Gotta Catch Some Of Them

[Submachine]

Welcome to my Platinum Nuzlocke!
After seven failed attempts, I embark on a journey to defeat the dreaded Cynthia with Nuzlocke rules. Now I have more experience than ever, but to keep things somewhat blind, I am playing Platinum instead of Diamond.

It's been a while since I did my blind Emerald Nuzlocke. Not many people know, but that was just a few months after I lost my seventh Diamond Nuzlocke. In my seven attempts, I haven't ever gotten to the Elite Four, but I at least saw the entrance.

But now it's gotta be different. I have three years worth of experience in competitive pokemon games, so I should be able to take on Cynthia now.

Here are my special rules for this runthrough:

Spoiler for Main Rules in white, the others are the special rules:

Many points were transferred from my Diamond Nuzlocke rules. I don't know if there will be fossils, breeding and dual battles, but it's the best to be prepared for anything.~

• The starter Pokémon must be randomly chosen.
• Every Pokémon must be given a nickname.
• In every new area, only the first encountered Pokémon can be caught. If the first encountered Pokémon dies or runs away, you fail to get a Pokémon from there.
• Exception: Maximum two duplicates. If the first encountered Pokémon is already present twice in your team, you can choose to run away. The Pokémon who you don't want to catch must not die or flee before you can run away.
• If you already caught a Pokémon in an area, that area is off-limits for catching new Pokémon.
• If a Pokémon faints, it is considered dead and has to be released.
• If the first encounter is a 2-vs-2 battle, you are free to decide which Pokémon you want to catch.
• NPC trades are allowed.
• If all 6 Pokémon in your party faint, the game is over and you lost, even if you had reserves in the PC.
• Items cannot be used on your own Pokémon in battle.
• You can equip and change your Pokémon's items, but only outside battle.
• Legendary, Ultra Rare, and Shiny Pokémon can be caught, but only as trophies if catching them would be otherwise illegal.
• Only the first found fossil can be revived and used.
• Any amount of eggs can be hatched, but only one can be used. If a hatched Pokémon already entered a battle, all other hatched and unhatched eggs must be released/stored.
• If the game accidently crashes, you don't have to reproduce your previous run since your last save. Play by the normal rules again.
• Dead Pokémon can be used on the world map for using HMs. Dead HM slaves can avoid being released, but they must not be switched into battle.
• If the plot heals up a dead Pokémon who was in the first slot and then carries you right into a new battle, you can use it to absorb some hits, but it must not attack or change stats of the opponent.
• Legendary Pokémon must not be caught with a Master Ball if there is more than 1 Pokémon alive in your party.
• If something is unclear because of unexpected game mechanics, the rules should be updated.

So let's load up the game and start with our adventure!

[JonathanCrazyJ]

OH YES THIS IS BACK HOORAY

[Submachine]

It's been a while, Professor Rowan. Three years, if I am correct. In fact, it has been so long ago, that you forgot if I am a boy or a girl.

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

I'm gonna stick with boy for this one. I should also remind Rowan what my name is, because it seems he also forgot that. ^^" In my previous attempts, I used 'NuzLock' as a name, but since I used a different (and more presentable) name in my public Nuzlocke, I'm gonna use that one.

Welcome to the Pokémon realm, Reynold!

But wait, who's this little bugger?

I completely forgot that I can rename my rival. In the show, his name was Barry, but that's not very intimidating, so let's call him Zane. Zane and I have quite a history in Nuzlockes, but I will get to that when we reach the appropriate points in the game.

After the professor finished his monologue, I am immediately interrupted by all the people in the world.

Zane jumped at me inside my room, Professor Rowan found us while we were supposed to find him, and Dawn found Rowan while he was scolding us for being reckless. The good news are that we get our first Pokémon within the first two minutes. That's already a big change compared to Diamond.

This is it! Time to get my starter Pokémon. I'm gonna roll a normal 6-sided dice to decide.

1 or 4 = Turtwig
2 or 5 = Chimchar
3 or 6 = Piplup

The dice rolls and it stops at the number 1. Welcome to the team, Turtwig!

Lucas: Ow! Barry: Come on turd, we gotta go!

But of course Zane picks Chimchar, which is super effective against Grass. And if that wouldn't be enough, his first thing to do is to 1v1 me with a type advantage.

You are challenged by PKMN Trainer Zane!

Oh shit! Two of my past Nuzlocke losses were because this guy ambushed me when I least expected him. >_> I cannot lose this Nuzlocke on the first duel, I must pull through!

My Turtwig can raise its Defense, but his Chimchar can lower my Defense. I have Tackle, but he has Scratch. Before attacking, I wanted to raise my Defense to +2, but he keeps lowering it. After I used my 10th PP for my defensive move, he finally stops lowering it and starts scratching instead. Time to counter-attack! With only 10 HP left, Turtwig defeats Chimchar and grows to level 6.

Lucas: I refuse to watch him charge an evil team that lacks emotion.

The next day, I get my running shoes and bump into a guy named Cyrus outside our small town. This game really is fast compared to Diamond, huh. For those who haven't played Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum yet, don't worry. Surely he won't be anyone important later.

I am rushing down the first route to get my Pokeballs, but I am interrupted by a Starly - who I sadly cannot catch yet. By the rules of this Nuzlocke, I do not get any Pokémon from this route.

Lucas: Compadre peons trying to shoot for a star, Leave before I report you to Jupiter Mars.

But then I finally get to Rowan's laboratory, where Rowan, Dawn, and Zane are waiting for me.

"Do you want to give a nickname to Turtwig?"

I sure do. But now I gotta come up with a fitting nickname, which tends to be tricky. I thought long and hard before arriving at a final decision.

(It's supposed to be a pun between thorn and fang. ^^")

[Submachine]

Here I will keep track of which areas are off-limits to catch new pokémon.

