((This story originally started out as a Yellow Nuzlocke, however after I lost some data, I stopped playing it. Still, I figured I'd share the beginning at least.
Basic Nuzlocke Challenge Rules:
1.All captured pokémon must be nicknamed
2.Only the first pokémon encountered in a new route can be captured
3.If a pokémon faints, it has died and cannot be used in the game anymore
First Save - Adventure StartEntry 1 – The start
of a journey
Hey. You’ve just stumbled upon the journal of one Neo
Amarillo.
If you are reading this, then I can only wonder how you
found it. I plan to keep this little book on me during my entire journey. A
journey, mind you, that I didn’t even ask for. But I suppose you can’t control
everything in your life. Sometimes fate just takes the reins and guides you on
her path. Fate must be behind your discovery of this journal of mine. This
little pack of paper that will hold the stories of the adventure I’m about to
undergo with my disgruntled electric companion.
I bet your curious now, aren’t you?
Well, like any journey, it all started like any other day. I
had just finished my final year of grade school and was taking full advantage
of my new found free time. Since I woke up early, body still wired for school
instead of lazy days of summer, I decided to play Pokémon Stadium on my
Nintendo. Virtual pokémon were much easier to handle and train than real ones.
Plus, in a video game, you don’t have to worry about losing. If your team is on
the ropes, just reset and restart. No big loss.
Pokémon Stadium was my latest favorite. It had the largest
variety of pokémon in any virtual battle game, including some rare phantom
thing called a mew. That’s how I learned to battle really. The types,
advantages and disadvantages… I could handle that. It didn’t really teach much
about the pokémon themselves, but not many people really understood pokémon
nature. I mean, in my entire little town, there’s only one family that really
knows the physiology of pokémon, and that’s the Oak family. My neighbors.
Professor Oak teaches a weekly lecture on pokémon in my school and I’ve seen
his grandson, Kurt, helping him out at his lab. Yeah, he has a lab in Pallet
Town. The air here is apparently very clean and perfect for raising healthy Pokémon
or something. Anyway, Kurt and I have been rivals since our dads left for the
war when we were just kids. I guess us
pushing each other so much was why I got the second highest scores in that
lecture class. Kurt barely beat me.
But I’m getting off track here. My journey. Let’s focus on
that again. It started because I had scored so high on my final exam in
Professor Oak’s class. He wanted me to help him with some project of his. He
said it involved pokémon, so I agreed to hear him out. Of course, he wasn’t at
his lab when I got there. Kurt was just as impatient as I was. I saw him in
there, slouched in his grandfather’s computer chair just waiting. He had told
me his grandpa was going to give him a pokémon to train. That had surprised me.
I know most people own pokémon as pets and some decide to take up the training
profession, and it was true I did enjoy training my virtual pokémon, but a real
one was different.
At first I saw it as exciting. Maybe the professor wanted me
to raise one too. Raising a real pokémon to go into real battle? Maybe I could
one day raise a team so strong, I could rival the power of the league champion.
He’s said to be the strongest trainer of them all. But that’s way ahead of me.
First I had to figure out what exactly the professor wanted me to do. I left
the lab sending only a single curious glance at the single red and white pokéball
sitting innocently on the table.
Finding Professor Oak was no easy task despite the
relatively small size of my town. I was starting to think I had missed him
somehow and he was back at his lab already. Then I saw something in the
grass. I know there are wild animals out
there and generally people don’t go wandering into the tall grass without some
form of protection, but I swore I saw something yellow in the grass. I had to
find out what it was, so… I headed out to find it. Not two steps in and the
very person I had been looking for came running up to me, calling ‘Wait!’
He told me what I already knew. Wild pokémon live in the
tall grass, I know, but I was 14. I could handle myself. Then that yellow thing
jumped out at us, as if just to prove the old man’s words were true. It was a
pokémon I had never seen in Pallet Town. It was a yellow mouse I had only ever
seen in my video games. A pikachu. The professor hastily through a pokéball at
it and I stared as the ball shook rather violently before finally calming. Then
the professor told me I shouldn’t wander into the grass without a pokémon of my
own to protect me. I doubt I could wipe off the huge grin that split my face
when the professor told me to follow him to his lab.
