White 2 Nuzlocke

[AZKnight]

As I sat on a pier on Cinnabar Island the sun was beginning to set off in the distance. It had been a long time since I had visited this place. The sound of the lapping water against rocks and wood was soothing. Cinnabar had always been a relaxing destination due to both the atmosphere and friends. Yet even this picturesque scenery could not rid of the knots in my shoulder and a pain in my heart. Closing my eyes against the bright sun, I heard footsteps approach from behind. The steps stopped beside me and I could hear them sitting down on the pier with me.

“How are you feeling?”

There was only one person who would have known to find me out here and my suspicions were confirmed when they spoke. “Same as when I got here a week ago, Blaine.”

“Still that bad, huh.” Blaine let out a low sigh. “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to help you out?”

“Not unless you’re willing to leave your Gym for a while,” I responded with a chuckle.

Blaine gave a little chuckle in turn. “You know I cannot do that. I can leave for short periods of time for appearance and tournaments, but not for how long you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s what everyone is saying these days. I feel like I need to hit the road again, go on another journey, but I don’t want to go alone.”

“What about Reborn. There are plenty of people there who aren’t old and boring like me.”

I finally open my eyes in order to look at Blaine, up until this point still having them closed against the sun. “First of all, you are not that old and you are far better company than some of the young people I’ve met. Second, I intend to go back. Just… not yet. I have been gone so long I feel like I need to get some new experience under my belt first.”

Blaine nodded his head contemplatively. “Hence this desire to go on a journey. I understand. In that case I would recommend going to Unova first. You have told me that you never finished exploring it. Seems to me like the perfect fit.”

“I know, I know. You have been telling me that since I got here. But like I said, I don’t want to go it alone again.”

“You know that’s not true. You will have your Pokémon by your side. Your friends will grow in size along with your experiences. It was you who once told me ‘At the end of it all, we undertake journeys not to reach an end, but rather for the stories gained along the way.’”

“Quoting me? Now that’s not fair.” Blaine simply responded with his iconic smile. “But you are right. It’s what I need and I just need to dive straight in. Then it’s settled!” I slammed my palms on the piers. “I leave first thing in the morning.”

“Then it’s a good thing I brought you this.”

Blaine handed a hardcover book to me. I looked at the cover and a smile immediately spread across my face. It was a book on the Greek scholar Herodotus, including several of his writings. Turning the book over in my hands I noticed something sticking out between the pages. I opened the book at that spot and on the page was a large quote.

“Of all possessions a friend is most precious.” - Herodotus

After reading the quote I examined the bookmarker that had led me to the page. It was a photograph taken a few years ago. I reached my right hand out and wrapped it around Blaine’s shoulders. “You are a good friend.”

Pokémon White 2 Nuzlocke Challenge

Rules

1. Only catch the first Pokémon encountered in an area.

2. Any Pokémon that faints must be deposited in the Graveyard.

3. Must nickname all Pokémon.

Log Entry #1

Entry 1: Traveling a Familiar Path

Oh where to begin. I suppose a good spot would be why I am doing this in the first place. To be honest I never thought I would see myself out like this so soon. My glory days feel like they are behind me. Yet I feel myself drawn back into the field time and time again. Perhaps I feel I need to keep proving myself as a member of the old generation. I certainly know enough people who are content with traveling around for the joy and do not need any challenge or motivation to guide them. I cannot seem to do that very often anymore, at least not while travelling alone. I can only relax when I find myself in good company. Otherwise I manage to get myself into these situations that I just know I will come to regret. In the meantime I ought to make the best of it.

There are two other reasons I am undertaking this journey. The first is in preparation for a trip in a few months to a new Region. Figured this would give me something to occupy myself while I wait for my Visa to clear. The second is I never did finish my last trip through the Unova Region. I had come back two years after my first trip through but part way through I wall called away to other business. I must say a lot of things had changed my first time back and now on my second I cannot wait to experience it again. But you know me, I could not be happy with just that. Oh no, I had to decide to make this venture a bit of a challenge and crank it up to 11. Since this will certainly be a trip to remember and I need some evidence to never do this to myself in the future, I have decided to keep this journal log. But enough background. Let me talk about what happened the last two days.

