Don't Accept Candy From Strangers - Part 7

After beating the first Pokémon Gym I'm interrupted by a lady in a lab coat. She introduces herself as Fennel.

She mentions Professor Juniper and that she has to show me something in her room. I'm only like a twelve year old boy, this is totally inappropriate!

When we get into the room Fennel gets a little too close to me... my stranger danger senses are tingling. Next thing I know is that she will be offering me a drink or even free candy...

Fennel says that she went to college with Professor Juniper and she throws me a free HM 01, which contains Cut. This is seeming stranger and stranger as it goes on.

She tells me that I have to get something called Dream Mist from a Pokémon called Munna.

I know these Pokémon are all about putting things to sleep. So this lady takes me to her bedroom, bribes me with free stuff and then is trying to drug me with Pokémon dust?

It seems like I have no choice... I go back to the Dreamyard, where I received Butterball. 

When I head back inside I go straight for the tree that I have to use Cut on, I teach Cut to Butterball. 

Before I get a chance to proceed Bianca creeps up on me. She joins me for the time being and suddenly we hear a noise coming from the opposite side of a broken down wall. 

We turn the corner and see a Munna!

But those creepy alien Team Plasma people appear...

They begin kicking and punching the Munna demanding it to give them Dream Mist. 

I'm getting a feeling that this game is a little darker than the others. I'm about to be date raped by a scientist, alien people beat Pokémon and then say that they want to release them from the tyranny of humans.

They continue to beat the Munna while saying that they are doing it for the benefit of Pokémon around the world. 

Then they attack me, while Bianca sits in the corner and cries that I'll be hurt, but the battle that ensues is way to easy for me. After I win one the other thinks her teammate went easy on me because I'm a child. 

I beat her too.

After winning between the two of them they start beating the poor little Munna again! I'm starting to get a little angry...

Out of thin air Ghetsis appears and begins to make a speech that barely even makes sense to my twelve year old ears, but it unnerves the two Team Plasmas. Then another Ghetsis appears! I'm even more confused than ever. Then the two disappear and another Ghetsis appears behind them and scares them off.

A Mushama appears from around a corner, it's the evolved form of Munna.

It hypnotized them. 

Fennel comes up from the other side of the wall and asks what happened. Bianca tries and fails to explain, but Fennel is too nice to call her a moron. Fennel then completely ignores everything and starts to explain that Dream Mist actually makes a person's dreams reality...

Then she just stops and walks over to where the Pokémon used to be and finds Dream Mist. 

And she runs off to her lab.

Bianca says she wants a Munna so she's gunna stick around to find one. That's so far the smartest thing she's ever said.

I take a look at the grass and think it will be great to train there so I crack my knuckles and run into some shaky grass. 

It's an Audino, amazing experience from these things. Training will be a breeze here.

I start off by training Zkippy. He will be a good Pokémon once he evolves with some good bite moves. He evolves at 16 so let's get him there for my first evolution.

I keep training and Zkippy is getting a little weaker each time. Then while fighting an Audino the unthinkable happens...

Double-Slap.

Five times. 

Two critical hits.

Zkippy goes from yellow. To red. To...

I'm upset. I was excited to use Lillipup, mainly because I've never used it and it eventually evolves into a Stoutland.

It's a big hit, but I can deal with it... I go off to train a bit more.

Upstairs also evolves at 16 so I go off to train him.

Audino are no longer appearing so I head into the grass and start fighting common lesser experience things. Like Patrat.

So sometimes I have to fight Patrat.

During a battle with a Patrat I get it down to about a third of its life, while it is using Bide. Then as I use Water Gun to finish it off... it somehow misses and Bide lets go.

For those of you who don't know, Bide stores energy depending on how much life it loses. Which means Upstairs gets hit with a massive attack and...

...

*sighs*

I'm done for now.

My Team:

Conch (Purrloin) level 18 - Route 2

Butterball (Pansear) level 17 - Dreamyard

The Fallen:

Zkippy (Lillipup) level 15 - Route 1

Upstairs (Oshawott) level 12 - Nuvema Town

Cilan, Chili, Cress: Brothers in Food - Part 6

I stand outside the Pokémon Gym. 

There is a green haired dude blocking my path. He tells me that he is one of the Gym Leaders here and welcomes me to come inside and fight him. I enter the gym and I am immediately bombared from another fellow who tells me a little bit about the gym and gives me a Fresh Water.

It's nothing special, but it can help later on. I take it and head off into the gym.

In the gym there are three symbols on the floor. Each represent a Pokémon type. I must know what type is strong against another. I know what is so I answer, which then has me fight a trainer afterwards.

I fight the trainer which nearly kills Conch. I realize that if Conch is struggling here, that she will have trouble later on in the Gym. So I run off and train her and Zkippy a little bit more. 