Kurt was still there, leaning on the table, watching the
pokéball that sat atop it. When he spotted us, he pretty much yelled at his
‘gramps’ for making him wait for so long. Judging from his grandpa’s reply,
Kurt wasn’t supposed to come until this afternoon anyway. But that wasn’t
important. Professor Oak had pointed to the ball on the table. He said it was a
pokémon just for me. Kurt seemed, oddly enough, hurt that I was getting it
instead of him. Despite his grandfather’s assurances that he was getting one
later, he still glared at me as I made my way over to it.
My hand was only an inch away as my mind could only wonder
what was inside that I’d soon call my own, but I saw a blur of blue snatch that
pokémon away. Kurt had snagged the pokéball. He stared at the form inside,
saying this was his pokémon and his alone. His grandfather had started to scold
him for the action, but he folded to his grandson’s wishes faster than the turn
of a page. So what did I get? The
leftovers. That yellow mouse he had literally just caught. Untamed he called
it. Wild. So that’s what I’d call it to.
I started to leave with the pokéball containing my very own
pokémon, but Kurt called out to me. A battle right off the bat. That was fine.
It would be my chance to see just what Wilde could do… and it would give me the
chance to see just what had been inside that pokéball on the table.
My rival had gotten an eevee. A rare, fox like pokémon… and
he had been right. It was physically stronger than Wilde. But then, I had
learned in school that pokémon raised by a trainer generally are stronger than
ones just plucked from the grass. Wilde was on his last legs. Literally down to
his last bit of health when his electricity paralyzed Kurt’s eevee. We were
lucky this time. I think Wilde knew that too.
Kurt just assumed he had picked the wrong pokémon. He didn’t know how
close Wilde was to fainting. Wilde was stubborn, I could tell just by looking
at the defiance in his eyes. He wasn’t going to go down without a fight. He
proved it when Kurt left and he forced himself out of his pokéball. I didn’t
even know a pokémon could do that, but there you go. Wilde just sat on the
ground, panting a bit from the battle, glaring at his pokéball like it was a
thing of evil. Professor Oak agreed that it was strange, but he told me not to
make a big deal about it. I could just let him follow me or something, and talk
to him to check to see if he’s happy. So I took the advice and bent down to say
hi to Wilde… but the stupid thing just walked by me with his nose in the air,
like he was better than me or something. He was MY pikachu, but already I was
feeling like I was the one being led around.
Too bad real life doesn’t have a reset button.
~Neo Amarillo
Entry 2 – A new mission
Having my own real life pokémon wasn’t as amazing as I had
thought it would be. Wilde sat in the window the entire night, staring at the
moon and the trees. He wouldn’t look at me no matter how much I tried to get
his attention or how much food I shoved his way. Eventually I ended up going to
bed smelling like a burnt out wire thanks to somebody small, fuzzy, and yellow.
Morning wasn’t any better. Wilde just paced around the
house, clearly annoyed with not just its new predicament, but me as well. If I
ever talked to him, he just kind of gave me a blank stare and twitched his ear
in clear annoyance. Taming wasn’t easy in real life. I liked it better in games
where the pokémon just listen to you without any work.
Professor Oak called my house later that day requesting I
take a trip up to Viridian City to pick up a parcel for him. He said it would
be a great chance for me to bond with my new pikachu and how being outside
might make him more relaxed. I seriously doubted it. With this particular
pokémon, I didn’t think anything would please him.
But I was proven wrong when Wilde all but jumped at the
chance to leave the stuffy house. It was the first positive reaction I had seen
from him since I got him. I opened the door, and off he shot, straight into the
warmth of the sun where he rolled in the grass and flowers. I should’ve known…
he really was still a beast of nature. The house had made him stir crazy.
The trouble started when he tore off into the grass without
warning. I had to run just to catch up with him, and it wasn’t even me who
stopped him. A boy along route one had caught Wilde and figured he was mine
when he saw me calling out to him. He didn’t question the scene. He could
probably tell I was a newbie trainer. He even gave me a healing potion as a
sample from the market he works at. Bet it was from pity. Me and Wilde probably
aren’t the most impressive duo.
Wilde proved it when he took off again. I waved goodbye to the boy and ran after the little rat. He
didn’t get far though. A wild pidgey made sure of that. It just attacked out of the blue and Wilde
was so startled he could only stare. I couldn’t believe that thick headed
rodent was frozen in panic. His fur was raised but his paws were glued to the
ground as the pidgey came at him. A flap of the bird’s wings send a dangerous
gust of wind Wilde’s way, and I shouted the only thing that came to mind.