Twinleaf Town (starter pokémon)	THORNANG	Turtwig
Route 201	killed	Starly
Route 202	SONIC	Shinx
Ravaged Path	ZERIA	Zubat
Route 203	BABIDYBOO	Bidoof
Oreburgh Gate	PELICAN	Psyduck
Route 207	MARK	Machop
Oreburgh Mine	killed	Zubat
Route 204	WHOMP	Wurmple
Valley Windworks	FLIMFLAM	Drifloon
Route 205	SHINRA	Shellos
Eterna Forest	BREIDLE	Buneary
Route 211	MYSTRO	Meditite
Route 206	PHOENIX	Ponyta
Wayward Cave	BRICK ROLL	Bronzor
Mount Coronet (inner caves)	MYSTERY	Meditite
Route 208	ROVIUS	Ralts
Hearthome City	ELZEVION	Eevee
Route 209	BEREVIC	Bibarel
Solaceon Ruins	UDIUS	Unown
Lost Tower	ZIMMY	Zubat
Route 210	GORDY	Geodude
Route 215	MERNICA	Marill
Veilstone City	PERESVIR	Porygon
Route 214	RATHALOS	Rhyhorn
Ruin Maniac Cave	killed	Geodude
Valor Lakefront	GINGSH	Girafarig
Route 213	SHELLOCK	Shellos
Route 212	Q	Quagsire
Trophy Garden	PEP	Pichu
Route 218	TENECAC	Tentacool
Route 219	WACKX	Wingull
Route 220	TINCATA	Tentacool
Route 221	FROYZZ	Floatzel
Iron Island	OXIDIAN	Onix
Pastoria City	RAID BOSS	Remoraid
Route 216	ZEEZY	Zubat
Acuity Lakefront	SNUUUU	Snover
Route 217	SEVESTRA	Swinub
Lake Acuity	FLISS	Psyduck

[Submachine]

OH YES THIS IS BACK HOORAY

I see you are as excited as I am. Let's see what else happened today.~

I left off in Rowan's laboratory, where I gave a nickname to Turtwig. After this, a lot of stuff happened, but I try to be brief. I got the following missions:

• Learn how to catch Pokémon.
• Fill in the Pokédex that Rowan gave us.
• Go to Jubilife City.
• Deliver a parcel to Zane.

While I was doing these, I got the following things:

• All missions above.
• A Pokédex.
• A TM for Return.
• Five pokéballs.
• A parcel that I exchanged for a town map.
• The Pokémon Watch (Poketch for short).
• Old Rod (allows fishing).
• Quick Claw.

But some of these happen later in the story. On my way to Jubilife City, Dawn intercepted me to show how to catch a Bidoof.

Lucas: This group called Team Galactic is stupid, Ruled by a ruthless rabid doofus.

Just for giggles, I will add one of these small puns whenever a GEN 4 pokémon shows up.
If these are distracting, I will put them in spoilers.

She showed up at the right time to teach me how to catch a Pokémon, because I was just about to catch my second team member. I ran head first into the tall grass, and met the following fellow:

Lucas: I’m gonna get my redemption! Just not like Shawshank’s...

I was very happy to find an Electric type this early, even if it only knows Tackle now. ^^ After throwing 4 Pokéballs, Shinx was finally caught! I named him SONIC and checked his stats. His ability is Rivalry, which raises SONIC's Attack power by one stage if the opponent has the same gender. This looks like a rare ability, because almost all other Shinxes I met knew Intimidate instead. Regardless, this ability might come handy later.

Spoiler for On the way to Jubilife:

While I was fighting the random trainers on the way to Jubilife, one of the trainers with a Kricketot almost killed THORNANG. The opposing Kricketot used Bide, which accumulates damage for 2 turns, then deals double of that damage to the opponent. Luckily I knew how dangerous Bide can be, so I didn't attack again until Bide wore off. We lived through that Bide with 4 HP. After that battle though, THORNANG learned Absorb.

Lucas: I’ll follow my conscience as a cricket ought to do.

When I finally arrived at Jubilife City, I met Dawn.

Dawn: "Hey Reynold, how is the Pokémon catching?"
Dawn: "Oh... You should go catch some more."
Reynold: "Shush, Dawn! This is a Nuzlocke, go mind your own business." >_>

In Jubilife City, I met a guy called Looker, who is a member of the international police and I think returns in Pokémon Sun/Moon. If the story goes anything like in Diamond, he will be of no relevance here.

The thing that has relevance is that I found Zane, looking at blackboards in the Pokémon School, among a bunch of preschoolers. After I delivered him his parcel, I checked what he was looking at. The blackboard said "Fire beats Grass, Grass beats Water, Water beats Fire". What a noob.

This noob ain't harmless though.

That's right. One of his dangerous traps was right outside Jubilife City, at a perfect place to catch me off-guard with only 2 underlevelled teammates. I know it, because I wiped there once. To avoid certain defeat, first I had to catch another teammate at a different exit. This is how I met ZERIA.

Then all I had to do was to grind SONIC and ZORIA to acceptable levels. The grind is now over, so next time, we're gonna take Zane's "surprise" challenge.~

End of Day party stats:

Lv.12 THORNANG, the Turtwig (♂) Tackle Withdraw Absorb	Lv.9 SONIC, the Shinx (♂) Tackle Leer Charge
Lv.9 ZERIA, the Zubat (♀) Astonish Leech Life Supersonic

[Submachine]

On Tuesday, I managed to arrive at Eterna Forest, but then I confused the controls with that of Subnautica, and tried to save game by pressing Escape. The result was the game closing without saving. x_x Yesterday, I tried to recover some of the lost progress.~

Zane waited for me outside Jubilife City as expected. In the unsaved game, he put up some fight, but not too much. I wasn't as cautious this time, so I let THORNANG go first.