After they each level up, I run back into the gym.

After fighting the second trainer, I didn't struggle as much, but it still feels like my team is too weak. 

No, Thomas... I don't. So I head off to train a bit more. 

During my training I turn on Gurren Lagann...

It's a short lived series, but I've heard good things. Plus it's pretty funny... most of the time... curse you Gurren Lagann for the episode I'm about to watch!

Anyways I train up while giant robots fight on the television, until I feel good about my team.

I head BACK into the gym and meet up with the Gym Leaders.

Chili the redhead uses Fire-types. Cress the blue-haired uses Water-types. Cilan, the one who was blocking me from entering before, has green hair and uses Grass-types.

Depending on the starter Pokémon I chose at the beginning they will use the type that is stronger. In this case it means I will be fighting Cilan. 

I take a deep breath and...

We start the first Gym Battle.

Cilan sends out a level 12 Lillipup. I send out my Upstairs. Lillipup uses Work Up, to boost its attack and special attack. Upstairs follows up with a Water Gun. It takes it down a little more than a quarter. Lillipup Bites my Upstairs, while Upstairs unleashes another Water Gun. This happens one more time. 

Lillipup is in the red and Upstairs won't last another hit. Normally a Gym Leader will heal when it gets this low, so I use this opportunity to switch in another teammate. 

I send in my own Lillipup, Zkippy. We continue to bite each other back and forth dealing about the same damage, until Cilan's Lillipup uses Work Up, which gives me a free hit. His Lillipup goes down and Upstairs ends up growing another level!

So far so good...

Cilan has one last Pokémon, but it's the one that will give us a hassle. He sends out his Grass-type...

Pansage.

It's level 14, making it a higher level than any of mine. This isn't good.

I switched out Zkippy to send in Conch. I have a plan, don't worry. 

Cilan uses Work Up, but I use Sand Attack. I get ready to use another Sand Attack, but he gets off a Vine Whip first, it takes me down to barely above half health. I get off the Sand Attack, lowering his accuracy again, but... Vine Whip has a high critical hit ratio... I play it safe and send in Cilan's nightmare. 

Butterball rolls in and is lucky, because Cilan has his Pansage use another Work Up, boosting his Pokémon's attack. I get ready to use an Incinerate, but he gets off another Work Up. With him powering up this much, I may be in a lot of trouble... the Incinerate hits and we both use the same attack again.

All that it would probably take is Pansage to use Scratch on Butterball, but...

He uses another Work Up!

This is it! I use Incinerate! I watch his health drop... drop... in the red... and it stops with barely less than a sliver.

I  don't want to take any chances. I pick to use Incinerate again... uh oh... Cilan used Vine Whip. I feel tears already dropping on my cheeks and watch as... Butterball takes the hit like a champ! It doesn't even drop him halfway. 

Butterball torches Cilan's Pansage.

I won the first Gym Battle!

Hooray for me!

Cilan gives me a TM for Work Up and the Trio Badge!

I walk out of the Gym with my head held high and a smile on my face. This Nuzlocke is looking pretty simple so far!

My Team:

Upstairs (Oshawott) level 12 - Nuvema Town

Zkippy (Lillipup) level 12 - Route 1

Conch (Purrloin) level 11 - Route 2

Butterball (Pansear) level 11 - Dreamyard

To The Dreamyard I Go! - Part 5

I start this playthrough while watching a horror movie called "Would You Rather?", which has the awesome Jeffery Combs in it, which is the only reason why I am watching it.

But in the meantime, I am on Route 2.

Route 2 means a brand new Pokémon to add to my party!

Let's a-go!

Ring... ring...

I pick up my XTransceiver and it's my mom. And she NEEDS to talk to me, but then she hangs up.

Leaving me confused I hang up and there she is... stalking me from the entrance of the route. She runs over to me, much more quickly than I can run and she gives me running shoes. 

She explains that I can now run. Hallelujah! The game will start to go more quickly now as I can run at the speed of running shoes!

She then shuffles off back towards home and now I can finally go catch a new Pokémon. 

I head off into the first patch of grass and walk around until I run into a Lillipup. I already have one and the rules state that I have the ability to skip the first  Pokémon if I already have a living one. SO I do just that.

I skip it and walk around in circles until I run into the next random encounter...

Oooh! It's a Purrloin, just like the one that N had previously. These are nice little speedy attackers, and the fact that they're a Dark-type also helps. 

I tackle it and ball it up. I now have a Purrloin. 

I name it Conch, which is the next name on the list of names that people have given me. 

I realize that Conch is a little weak at the moment so I train her up a little, especially after it nearly dies in one hit against a Patrat, which critcal hits it down into the red.

After some brief training, I run into the first official trainer battle. 

His name is Jimmy and he has a level 7 Patrat. 