Thundershock. Instantly Wilde responded to my command, charging up and shooting
a bolt of electricity through the wind and hitting the pidgey. It flew away
without looking back. Wilde and I caught each other’s gazes after that battle
and I think we had an understanding. Well, at least he didn’t try to run away
after that. He just sort of walked in front of me, with a smug little
expression on his face whenever he took down another pokémon. So smug, despite
the fact he didn’t know what to do without me to guide him. Still, this was a
step in the right direction. At least he wasn’t completely ignoring my orders.
I’m staying overnight at the Pokémon Center. There is
apparently a center in every town but Pallet, and they have free lodging for
travelers. That’s a relief. I don’t really have any camping gear on me. I’ll
make a note to grab some things when I get home.
~Neo Amarillo
Entry 3 – Parcel Delivery
With the start of a new day, I thought I’d look around
Viridian City before I headed home. I mean, it wasn’t my first time in this
city, but Wilde was still giving me dirty looks so I figured maybe walking
around the town could get him to relax. It didn’t, but it was worth a shot.
Maybe if our trek hadn’t been cut short thanks to a cranky old man who thought
he owned the road… but whatever. I had Oak’s parcel and I had to deliver it
anyway.
When I stopped by the lab to drop of the package, the
Professor actually said he thought Wilde and I were getting along pretty well.
He said I had talent as a trainer. I don’t think he was really looking at my
pikachu , or else he would have realized the thing still hated me and I was
clearly doing a pathetic job at taming a mere mouse.
The parcel Oak had gotten had a fancy pokéball inside. It
looked like it was made from an apricorn, so it was probably ordered from the
Johto region. I’ve never been there, so I couldn’t be completely sure, but I
knew they liked to use apricorns to make pokéballs, so it made sense.
The professor put the ball aside and slid two little red
metal books off of the table beside him as he spoke to me about another favor.
I tried to give him my attention, but the red things had stolen that
completely. It looked like he had had them hooked up to one of his research
computers. Before he could tell me more about them and the favor, I heard a
familiar call from behind. Kurt had come to show what just a day’s worth of
traveling had done for his eevee, and I could only glance at Wilde, knowing
Kurt was already a step ahead of us.
His grandfather seemed pleased Kurt had come, and apparently
the favor he asked of me was a favor for both of us. The red things in his hand
were called Pokédexes, mini computers that stored information on captured
pokémon. He wanted me and Kurt to go and ‘catch them all’ you could say. He
wanted to create the ultimate encyclopedia on Kanto pokémon, but he was too old
to go out and collect the specimens needed himself. That’s where we came in.
I accepted this mission despite believing that I could never
catch every pokémon out there. I mean, I wouldn’t really have to. With both me
and Kurt working on the pokédex, the professor could just combine that data
into one or something later. I have just wanted to go on a journey out of this
town for a while now. When I heard Kurt was going to be leaving after grade
school to go on a research expedition around Kanto, I had been jealous of him
and had decided then and there that I would go on a journey too. I didn’t
expect it to also be a research mission, but beggars can’t be chooses. If I
could choose, I wouldn’t have saddled myself with a pokémon that thinks he’s a
god and I’m garbage.
Kurt told me he wouldn’t need my help to complete the
pokédex. He was eager about the assignment and practically ran out the door. He
had always been more of a science guy in school anyway, following after his grandpa
where as I had been more interested in following the footsteps of my father.
He was a great trainer in the army. That’s why I had confidence I could be a
great trainer too. Until I actually got a pokémon. Now my confidence is a bit
shaken.
~Neo Amarillo
Entry 4 – Finally, Some Progress
I awoke early today so I could cover a lot of ground in one
go. My mom gave me a spare health potion for Wilde as I said goodbye, not
knowing when I’d be coming back. I also stopped at the Oak’s house to say bye
to Daisy. Daisy was Kurt’s older sister, and practically my sister too. Since
my mom works to keep food on the table, when I was younger she had Daisy
babysit me. Daisy stepped up to the role pretty easily. She had been taking
care of Kurt since their mom passed away, so adding one more kid to the mix was
no big deal. She wished me luck on my journey and gave me a map of Kanto
despite Kurt telling her to let me wander around trying to find my way to the
next city. Thank god Daisy is nice and helpful instead of being like her
arrogant brother.