First Boss Battle: Pokémon Trainer Zane

>> You can see the video here. <<

First matchup: Lv.12 THORNANG vs Lv.7 STARLY. Alright, Zane. Show me a good fight! Oh, nevermind, because all his Starly does is Growl, Growl, Growl. I Tackle a few times with THORNANG, then switch to SONIC when my Attack is low. SONIC finishes Starly with a few more Tackles.

For the upcoming battle against Chimchar, I sent out ZERIA. Second matchup: Lv.9 ZERIA vs Lv.9 CHIMCHAR. ZERIA started out strong with a successful Supersonic. After that, Chimchar hit himself in confusion three times, then used Leer two times before ZERIA could finish him off. Though I wonder if Chimchar was not confused, would have he used Leer, Leer, Leer just like Starly did? I guess we'll never know. But what I do know is that we beat Zane with zero damage!


After Zane rushed off, a new route was open to catch a new Pokémon. I was excited to catch a Shinx with the Intimidate ability, but then I was reminded which Gen I was playing.

Spoiler for Who's That Pokémon?:

It's-a-me! Bidoof!

I named her BABIDYBOO, which name still makes me chuckle sometimes. After that, I battled the trainers on the route and entered the nearby cave. In there, I got an unexpected teammate, a Psyduck. With Psyduck, I had a solid Plan D for the upcoming gym. To get there though, I still needed a Machop for Plan B and a Geodude for Plan C. Before that though, I had to give a name to Psyduck. I couldn't think of any name for a female Psyduck that starts with P, so I went with the first thing that came to my mind.

"Hey team, say hello to PELICAN!"

Not to be confused with Pelipper.

After a few battles, I finally arrived to Oreburgh City. Before I could do anything else there, an NPC showed me the way to the gym, where Zane was already waiting for me. He really stands out of the crowd, because the NPC instantly noticed him.

   

NPC: "He's sort of twitchy and impatient."
Reynold: "Oh, come on Zane, don't be so twitchy in front of everyone."
NPC: "Is that guy your friend?"
Reynold: "NOPE, never met him."

Spoiler for Just farting around:

Zane was blocking my way into the gym, so I went to other places instead. In the Pokemon Center, a guy offered me to change my trainer type. The options didn't have much variety, but I took the one I liked the most.

"Reynold evolved into Rich Boy Reynold!"

Later I learned from Zane that Roark, the gym leader, is at the Oreburgh Mine, so I started heading there. But before that, I went up to the northern route to catch a Machop. Machop is a perfect catch at this point, because I can use him now against Roark, then trade him for an Abra when he reaches Lv.20.

My next stop was Oreburgh Cave, where I hoped to catch a Geodude. However, the game decided that I cannot catch the most frequently encountered inhabintant of the mines. Instead, I found a second Zubat. I was not very happy about it, but it's better to get the Zubats early, so I was eager to catch this guy. A random critical hit however accidently killed it, so I don't get anything from Oreburgh Cave. :/ I found the gym leader in the mine, and he promised to shoo Zane from the gym entrance.

It was time to train my team for the gym. We trained long and hard, until we reached a reasonable level. THORNANG learned Razor Leaf, MARK learned Karate Chop, and PELICAN learned Rock Smash and Water Gun. I was ready to face Roark.

First Gym Battle: Leader Roark!



>> You can see the video here. <<

My plan was to start with THORNANG, raise my Defense with Withdraw as high as possible, then use Absorb on Roark's first two Pokémon to heal back. When THORNANG reaches low HP, I would switch to MARK the Machop. PELICAN was Plan C without having a Geodude. First matchup: Lv.14 THORNANG vs Lv.12 GEODUDE. The plan worked smoothly, because I could raise THORNANG's Defense to +6 without getting under half HP. Then I spammed Absorb for victory. Second matchup: Lv.15 THORNANG vs Lv.12 ONIX. ONIX lowered THORNANG's Defense to +4 with a single Screech, and I got worried that my setup might crumble if I don't finish this quickly. I went for the quick kill with two Razor Leaves. Third matchup: Lv.15 THORNANG vs Lv.14 CRANIDOS. THORNANG still had +4 in Defense, so Cranidos could only deal 5 damage to me with his strongest attack. Two Razor Leaves sealed the deal again.

And with that, we got our first badge!

This is all I post for now. I plan to get to Valley Windworks today to get a chance at catching a *special pokémon* on Friday.

[Submachine]

When I got back to Jubilife City, I was surprised to see Looker again, the member of the International Police. He concluded that there is no suspicious activity in this city, so he moved on. Five seconds after he left, I bumped into suspicious activity.

      

"Looker, you had one job!"

It looks like two members of a mysterious organization came to steal Professor Rowan's research data. They even threatened him that if he doesn't comply, they will attack Dawn. Dawn and the professor were surprisingly chill about this though, and in just a few seconds, Dawn and I were already having a double battle with the grunts. The battle didn't go smoothly, but I could get through without casualties. I cannot say the same for Dawn though, whose Piplup got annihilated.

Spoiler for Minor Lottery Attempts:

After the first encounter with Team Galactic, Reynold was invited to the main building of Jubilife TV. In my unsaved game, I could win their lottery on first try (with the help of a new Shinx), but this time I wasn't as lucky.

I carried on towards Floarama Town, eager to catch a new Pokémon. Before that though, I was stopped by twin sisters for another double battle.

"We can one-shot this trainer, can't we, Liz?"

Despite their bold claims, they only had Pachirisus with Quick Attack as their strongest attack. It was worth battling them though, because ZERIA finally learned Bite! After I handled them, I waved around in the tall grass, hoping to catch a Starly. Instead of a Starly though, I got a Wurmple. I didn't know if this was a Silcoon or a Cascoon Wurmple, so I went with the most neutral W-name I could think of: WHOMP.