I arrived in Aspertia City late last night where I had made arrangements to stay with an old friend of Professor Juniper. On my way to meet with Professor Juniper’s assistant I ran into a lad named Trajan. Fitting considering I go by Hadrian when travelling in this region. But there was something off with him. The way he reacted to what his sister said reflected something was up. At the time I did not give it more thought beyond that as I was in a hurry to meet with Bianca. It had been so long since I had travelled in Unova that I had to get a new Visa and that meant starting over with my Pokémon. I couldn’t complain as I did not want to risk my old partners.

After walking around Aspertia for a bit I found Bianca waiting at the lookout to the north of town. We chatted for a bit catching up. It was good to see how far she had come in a few short years. Eventually the conversation turned back to the business of obtaining my regional Pokédex and a new Pokémon. After careful consideration I went with Oshawott. It was tempting to pick Snivy, but I was hopeful in encountering a different Grass type. What took me as a bit of a surprise was Oshawott being female. I couldn’t think of a name for her right away as I only knew good male names. That would wait until later. Of course I no sooner did I take five steps with my new partner was I challenged by a Trainer to a battle. It was Trajan. Even though I beat him handedly I knew I would be seeing a lot of him in the future. It is hard to avoid picking up a rival when on this journeys.

Once I got the rest of my things together such as Pokéballs and Potions, I set out onto Route 19. Part of the beauty in this journey was I still knew very little about the region. I had travelled through Kanto and Johto and even Hoenn countless times to the point nothing surprised me. Here in Unova I did not know what to expect. I would have been a little more excited had the first Pokémon I came across not been a Patrat. The little guy did not appear too strong as Oshawott would have easily KO’ed it in two hits. Still, it was better than nothing this early on and I caught it. Giving the nature of Patrat, I settled on naming him Sentry. After a little training I continued on to Floccesy Town.

Well, I almost made it to town. Just on the outskirts I ran into Alder, the former Champion of the Unova Region. Alder commands a lot of respect from me. I cannot say the same for the other way around as he talked down to me. Treating me like I was a beginner Trainer just because I was using new Pokémon was a little unfair if you ask me. However I could not refuse his offer for a training session with him and followed him into the city. Before we could start training I had to hunt down Trajan to give him a Town Map. In all the excitement of starting off again and running into Alder I had forgotten I needed to do that. Training with Alder would have to wait, but it also meant I could venture out onto Route 20. While I was eager to deliver the map to Trajan before the twilight hours really set in I was equally eager to see what Pokémon fate would deliver into my care.

Team Members

Oshawott Lv. 8 Sentry Lv. 6

I am going to attempt to make each entry no longer than one page long as a Word document. That does not mean I won't post more than one entry at a time, though they will be separated. Feedback and suggestions are highly appreciated and welcome!

[Joker]

This is really good. I wish you the best of luck in your nuzlocke challenge!

[AZKnight]

Thank you kindly. Best of luck on your challenge as well.

"He is the best man who, when making his plans, fears and reflects on everything that can happen to him, but in the moment of action is bold." - Herodotus

Log Entry #2

My concern for Trajan has grown. I managed to catch up with him at Floccesy Ranch where I showed him I am still stronger. A Purrloin I named Brodie joined my party just before out Route 20 which helped to make the battle easier. After the battle the owners of the ranch came over to greet us. One of their Herdier had gone missing and they asked us to keep an eye out for it. I simply took it as Herdier having wandered off somewhere on this large ranch. The way Trajan reacted you would have thought that the ranchers had abandoned their Pokémon. He ran off ahead and started looking for Herdier in a panicked manner. As a result he was going a poor job at searching. Meanwhile I wandered through the ranch following a simple path. Every few minutes Trajan would catch up with me then continue his desperate search. During one of the brief periods I had to myself to wander around I came across a Psyduck. Even though I already had a Water type with Oshawott it seemed like a good idea to pick it up. I have always wondered why Psyduck was not considered a Psychic type considering its name and natural abilities.

