My Friend in Kanto

Question

I have a friend in Kanto. He sent me a message and told me that he's looking for all sorts of creatures. Included was the following list of descriptions. I know there's a message hidden in there somewhere, but I'm not sure how to find it. He also attached a couple of clues, too, but again, I'm at a loss. Any help is appreciated!

Here's the list:

• Rock that rolls everywhere, first evolution
• Obscured by many vines
• Little green worm
• Not even and definitely poisonous
• A bit of wordplay: breakfast killer
• Evolved pink blob
• Fighter made of muscle, not evolved
• Little rat that loves to bite
• Turtle that foams at the mouth
• Ringing plant, not evolved
• Male monarch
• More or less a rhinoceros
• Silently creates invisible walls
• Smallest fiery lizard
• Black pearl in a grey shell - evolved
• Part insect and part power tool
• Precious metal fish
• Large, compound eyes and purple fur
• Female monarch

Here are the only clues I could get out of him:

1. There's quite a walk ahead of you, so you'll need to take a number of steps.
2. When you're almost there, just let them be the key to unlock the door.

I guess I should add that I don't plan on going to Kanto at all, and I won't actually be walking anywhere. I wonder what else "number of steps" could mean ...

Can you find the hidden message?

Hint (previously included in tags):

Pokemon.

Answer 1

The answer is:

I Wanna be the very best

Reasons:

There's quite a walk ahead of you, so you'll need to take a number of steps.

The puzzle requires a sequence of steps to solve it.
1. Find the Pokémon from the clues
2. Get the Pokédex numbers
3. Mod26 the pokedex numbers
4. Convert them to letters
5. Then, use vigenere to find the phrase.

When you're almost there, just let them be the key to unlock the door.

"Let them be the key" means that they (POKEMON) are the vigenere key used to solve the puzzle.

Process:

The pokemon index numbers can be found in Caelan's answer, provided by several people.
75, 114, 10, 43, 103, 40, 66, 19, 7, 69, 34, 111, 122, 4, 91, 15, 118, 48, 31

If you take the numbers and:

Mod26 them (+1 because it's 1-26 indexed), then convert 1-A through 26-Z, you get:
XKKRZOOTHRIHSENPOWF

Then if you use:

POKEMON as a vigenere key

You receive the answer mentioned, above.

Answer 2

The Pokémon that the clues can be referring to are:

Graveler - #075
Tangela - #114
Caterpie - #010
Oddish - #043 (LogicianWithAHat)
Exeguttor - #103
Wigglytuff - #040 (Wesley Situ)
Machop - #066
Rattata - #019
Squirtle - #007 (Squirtle is secretly James Bond)
Bellsprout - #069
Nidoking - #034
Rhyhorn - #111
Mr. Mime - #122
Charmander - #004
Cloyster - #091
Beedrill - #015
Goldeen - #118
Venonat - #048
Nidoqueen - #031

Part 2: Steps could refer to egg cycles. Pokedex numbers add up to 1120. Egg cycles last 255 steps, but I can't find any more correlation. Dead end as of now.

Answer 3

First part complete.

1 - 075

Graveler

2 - 114

Tangela

3 - 010

Caterpie

4 - 043

Oddish (LogicianWithAHat)

5 - 103

Exeggutor

6 - 040

Wigglytuff (Wesley Situ)

7 - 066

Machop

8 - 019

Rattata

9 - 007

Squirtle (Wesley Situ)

10 - 069

Bellsprout

11 - 034

Nidoking

12 - 111

Rhyhorn

13 - 122

Mr. Mime

14 - 004

Charmander

15 - 091

Cloyster

16 - 015

beedrill

17 - 118

Goldeen

18 - 048

Venonat

19 - 031

Nidoqueen

Pokedex numbers add up to 1120. Not sure if relevant

Working on the clues now. Added Pokedex numbers

I think the clues have to do with Victory Road. It's a long walk through the Pokemon filled road, and you have to show your badges in the Pokémon League Building just before to get through the doors.