"The movepool of ZERIA is looking good though. She has now one attack of all types that are strong against Psychic.
Too bad ZERIA is also weak against Psychic... "

My next stop was Floarama Town, but after some shopping, I immediately went ahead to Valley Windworks, where Team Galactic captured a powerplant and a scientist. I expected a tough battle there, so I added 1-2 levels to my weaker team members. SONIC finally learned Spark, an Electric-type move. After the short training, I broke into the powerplant to rescue the scientist.

Spoiler for Pun Time!:

Grunt: "You don't have an inkling of what Team Galactic is trying to achieve!" Me: "You mean one of these?:"

Grunt: "Just you wait! Our Commander will smooch you!" Me: "... What?" Me: "Oh, wait. I read that wrong."

Inside the Windworks, I was stopped by the first commander of Team Galactic. She - even though I thought she was a guy for a very long time - offered me a deal. If I win, they go away, but if she wins, I go away. It goes without saying that I accepted her challenge.

Boss Battle: Galactic Commander Mars!



>> You can see the video here. <<

I had no real plans for this fight, other than NOT starting with MARK. First matchup: Lv.13 PELICAN vs Lv.15 ZUBAT. Darn, I have the lower level. Doesn't matter, let's deal as much damage as we can before we switch! Awesome battle music goes in the background while PELICAN and Zubat spam their strongest attacks. In the end, PELICAN was getting very close to take out Zubat, but Zubat barely survived an attack with 1-2 health. Mars's Zubat was much faster than PELICAN, and the next hit could have killed us if it's a critical hit, so it was time for a safe switch-in. THORNANG, I choose you! THORNANG took two hits, then finished off the Zubat with a Tackle.

Her next Pokémon was Purugly, also known as the Devil's cat, so I brough out the big guns. Second matchup: Lv.16 MARK vs Lv. 17 PURUGLY. Purugly had the higher level, but I had the type advantage. Purugly's first attack was Fake Out, which dealt almost 1/3 of MARK's HP, plus it made MARK skip his turn. And that was only Fake Out! Who knows what stronger moves it has? I had to land at least one hit, so I went for a Karate Chop. Purugly was faster though, so MARK ate a Scratch to the face. Mark retaliated with Karate Chop, which took down around half of Purugly's HP. It was hard to tell if it was more or less than half. From the last Scratch, MARK's health ended a bit below half, so I thought it was safe to risk another Karate Chop, and maybe finish off Purugly with that. After another Scratch in the face, we lived with 7 HP! That was the moment of truth, landing the second Karate Chop. For a moment, I couldn't tell if it was strong enough to take out Purugly, but then Purugly confirmed the hit by fainting. With that, we defeated Commander Mars!

"Ironically, Purugly was worth 666 experience points."

After our battle, Mars and her lackeys admitted defeat, but they didn't mind, because they already got what they wanted. I was also surprised to see an unknown Commander in the background, who I haven't seen in Diamond before. After Team Galactic left and I rescued the captured scientist, her daughter came in to diss her dad with the following line:

"Damn! This young girl is savage."

But she also said something interesting.

Balloon Pokémon, huh? I might already have plans for that. But this rescue mission exhausted Reynold, so I went out of the powerplant to get some fresh air. Outside, I was surprised again to see a familiar face.

"I would say exactly the same about you, Looker."

The increased appearances of Looker makes me think that I might have been wrong about him earlier, when I said he's probably irrelevant to the story. That's already different than what I know from Diamond, so I'm looking forward to see how he ties into the story. He said that he investigates Team Galactic, and next he's going to visit the Team Galactic Headquarters in Eterna City. That's my destination too, but only after I grind my way through Eterna Forest.~

End of Day party stats:

Lv.17 THORNANG, the Turtwig (♂) Tackle Curse Absorb Razor Leaf	Lv.14 SONIC, the Shinx (♂) Tackle Leer Charge Spark
Lv.15 ZERIA, the Zubat (♀) Astonish Leech Life Supersonic Bite	Lv.5 BABIDYBOO, the Bidoof (♀) Tackle Growl
Lv.13 PELICAN, the Psyduck (♀) Water Gun Scratch Tail Whip Rock Smash	Lv.17 MARK, the Machop (♂) Low Kick Leer Foresight Karate Chop

WHOMP the Wurmple was transferred to the PC.

[Submachine]

Before I post my further adventures, I started uploading my videos. You can see them below or where the battles happened during the story.

Spoiler for Versus Rival:

Spoiler for Versus Roark:

Spoiler for Versus Mars:

[Submachine]

Previously on Platinum Nuzlocke:

"Balloon Pokémon, huh? I might already have plans for that."
"I plan to get to Valley Windworks today to get a chance at catching a *special pokémon* on Friday."

Back to the episode:

It was Friday and I was finally at Valley Windworks. It was the perfect time to catch a Drifloon. For those who don't know, a wild Drifloon shows up at Valley Windworks every week, but only on Fridays and only if Team Galactic scattered from the building. I only knew this from playing Diamond, so it was lucky that it was the same for Platinum.

Drifloon's movepool was Astonish, Minimize, Focus Energy and a fourth move he didn't show. Minimize was a threat, so I resorted to an unconventional solution: I brought out my Machop, who only knew Fighting-type attacks. Normally, Fighting-type moves don't affect Ghost-types, but MARK - the Machop - knew Foresight, which allowed him to hit Drifloon. Drifloon started raising his evasion with Minimize, but MARK's ability was No Guard, which made sure that attacks never miss. MARK slowly chipped away Drifloon's health with Karate Chop, which is not very effective against Drifloon, but that was perfect, because I didn't want to accidently kill him with a critical hit. Just when I got him to a low enough health, he crit MARK with an Astonish, so it was time to switch out. After that, I threw some balls at Floon, and eventually caught him.