After a while I came to a grove deep inside the ranch and I heard the barks of a Herdier. Following the noise I came across not only Herdier but a strangely dressed fellow. Thanks to them being an idiot apparently, I found out that they were a member of Team Plasma. Before I could subdue him the scoundrel ran off. Though based on the direction he fled and the sounds that followed, I’m pretty sure he fell down a ditch. Team Plasma appears to be scraping the bottom of the barrel for talent. On the positive side I found the Herdier. The ranch owners were happy to see their Pokémon again and were never worried, but that did not stop Trajan from scolding them. There is definitely something that hurt him in the past about losing a Pokémon.

I stuck around the ranch for a good portion of the afternoon after that. The rancher’s let me rest up at their place while I trained which made it go a lot faster and easier. It was still difficult training up my team against wild Pokémon. What I really needed was to battle some other trainers, but there was a Hiker blocking my way for some reason. I believe he was hit in the head by a Geodude because he continued to claim I was too green to proceed. He told me he would not let me pass until I earned a Gym badge. Normally I would sneak past him or knock him aside, but I did want to go back and challenge the Gym. Fortunately for me Alder told me that the new Gym leader had just arrived today.

I headed straight back to Aspertia City hoping I had done enough training. I had set Sentry aside in favor of training Brodie and I did not want to train Sevant so long as I had Oshawott. To my surprise I discovered the new Gym Leader was Cheren. It seemed I was running into a ton of old faces. We had a good chat, talking about our journey from two years ago and what we had been up to sense. We both got a kick out of the fact we were both doing something that required us to not use our older and stronger Pokémon. Cheren made me promise I would come back later so we could have a serious battle. For now we had to battle. Cheren and I took our places and Clyde stepped up to referee the battle, throwing me a bottle of water first. You have to love how he helps out trainers that way.

The battle started off strongly in my favor. Oshawott made quick work of Cheren’s Patrat and I had hoped to do the same with his Lillipup. Oshawott’s defenses had been lowered and she took heavier hits than I had expected from the Lillipup. As Lillipup tackled into the side of Oshawott I could tell that her health had fallen more than I was comfortable with. Immediately I began to think what I would need to do. I knew that after a Potion Oshawott could take another hit but that would not be good. I would have to hope Cheren would use a status move. But that was unlikely and if Oshawott took another hit I would need to send Brodie in. These thoughts must have shown on my face because Oshawott turned to look at me and appeared to be more focused afterward. Oshawott let loose a powerful Water Gun that knocked Lillipup across the battle field. Critical hit KO!

After the battle it turned out that Oshawott had learned the move Focus Energy. I had been unsure about Oshawott and her abilities, but now there was no doubt. The battle had inspired a nickname for her as well. I would call her Nya, after a fictional female samurai. With that the Basic Badge was under my belt.

Team Members

Nya Lv. 14 Brodie Lv. 12 Sentry Lv. 6 Savant Lv. 5

Edited June 20, 2013 by AZKnight

[anethia]

Liking this a lot, continue~.

[AZKnight]

You have no idea what that means to me to know that people are not only reading this, but are looking forward to reading this. You have just increased my motivation.

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"Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances." - Herodotus

Entry #3: The Industrial Complex

Visiting Virbank City reminded me how diverse the world is beyond the realm of Pokémon. Even while I partake on a Pokémon journey I make sure to find time for matters besides training and battles. Virbank City certainly has a lot of activities and businesses that do not center on Pokémon. I find that relaxing. Before I get into that however, I suppose I should talk about an incident that happened as soon as I walked into the city. On my way to the Pokémon Center I came across two people arguing. I tried my best to ignore them but it was a bit difficult with how loud the girl was talking. Good set of pipes on her. Despite my efforts not to eavesdrop, I did catch some snippets of the argument. They were father and daughter and it sounded like the father was trying to leave his job as a captain to become a movie star. The father appeared to be unyielding in the matter, which actually bothered me a bit because it sounded like the daughter was in the right. She also called him a lot of D words which was strange but amusing. The fight probably would not have stuck with me the way it has if it were not for the fact that the girl exclaimed she was going to the Gym. At the time I thought she might be a trainer at the Gym as I was not familiar with this Gym or its Leader.