When I reached Viridian City again, I instantly purchased a
few pokéballs and some antidote with the allowance I’ve been saving. Trainers
earn money by beating other trainers, so I’ll have to actually beat other
people if I want to be able to fund this mission, and to do that I’ll need
something else besides a pikachu that only knows how to wag its tail and shock
people.
Oh yeah, did I mention? The pokédex tells me what moves my
pokémon know, what level they’re at, how much health they have left, and their
stats. Talk about convenient.
I learned more about the pokédex when I caught my first
pokémon. Wilde and I headed west of Viridian and ran into a spearow. A bird
like spearow wouldn’t have been able to handle Wilde’s electric attacks. I had
learned that after frying all the pidgey on route one with one hit, so I just
threw a pokéball at it and prayed for the best.
Miraculously, it actually stayed in the ball. Even more
miraculous, once I caught it, Wilde actually smiled.
I stayed in the grass for a little while, running into wild
pokémon so that Wilde could practice his electric attacks and I could practice
with my new spearow. Of course, once the spearow saw Wilde taking down another
spearow, training went on hold for a bit. I decided to call the spearow Ronin
after he challenged Wilde to a dual without using any pokémon abilities. Wilde
won fairly easily, claiming his spot as leader of the team or something. Ever
since that little spat, Ronin has been incredibly respectful to Wilde. He’s
also been respectful to me, though for some reason I think he ranks Wilde
higher than me in the chain of command.
I continued along the route only to run into Kurt along the
way. He made fun of me, saying I was headed to the pokémon league. I gave him a
look and checked my map. Sure enough I was going the wrong way. He just laughed
at me, so I decided to point that that he too was coming from the wrong
direction. Next thing I knew, we were in a pokémon battle.
Kurt had captured a spearow too, but Wilde made quick work
of that bird. Nothing feathery could stand up to this mouse. Then Kurt sent out
his eevee, and I had wanted to call Wilde back. Eevee was stronger than him, I
knew that, but Wilde just stood there as his cheeks began to spark. He wanted
to do this fight and I decided to let him. I was nervous during the battle.
Like I expected, that eevee was physically much stronger than Wilde. One hit
lowered wild’s health by a third while he’d need to hit that eevee with at
least five thundershocks. It didn’t help that the eevee kept throwing sand in
Wilde’s eyes. But again, we were lucky. A critical hit made up for some of the
damage, and Wilde was able to get in a strong thunder wave. Kurt’s eevee was
stuck, unable to move, twice, giving Wilde two free hits. Again, another
critical hit. Then another. The eevee went down and Wilde leveled up.
Kurt said we were just lucky this time, and he had no idea
how true those words were. After he left, I found Wilde staring at me, except
this time, not with distaste. He was smiling. At me. I smiled back. He was a tough little mouse,
wasn’t he?
Wilde walks beside me now instead of behind me. He still
seems pretty full of himself, but it’s nice not having a small yellow mouse
glare at the back of your head all day. That battle with Kurt triggered
something in the little guy, and I’m not as mad about getting the ‘leftover’
pokémon anymore.
We got past that old man this time around too. He’s not
nearly as grouchy in the afternoons as he is in the morning. He even offered to
show me how to catch pokémon even though Ronin makes it pretty obvious that I
already know how. I humored him anyway, but he ended up failing the catch. Oh
well. While he went to go buy more pokéballs, I made a dash towards Route 2.
It wasn’t a long route, but that didn’t mean there weren’t
any pokémon. As soon as we got there, a rattata attacked us. Ronin subdued it
and I snagged it with a pokéball. You never know when fangs like that would
come in handy. As soon as I got it, the pokédex registered the purple pokémon’s
information, even giving a little informational blurb about the species. Once
again, Wilde got excited when I made the catch. I think he likes having more
pokémon around to keep him company.
I named my new rattata Kora. She and Wilde get along pretty
well. Must be a rodent thing.
~Neo
Entry 5 – Kora
Alright, so Kora may have been pretty easy to tame, but
she’s not as easy to level up. Kora is by far the friendliest of my trio, and
she’s already become fond of me for reasons unknown, however while we were
training this morning, Wilde had to bail her out of a tight situation more than
once. She’s the only one that needs help taking down an enemy. I just hope she
will grow strong enough to take care of herself soon. I’ve decided to back
track a bit and try to train her in a weaker area before moving on ahead.