Floon is a flying bag of cuteness - if you ignore the Pokédex entry -, so I named him FLIMFLAM. He will be especially useful against the upcoming Grass-type gym, just in case ZERIA cannot sweep alone.

Spoiler for But what if Floon hadn't shown up?:

In the surrounding area, I used a honey tree to lure in some rare Pokémon. The rare Pokémon in this case was a Lv.5 Aipom with Sand-Attack, Tail Whip and Scratch.

I couldn't catch him though, because I already caught Drifloon on this route.

My next route was up ahead, where a Shellos (Lv.9) decided to show up. My lead was ZERIA (Lv.15), so I went with Leech Life instead of Bite, because I didn't want to kill it. Leech Life barely did any damage to Shellos, while Shellos' first Water Pulse did a fair chunk to ZERIA while also confusing her. I wanted to attack with anything, but ZERIA hit herself in confusion twice in a row while Shellos was spamming Water Pulses. My safe switch-in against this thing was not something that could safely hit Shellos without risking to kill it, so with only 1 damage from Leech Life, I started chucking Pokéballs at him. Funnily enough, a Net Ball could catch him with almost full HP. Shellos got the name SHINRA, and so far, he easily outclasses PELICAN in every way.

Spoiler for Then some random stuff also happened:

After a few battles, THORNANG finally evolved!

I can't remember if I ever got to evolve Turtwig in my previous Nuzlocke attempts, because whenever I got him as a starter, he either died or I lost the game by the time he could evolve.

Another good thing that happened is that ZERIA finally learned Wing Attack, which will make her very useful against the upcoming Grass gym. And also this:

Spoiler for A Filler Episode in Eterna Forest + 1 new Pokémon:

Then it was time to enter Eterna Forest. Inside the forest, a timid girl approached us.

"Hello, my name's Cheryl. And you are...?"
"I'm sincerely glad to meet you."



"Whoa, Eterna Forest looks gorgeous!"
"Hi Cheryl, haven't seen you in a while."

Cheryl asked us if we can accompany her through the forest, because she is afraid she might get ambushed by Team Galactic. In return, she battles on our side and heals all our Pokémon after every battle. When she said all these though, I couldn't take a proper print screen, so I exited and re-entered the forest to repeat the dialogue. When I exited the forest, she remained there to wait for us, and when I came back, she said the following to REYNOLD:

"Aww, she's such a sweetheart."

The first part of her dialogue sounded kinda romantic, but it was definitely adorable. And when she said "Let's get through this forest together"? I think my heart melt a bit there. I didn't remember Cheryl to be such a sweetie, but she's definitely "ship" material for REYNOLD. To get started in the forest, I pulled out a Repel and dashed for the central forest area before it wore out. There, I got into a tricky situation.

"Hmmm, who to catch?"

Quoted from the pre-determined rules: "If the first encounter is a 2-vs-2 battle, you are free to decide which Pokémon you want to catch". So I could choose if I wanted a Buneary or a Gastly. I've never used Buneary before, and I'm pretty sure that its movepool is pretty shallow in this Gen, however, there will be at least two new areas where I have a high chance to catch a Gastly. Because of these factors, I decided to give Buneary a try. I caught Buneary and called him BREIDLE. (It's a male Buneary too, so that'll be weird when he'll look like a Lopunny.) Already one redeeming quality though: BREIDLE has a remarkably high Attack stat.

Time passed like a train, and we were eventually at the Eterna Forest exit. I didn't want to exit yet, because I knew that Cheryl only heals you until you reach the forest exit, but I got just one step too close to activate the exit dialogue.

"Dammit! Too early."

Well, at least she gave Reynold a parting gift, so that REYNOLD doesn't forget her. A Soothe Bell, to make any Pokémon friendlier.~ (*looks at ZERIA*)
Before leaving though, she turned back right before she would be out of sight.

ZERIA had a few close calls on the way to Eterna City, but luckily she didn't die. When I finally arrived, Zane ambushed me out of nowhere. I didn't remember a rival duel in this area, so I wasn't expecting one either, but that was not the case anyway. He just wanted to show me something. No, not just show me something, but FREAKING HOLD HANDS WHILE GOING THERE.

         

"Hey Nintendo, can we not do BL please?"
"Oh, nevermind, they did it again in Pokémon Let's Go. "

But then we met Cyrus again, who was blocking our way to the thing Zane wanted to show me. As I said earlier, "Surely he won't be anyone important later". A short while later, Cyrus and Zane both left, to mind their own businesses, but then I was intercepted by freakin' Cynthia herself!

"Alright, is every important character gathering in this small town? Is Professor Rowan hiding in a bush somewhere too?"

Also, Cynthia saying "I'm a Trainer just like you"? She's telling jokes. xD

After all that, and after everyone left, REYNOLD could finally explore the city.~

Spoiler for Minor derail from the story again:

In the local Pokémart, I met an explorer who told me about the great uses of Escape Rope. It's an item that players can use in caves to get up to the surface quickly. I assume it works by throwing the rope up, and climbing out in a nearby vent. However, he said that if he had one, he would have used it to get out of Eterna Forest. O_o Like, what? xD How? That makes no sense.

I also found the guy who offers a CHATOT if I trade it for a Buizel. I really like CHATOT, so if I catch a Buizel later, I will think about it.

I also found the Underground Man, (who was totally above ground, by the way >_>,) who gave REYNOLD the Explorer Kit. It will be useful for getting fossils after the Grass gym.

Oh, and remember how I asked if every important character was hiding in this city? There was one more: Dawn's father, who gave us the Exp Share.

After I explored the city, there was only the gym that I didn't visit yet. I had faith in ZERIA and FLIMFLAM to handle the gym alone, but I wanted to have backup. So far, I totally forgot that I'm not playing Diamond, and Diamond unrelentingly crushed me whenever I was not prepared. So I went back to Eterna Forest to train up my 'mons a bit.~

I brought WHOMP with me to get another Flying-type attacker. Bug Catchers in Eterna Forest told me how fast Bug Pokémons evolve, and I wouldn't dare to call them wrong.