After resting at the Pokémon Center I wandered around the city for a while. Having travelled through so many regions so many times I tended to not explore the cities very often. I will go straight to my destination. I did not have that familiarity in Virbank City and took advantage of this fact to look around at my leisure. Eventually I wandered into the southern half of the city and discovered the Virbank Complex. From the outside in looked like, well, a complex. I could not tell what it was other than an industrial complex of some sort. Fortunately it was open for people to go inside. There was quite a bit of activity on the inside with workers scattered all over the large pieces of equipment and the rustling of Pokémon in the corners. Walking into a back area of the complex I found an engineer who toured me around the facilities, explaining the equipment and its purpose. Turns out the complex processes natural gasses. But it also has refinement facilities for crude oils. There’s a smokestack from something. Oh who am I kidding, I still have no idea what that complex is for.

As I mentioned before, I could tell there were Pokémon rustling around beneath the catwalks and equipment in the facilities. I thought there might be some Poison Pokémon like Grimer or Trubbish hiding here because of the nature of some of the facilities. There did not appear to be any of these Pokémon though. I suppose that tells how clean the complex is kept that Pokémon that live around waste are not present. I had heard there were Magnemite at the complex which excited me. They were an old favorite of mine that I had not used in years. The fact that a Steel type would prove useful against the Poison Gym in Virbank was not lost on me either. Snooping around the grassy areas in the outside portion of the complex I came across a Pokémon. It was not a Magnemite as I had hoped. But I was not disappointed because I had managed to find a Magby instead. I sent Brodie out to weaken it first since he was far less likely to knock it out than Nya. After the first hit the Magby still looked strong. Then the second hit landed and I could tell it did critical damage to the Magby as it fell to its knees. Just before I cursed my luck, the Magby stood back up. It was shaky on its feet, but the important thing was that it was still standing. Certainly made catching it easy and like that I had added Azula the Magby to my team.

Now that I had a new member for my team it was time to get back to training. I had spent a large chunk of the day exploring the complex and had already seen most of the city. Staying at the complex for training seemed like the best option. Before I started I headed back to the Pokémon Center to heal up Azula and the rest of my partners. On the way back I noticed some grass rustling outside the entrance to the complex. Azula, who I had out to get used to me, pounced on the grass and the Pokémon hiding within. It was an Audino. They were a rare Pokémon and I only knew two things about them. They were excellent healers and great sparring partners, probably because they healed everyone after a fight. Azula wasted no time fighting the Audino and after getting slapped around finally defeated it. I could tell immediately that the fight had done a great deal in strengthening the baby Pokémon. After the battle I looked around and realized something about this location. It was only a small portion of grass and foliage outside the complex. This made it easy to see everything at the entrance that was going on. Having seen what battling Audino provided, I staked out this spot looking for more rustling grass. I was going to make sure my Pokemon were plenty strong. I am not going to let it happen again. Never again...

Team Members

Nya Lv. 14 Azula Lv. 12Brodie Lv. 14 Sentry Lv. 6 Savant Lv. 5

I was going to do a schedule of posting every other day. Gives me a chance to actually play the game between posts. I might be able to make this daily though since I have the next two entries all set. I'd love to have an exchange with the people who read this so feel free to tell me what you would like to see, both in frequency and content.

[anethia]

..May I just ask how you have Magby in White 2? /iscompletelycurious.

In the way you described, it's impossible.

[AZKnight]

*takes cartridge out*

Welp. I done goofed. I own Black 2, but I also own White 1. Must have combined the two in my head by accident when I made the topic. Whoops.

[anethia]

Ah, that is a very fair excuse xD. That explains it. I was very confused at that moment. Alright, yay~.

Still looking forward to more.

[Shadyserpent269]

You sir must have the patience of a saint to be able to be able to deal with all the scripted events and the increased chance of critical hits that black/white2 seem to have. I wish you luck!

And besides, both games dont have that many differences. I just hope you dont want a numel.

[AZKnight]

It takes a lot of patience. Mostly in the fights. You need to take a moment to realize that it's better to heal and have the battle last longer than risk getting your Pokemon knocked out. The scripted events actual help with writing the story and dialogue for these posts. Thanks for reading!

