crit) leech life off, before switching out to someone who could take the hits while I throw Pokeballs. It helped that the Nincada was modest nature, and reduced attack (helpful for capturing, not so helpful in using it, though).
I missed these guys~
and damn you cliffhanger ;A;
you are making that kid looks cool!!
so.. no catch?