Conch takes it out with a few Scratch attacks.

I fight through a few more trainers and then suddenly Bianca comes running up to me. 

She challenges me to a battle. 

She still has her Tepig, which has barely leveled and a newly obtained Patrat. I take them both out without much of a hassle and she turns around and runs back the way she came. 

I guess Bianca used Run.

That was  Pokémon humor, folks.

After beating her to a pulp, me and my team of three are now in Striaton City

This is where the first gym battle will be, but I don't feel confident to take the Gym Leader on yet. I'll explain why later.

I explore the city and get a free item or two in the process, but nothing to write home about. 

I do however find Cheren in the school and he decides he wants to fight me again.

So we battle!

Cheren has his Snivy (barely trained) and a newly captured Purrloin.

This was just as easy as Bianca. My rivals are wimps this time around. I even inadvertently bully him into giving me a few Oran Berries, which will be helpful in the early game, but not for long.

After that the whole city, sans the Gym has been explored. I still don't feel confident in trying to take on the Gym so I head off to the right of the city into the Dreamyard.

The Dreamyard has a few trainers and some new teamates to obtain. I first go through and fight all the trainers and then realize something...

I can't capture a  Pokémon here until I beat the Gym.

I'm about to leave the area when suddenly a person waves me over to them. I head over quietly and they offer me a  Pokémon. Because I chose an Oshawott in the beginning of the game this person is offering me a new 'mon of the opposite type. Fire.

This could be helpful, I think to myself, Fire-types are more of a mid-late game catch and having one this early could be helpful. 

I take it, which counts as catching a creature in this area.

Welcome, Pansear.

Butterball is his name and he will be crucial in the Gym fight. 

Remember how I told you I would explain why I didn't want to go into the Gym yet? That's because depending on your first  Pokémon the Gym changes. The change it goes through is that it will be a Gym Leader with  Pokémon that are strong against your starter type. Which means this Gym will have a Grass Gym Leader.

It's time to train before we head inside.

My Team:

Upstairs (Oshawott) level 11 - Nuvema Town

Zkippy (Lillipup) level 10 - Route 1

Conch (Purrloin) level 10 - Route 2

Butterball (Pansear) level 10 - Dreamyard

N (Really... That's All I'm Titling This)- Part 4

Training in this area has led me to discover two things:

There are Lillipups, like Zkippy.

And there are Patrats.

There is absolutely nothing else here, other than the kind stranger who gave me a free Potion. 

I head into Accumula Town. This is a new area, so I can catch Pokémon that are here... but there are no Pokémon to catch in this town... so that's a bummer. 

I know that I'm supposed to go and meet Professor Juniper at the Pokémon Center, but first I decide to do a little bit of exploring. I walk into a house and out of all the people inside, no one has anything useful to give me or even to tell me. 

So I just march my way into the Pokémon Center.

Inside I meet up with Bianca and Juniper. We learn about how to heal our Pokémon, how to store our extras and how to purchase items. That's it. There's nothing else to see here. 

I buy ten PokéBalls and snag a free Premier Ball, which is always appreciated.

As soon as I emerge from the Center there is a clamor. There is a group of people who look like aliens holding up flags and gathering a crowd around them.

Behind them is an old man, who kinda looks like a white Ganondorf, wearing a Dragonball Z scouter and clothes inspired by HP Lovecraft... he introduces himself to the crowd and his name is Ghetsis (how am I supposed to pronounce a hippy name like that?!).

Ghetsis then goes on to explain some good points. That we treat Pokémon pretty poorly. We capture them and then force them to do our bidding, including fighting their own kind for sport. This guy seems to be a toned down sort of PETA speaker. That's not too bad. I can understand where he's coming from. 

I then release my Pokémon and walk into the sunset with Ghetsis and the Nuzlocke is over.

That would be too easy. Ghetsis tells the crowd that he is apart of Team Plasma and that we shouldn't treat Pokémon the way that we do. 

They leave in a strange formation, because they must be aliens, and leaves Cheren and myself to talk for a bit about what just happened, but before we can...

This guy comes up to us.

He tells us that his name is N.

I've seen another N from another Japanese based form of entertainment.

N from Death Note.

This N, in Pokémon not Death Note, tells us that he can understand what Pokémon think. So he doesn't just have a strange name, he also is like a Pokémon Dolittle! 

He seems a little aloof and is upset that Cheren and I cannot understand Pokémon like him. He then decides that he wants to battle me and he throws out a level 7 Purrloin. 

It Growls and Scratches at Upstairs, but Upstairs takes it down with a couple good Water Guns. Upstairs gets to grow another level after the battle and N departs from us leaving Cheren and I to wonder what exactly is going on.

My Team:

Upstairs (Oshawott) level 9 - Nuvema Town

Zkippy (Lillipup) level 8 - Route 1