"Huh, still no Cascoon though. I wonder under what conditions do Wurmples evolve into Cascoon."

WHOMP didn't have a great movepool, so I used other Pokémon to battle, while WHOMP was just holding the Exp Share in safety. Once she evolved into Beautifly though, I wanted to try her out against a wild Pokémon, just regular 1v1. Our first target was a Gastly. WHOMP only had Tackle, String Shot and Poison Sting, one of which was already useless against a Ghost-type. It was definitely worth a switch-out, but before that, I wanted to lower Gastly's speed at least once with String Shot.

That was a really bad idea.

It was a bad idea, because Gastly's first move was Mean Look, which prevented WHOMP from switching out. >_> In my new-found situation, my only option left was to attack with Poison Sting. It didn't do much, and it also had no chance to Poison the enemy, because a Poison-type cannot be poisoned. Luckily, Lick from Gastly didn't do much either, so I saw a chance to win this. But that was only until Gastly decided to use Curse, which made WHOMP a ticking timebomb that goes off in 4 turns. (Gastly's Curse is a move that costs 50% of the user's HP once, but takes away 25% of the opponent's HP every turn.) I tried to run away, but Mean Look prevented that too. Poison Sting didn't do enough damage to kill Gastly in the next 4 turns, so I had to hope he uses Curse again. On the very last turn, he did use Curse, but as it turns out, Curse fails if it was already used once. With that failure, we have our first defeat. :/

Spoiler for An actual spoiler:

"Rest in peace, WHOMP. You were slowly growing on me, so your loss is a bummer."

In the next episode, we visit the Grass-type gym.

End of Day party stats:

Lv.18 THORNANG, the Grotle (♂) Tackle Curse Absorb Razor Leaf	Lv.20 FLIMFLAM, the Drifloon (♂) Minimize Astonish Gust Payback
Lv.19 ZERIA, the Zubat (♀) Astonish Wing Attack Supersonic Bite	Lv.12 BREIDLE, the Buneary (♂) Pound Defense Curl Foresight Endure
Lv.12 WHOMP, the Beautifly (♀) Tackle String Shot Poison Sting	Lv.18 MARK, the Machop (♂) Low Kick Leer Foresight Karate Chop

Spoiler for PC Pokémon:

SONIC, the Hedgehog Luxio
PELICAN, the Psyduck
SHINRA, the Shellos
BABIDYBOO, the Bidoof

Spoiler for Here I pay my tribute to the fallen:

For WHOMP:

WHOMP, the Beautifly: Lv.9-Lv.12, from Route 204. Died by a wild Lv.13 Gastly. Mean Look prevented the escape while Curse was in effect. Your name was inspired by an enemy type in Super Mario 64.

[Submachine]

Time for a gym battle!

We payed a visit to Gardenia, the second gym leader. My team was ready, so I didn't waste too much time.^[1] ZERIA alone quickly disposed of the minor trainers inside the gym, then we could get to the point.

Second Gym Battle: Leader Gardenia!

Spoiler for You can watch the video here!:

This is not how I remembered this gym. My only memory was that Gardenia's boss monster is a Roserade, which I expected to use some Grass move, Sludge Bomb, and Stun Spore. I was mostly afraid of Stun Spore, so I spread a few anti-paralysis berries on my team. First matchup: Lv.20 ZERIA vs Lv.20 TURTWIG. I forgot about Turtwig, but I thought ZERIA should be able to handle it. Her Turtwig set up Reflect and Sunny Day after surviving my first Wing Attack though, so I kept switching back and forth between ZERIA and THORNANG until both wore off. Reflect was annoying, because it halved the damage of my Wing Attack, while Sunny Day was annoying, becuase it allowed a 75% heal from Synthesis and 1-turn Solar Beams. When Sunny Day wore off and there was only one turn of Reflect left, I finally dealt the finishing blow with ZERIA.

Second matchup: Lv.20 ZERIA vs I forgot. I think it was Cherubi, but I'm not sure. Watch the video for details. ^^" It was not very important, because ZERIA took care of it in 1 or 2 turns.

Then it was time for Lv.20 ZERIA vs Lv.22 ROSERADE. Roserade almost made ZERIA switch with its level advantage and high Sp.Attack stat, but ZERIA barely reached the kill before we needed to switch to another Pokémon. GG, Gardy!

"But wait! Why did you have only five Pokémon in your party?"

^[1]Well, before entering Gardenia's gym for the first time, I thought I would get a few levels first. I wanted to give 1-2 levels to MARK and BREIDLE, just to be safe, but a wild Beautifly ended up killing MARK with Gust, which I didn't see coming. That was really devastating, so I decided to stop training in the wild and instantly challenge Gardenia, just to feel better a bit.

On the upcoming route, I had the pleasure to meet MYSTRO, the Meditite. So far, his moveset is not great, but his ability is Pure Power, (which raises the power of physical attacks,) so I can see him becoming useful later. But just one encounter later, I found another Machop! I would have rather re-caught a Machop than getting a Meditite. #_# Meditite is alright, but so far, MARK has put in a lot of work, and later I could have traded him for a Kadabra. With this though, I might have to give up all hopes to ever catch an Abra or Kadabra in this playthrough. It would be my first Diamond/Platinum Nuzlocke where I don't have the traded Abra.

As I marched forward to figure out where I need to go, I got a hint from Looker that I should infiltrate the local Team Galactic base. Looker keeps surprising me, he was now disguised as a Grunt. I fought my way through to the top floor, where I quickly realized that this is the point where I fight Galactic Commander Jupiter. She is brutally tough, so I turned back and started thinking of a game plan.