~Neo Amarillo
Entry 6 – Sleeping In the Forest
The Kora exclusive training paid off. She learned Quick
Attack and seems to be able to hold her own at last. Now that I’m more
comfortable with her being able to defend herself, I took my team into the
Viridian Forest. The trees are so large and overgrown they pretty much block
out most of the sun. I couldn’t see a single step ahead of me, but my team was
on top of it. Ronin even brought back dinner, except I wasn’t one who liked to
eat bugs. Instead of roasting the large caterpie Ronin found, I just captured
it and added it to the crew.
Safe to say, Glit and Ronin don’t get along very well, what
with Ronin constantly trying to eat him. On the plus side, their constant
bickering was apparently giving Glit plenty of experience… because by night
fall he had evolved into a metapod. Not even Ronin’s tough beak can crack that
cocoon.
I also met a girl in the forest talking about pikachus. They
are apparently native to this forest, though I haven’t seen a single one since
I’ve been here, but this could explain why Wilde has been so mellow lately. He
really seems to love this forest and spends all of his free time just enjoying
nature rather than butting heads with me. So I told him we were going to be
staying the night in the forest. He looked ecstatic.
~Neo Amarillo
Entry 7 – Battle
I battled some trainers today. A lot of them actually. Most
of them raised bugs so they weren’t exactly hard to take down. I know that
sounds bad considering I’ve got a big on my team too, but Glit was really the
weakest on my team. Was being the key word there. I remember learning in class
that bug pokémon are notorious for growing quickly, and Glit is no exception.
He evolved again today. I didn’t know butterfree could learn psychic attacks.
Confusion will definitely come in handy.
Wilde seemed disappointed when we left the forest behind,
but I think I’ve gained some loyalty from him since our journey began. He chose
me over a tree. That’s a plus in my favor.
But the moment we left the forest behind, a pidgey came out
of nowhere, aiming to make a meal out of Glit. It’s a good thing Glit had so
much battle practice in the forest. He took care of that bird brain easily and
we even added her to the team. Now both
Ronin AND Kori dislike Glit, but at least they have each other to distract them
now. I’m actually really surprised how easily it was to control Kori after her
capture, and I’m pretty sure it has something to do with Ronin.
But that’s a mystery for another day. Pewter City is in the
distance and my team and I need to get to sleep.
~Neo Amarillo
Entry 8 – Rock Disadvantage
Kori is a natural born fighter.
I caught her at level 3 and didn’t have high hopes for her.
I actually intended to box her since I already had a bird on my team, but Kori
caught up to the rest of the group before it was even lunch time. I’m still
floored by her growth. Wilde helped her out in the beginning, but now she’s
tackling anything that comes her way.
It still won’t be enough though. I’ve been talking to a few
of the people who live here and I’ve learned that professional trainers take on
gyms in order to earn badges. If I can get eight badges, I can gain entry to the
pokémon league and challenge the league champion. I know I thought this was
only a dream and I laughed about it when Wilde and I first met, but we’ve
really grown as partners, and I’m starting to think this isn’t so farfetched of
a goal after all. I’ve decided to take on the gym challenges… but fate is not
kind to me. Leaders tend to specialize in training a specific type of pokémon
and Pewter’s Gym Leader is a rock specialist. Ronin, Kori, and Glit will be
slaughtered by one rock move, and Wilde’s electric attacks will be next to
useless. Even Kora’s fangs will find it difficult to get through solid stone.
That’s why today is just for training. Tomorrow we will see if we can take down
this so called mighty Brock character. At least the boy training under him wasn’t
that tough to beat. Wilde took care of his diglett and sandshrew with just a
handful of quick attacks.
Well, my team needs to get its rest after such a long day of
training. Still, I feel like preparing for this battle has brought us all
closer together. I can’t believe just a few days ago Wilde wouldn’t even walk
beside me. Sure he’s still no cuddle buddy, but I consider us pals now. We make
quite the team and I think Wilde is finally ready to acknowledge that. When I
told him I planned to use him against Brock, he even rubbed his head against my
hand. He still doesn’t go in his pokéball, so I can’t really say he’s tamed,
but I think I’m close.
I can hear the jigglypuff’s song out in the lobby. I
don’t think I’ll be able to keep my eyes open much longer. Good thing that
jigglypuff is here though. I’d never be able to get to sleep with all this
excitement for tomorrow’s gym battle welling up inside me.
~Neo