I started a long training montage, where my dudes levelled up and did some learning and evolving. ZERIA finally evolved into Golbat, which I'm pretty happy for. I trained up most of my 'mons to an average of Level 19, without ever thinking about what Jupiter's levels might be. I knew that her boss monster is Skuntank, which I assumed to have Poison Jab and Fire Blast. I also didn't have anyone who could do well in a 1v1 against a Skuntank. Skuntank had only one weakness: Ground. SHINRA was the only one capable of learning Ground-type moves, so I chose him as my secret weapon. I trained him up to level 19 and taught him Mud Bomb.

TIME FOR A RIDDLE!

• During training, SHINRA learned Hidden Power. The riddle is to figure out what type of Hidden Power it was.
  First, it was effective (neutral) against Meditite (Fighting+Psychic), but then it was super effective against Machop (Fighting).
  This was enough for me to figure it out. Before you see the solution, try to solve the riddle on your own first.
  
  
  Spoiler for My Solution:

  If it was super effective against Fighting, then it could have only been Flying or Psychic. However, Flying would have been super effective against Meditite, so it is not Flying. Therefore, it can only be Hidden Power Psychic.
  .
• During the same training, MYSTRO learned Hidden Power too. Once again, let's figure out what type it was.
  It was effective against Normal, Fighting, Fighting+Psychic, Water, Bug and Grass+Poison, but it was finally not very effective against Steel+Psychic.
  I could reduce the possibilities to two types.
  
  
  Spoiler for My Solution:

  Based on type effectivenesses (effective, super effective, not very effective, not effective), I could determine that this was either Hidden Power Dragon or Hidden Power Normal. I can only be sure if I test it against a Rock, Ghost or Dragon-type Pokémon.

After the training montage, I decided to take on Jupiter in the Eterna building of Team Galactic.~

Boss Battle: Galactic Commander Jupiter!

Spoiler for You can watch the video here!:

Note to myself: She has only two Pokémon. First matchup: Lv.22 ZERIA vs Lv.21 ZUBAT. And her first pick is a Zubat that has a lower level than my evolved Zubat. I started thinking that I might have overlevelled my team, but better be cautious than not. We both used Wing Attack, except mine was stronger. Jupiter then came out to say a few words.

"How insolent. Take a BITE of this, child!"

So she said that, I decided to finish off her Zubat with Bite. Then we got to the real deal that we were waiting for: Lv.22 ZERIA vs Lv.23 SKUNTANK. I started hitting Skuntank with Wing Attack. However, Skuntank moved first, and got a good hit on ZERIA with Night Slash. Wing Attack took a bit more than fourth of Skuntank's HP, while ZERIA got dangerously close to KO range. I made a big mistake during team planning by letting ZERIA be my lead, because it allowed her weaker Pokémon to wear us down. If it wasn't a critical hit, ZERIA would have lived another Night Slash, but at that point in the battle, I didn't want to take any risks. To make things worse, ZERIA was my strongest, so I had to switch into a weaker Pokémon.

I should have stayed in for one more turn, because Skuntank's next set of strategies was to spam Smoke Screen for 2 turns, to which I responded with switching back and forth between THORNANG and SHINRA. THORNANG tanked a Night Slash and avoided a Poison Gas, so we landed a free Tackle. It barely did any damage. Things were not looking good, but THORNANG could tank one more Night Slash and we needed damage on Skuntank, so we stayed in for one more Tackle. After that, we couldn't take another hit, so it was time to switch out to our secret weapon!

"You're in charge, SHINRA!"

My plan was to survive a hit and get in a Mud Bomb. I could have lived without the following Night Slash, which was a critical hit though. >_> It was an instant kill from full health. Well, shit! There goes my secret weapon! With ZERIA and THORNANG close to death, my options were limited. My best play to make here was to switch in SONIC for free. Skuntank was still faster than me and landed a SmokeScreen on SONIC. SONIC went for quick damage with Spark, which very very luckily paralyzed Skuntank, which was really good, because Skuntank was faster than my entire team.

But then we faced a medium setback.

The problem is that every setback can be huge against Skuntank, even if it's minor. Skuntank reached low enough HP to get some health back from its Sitrus Berry. A minor setback would have been if it had an Oran Berry (heals 15 less HP). A huge setback would have been if it had an anti-paralysis berry. It was rough to even deal considerable damage to Skuntank, so at the time, it looked logical to lower Skuntank's Defense with Leer instead of going for quick damage. Leer worked, but then SONIC got poisoned. It was an appropriate time for another Spark, but the SmokeScreen from earlier made us miss and waste our turn. Skuntank couldn't move either because of paralysis, so we only took the poison damage this turn. I could have went for another Spark, but the accuracy drop from SmokeScreen was obnoxious, so I decided to switch out to BREIDLE. On switch-in, BREIDLE barely lived a Night Slash with 6 HP, but at that point, I ran out of safe switch-ins. BREIDLE was the most expendable member of the team, and I didn't want him to go out without putting his high Attack stat to work, (plus there was always the chance that Skuntank gets paralyzed,) so I went for a Cut, which I recently taught him. BUT THEN CUT MISSED! Why doesn't Cut have maximum accuracy?! D: It's needless to say that BREIDLE couldn't survive that turn.

     

I had to make every turn count, so I switched in SONIC again, who no longer had reduced accuracy but was still poisoned. The Leer from earlier proved to be useful, because Spark did a reasonable amount of damage, while luckily Skuntank got paralyized. Poison chipped away again, then it was next turn. I had enough health to live another Night Slash and poison, so it made sense to spam Spark until someone dies. The next Spark, however, was strong enough to finally KO Jupiter's Skuntank. SONIC was the true MVP of this battle, and it looks like Electric-type Pokémon really carry me through the tough times in Nuzlockes. ^^"

After the battle with Jupiter, I counted our losses. I lost team members that I had high hopes for. I really wanted to train SHINRA to be a bulky Gastrodon with Recover and Toxic, and I wanted to see BREIDLE in his fully glory, putting his high Attack stat to work in the future. (SHINRA also knew Hidden Power Psychic, which I really wanted to add to the End of Day party stats once.) I also lost MARK, who could have been either a fantastic wallbreaker or a good trade-in for a super powerful Kadabra. But all that is gone now.

Spoiler for Here I pay my tribute to the fallen:

For MARK:

MARK, the Machop: Lv.6-Lv.18, from Route 207. Died by a wild Lv.15 Beautifly. Super effective Gust was unexpected, because I didn't think it would learn Gust this early. Your name is what I always give to male Machops.

For SHINRA:

SHINRA, the Shellos: Lv.9-Lv.19, from Route 205. Died by Galactic Commander Jupiter's Lv.23 Skuntank. On switch-in, Night Slash was a critical hit. SHINRA was 4 levels lower, so it was a 1-hit KO.

For BREIDLE:

BREIDLE, the Buneary: Lv.11-Lv.18, from Eterna Forest. Died by Galactic Commander Jupiter's Lv.23 Skuntank. There were no safe switch-ins, so BREIDLE had to hope for Skuntank being paralyzed. BREIDLE missed, then Skuntank dealt the finishing blow.

       

"Bye-Bye, MARK, SHINRA and BREIDLE! "

But at least, I still had my strongest lineup of Pokémon, so not everything was lost. Before the day could end though, Cynthia intercepted me for a small chat. Again, out of nowhere. Her proposal was to give REYNOLD a mysterious egg.

"Wait, I don't remember that this is supposed to happen here. Are you giving me a Garchomp egg? "



"Oh... Then it's probably just a Happiny. I get it."

After she gave me an egg, I wrapped up a few things here and there, and now I have a bicycle. In the next episode, we go rolling down the cycling road!

Edit: Attention!

Spoiler for Hidden:

Here I wanted to put the End of Day party stats, but I cannot open my save file. How should I proceed now?

[Submachine]

Attention!

Here I wanted to put the End of Day party stats, but I cannot open my save file. How should I proceed now?

I discovered that in my current emulator, saving the game does not save the game. The game is only saved if I save the game AND close the emulator manually. Last time, I restarted my computer after saving the game without closing the emulator, that's why I lost progress again. For similar situations, I have the following rule:

If the game accidently crashes, you don't have to reproduce your previous run since your last save. Play by the normal rules again.

But this was the only time when I lost progress after posting the episode here, so I'm asking the audience. Tell me how to proceed by voting in the poll, please.~

[Submachine]

The poll has ended, so I went on to get back the same team I had at the end of the last episode. Now I finally caught up with myself, though there are a few differences.

Gardenia put up a decent fight, almost killing ZERIA, but we all came out alive in the end. From now on, I won't make the mistake of leading with my strongest in gym battles.

Outside Eterna City, I tried to recatch the first Meditite I saw, but this ended up in a different gendered MYSTRO, and also a different type of Hidden Power too.

RIDDLE TIME!

Hidden Power on MYSTRO was normally effective on Zubat and Meditite, but it was super effective against Budew.
Question: What type was Hidden Power this time?

Before facing Jupiter again, I decided to train all my team up to 20 or above, just to see how the fight would have went if I adequately prepared for it. I might have gone overboard with the training, because ZERIA decided to evolve into Crobat waaaay too early. This means, I cannot teach her Giga Drain, which is a bummer.

Since last time, enough time passed that I could meet another Drifloon at Valley Windworks. I used this one to gain big EXP points.

I also had a chance to see how BREIDLE would have destroyed everyone in his path if he lived for higher levels. He two-shot everything in his way with Frustration. (Frustration would have gotten weaker later on, but at that point, I could have taught BREIDLE better moves to change it with.)

After my team was set, I tackled Jupiter again with a higher level team and a better strategy than last time.

• Lv.22 SONIC vs Lv.21 ZUBAT. SONIC finished Zubat with a single Spark. Instant switch to SHINRA against Skuntank.
• Lv.20 SHINRA vs Lv.23 SKUNTANK. Skuntank's Poison Gas missed, while SHINRA's Mud Bomb was a critical hit. Skuntank's HP ended a bit below 50%, so its Sitrus Berry was activated.
• Skuntank poisoned Shinra with Poison Gas. SHINRA's Mud Bomb hit again. Skuntank's accuracy dropped. Skuntank was a bit below 50% again. SHINRA took poison damage.
• Night Slash dealt a bit more than 50% damage to SHINRA. Mud Bomb landed, Skuntank's accuracy dropped again. SHINRA took poison damage. Both of us were in the red zone by the end of the turn.
• Next turn, the accuracy drops made Skuntank miss Night Slash, then Mud Bomb landed to finish off Skuntank.

And that's how I ended without casualties on the rematch. On the last turn, any attack would have killed SHINRA. Even if Skuntank doesn't finish him, poison would have killed SHINRA anyway at the end of the turn. It's also worth mentioning that Mud Bomb has 85% accuracy, but all four of them landed.

Many of that does not matter, because in the original run, SHINRA and BREIDLE both died, so I had to treat them as dead after I had defeated Jupiter.

In the next episode, REYNOLD goes biking on Cycle Road.

End of Day party stats:

Lv.21 THORNANG, the Grotle (♂) Tackle Curse Absorb Razor Leaf	Lv.21 FLIMFLAM, the Drifloon (♂) Minimize Astonish Gust Payback
Lv.24 ZERIA, the Crobat (♀) Astonish Wing Attack Confuse Ray Bite	Lv.22 SONIC, the Luxio (♂) Bite Leer Charge Spark
Lv.20 MYSTRO, the Meditite (♀) Rock Smash Meditate Confusion Hidden Power	EGG