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"Men trust their ears less than their eyes." - Herodotus

Entry #4: Roxie Rox

I am having some guilt issues right about now. On the one hand training against Audino was a great success. In no time at all my team had leveled up incredibly. I cannot deny that it was an affective training strategy. On the other hand I feel bad for picking on Audino. It barely attacks if it can at all. I’m pretty sure some of those Audino did not know a single offensive move based on the fights. It did pay off since Nya evolved into a Dewott just in time for the upcoming Gym battle. I will have to strongly reconsider ever doing that again because oh boy is it tempting.

The whole point of the training was in preparation for the Gym battle. After training the other day I did some research on the Virbank Gym. I find it useful to know what you are going up against to a degree. Tried to not know everything in order to keep the coming battle a challenge. I already knew it was a Poison Gym which still surprises me. There are no Poison Pokémon around to my knowledge due to the safety and cleanliness of the nearby industrial complex. I did learn where the Gym is which was important as I would have never thought to check for in inside an underground music club. This is also when I realize that the girl I had seen arguing with her father the other day was the Gym Leader.

After I found the entrance to the Gym in a side ally I headed downstairs. Now I thought that the club was separate from the Gym but still connected. Going downstairs all I could see was the night club. If I had not seen her yesterday or done research on her, I would not have realized the Gym Leader was performing on stage. I tried to get her attention waving my arms and yelling at her, but I must have appeared to be another one of the night club fans cheering her on. Out of frustration I snuck onto the stage from the side and got the attention of one of the band mates. Initially they ignored me until I shoved a Pokéball in their face to get my intention across. Looking back I am somewhat shocked that after I caused two Pokémon battles to erupt on stage with her bass player and drummer that Roxie still did not notice me. It was honestly when her band stopped playing that she noticed the lack of music and saw me.

“Hey! I was right in the middle of the chorus!” Roxie exclaimed.

“And I was right in the middle of trying to challenge the Gym Leader here!”

Roxie lowered her guitar and let it hang on its strap. “I’m the Gym Leader. But I’m also the leader of my band. Why did you interrupt my show?”

“I was told this was when you take challengers. Besides, I tried to get your attention earlier but you ignored me. You were too busy playing Guitar Hero to notice me.”

A rumbling of low ‘Ooooooohs’ came from the audience. Roxie did not look happy as she glared at me. “Do not patronize me and my band. I bet you wouldn't know good music if it bit you in the ass.” Cheers erupted from her fans in support of her retort.

“I know good music and you are good. I would love to stick around and hear you play some more in fact.” Roxie smiled triumphantly at the compliment and probably thinking she’d beaten me. “But if you spend this much time being a great musician, you must be a push over of a Gym Leader.”

This time the audience erupted in support of my comeback. Roxie’s eyes flashed wide open and I could tell that was equally if not more insulting than if I had called her out on her music. “Get ready! I’m gonna knock some sense outta ya!”

At first I thought we would battle on the stage like I had done with her two band members. Roxie gave a command to a technician in the back of the club and after a moment I could hear a rumbling from the floor. As I looked around for the source I noticed that all the cheering fans were moving away from the center of the floor. Soon after the floor began to split open like a giant chasm and from the dark void of the night club emerged a proper battle arena. Roxie took her place at the trainer position near the stage and instructed me to take the opposite side. The battle was kicked off by Roxie and her band start to play once more.

Facing off against Roxie’s Koffing was Azula. I had learned a few things from battling her band members. Azula had faced off against a Koffing already, winning with ease, and there was a good chance Roxie had a Venipede. I had also learned my lesson after being poisoned and gave Azula a Pecha Berry in case of that scenario. Turned out that was too cautious as Koffing failed to any damage let alone poison Azula before she took it out. Second out for Roxie was a Whirlipede, meaning my prediction from before was partially right. Azula had knocked out a Venipede in one shot and I felt confident she could do it again. Azula let loose a Fire Spin, engulfing Whirlipede in a column of flame. To my horror it took the hit remarkably well. This was going to become a war of attrition. Azula and Whirlipede exchanged blows until Roxie was forced to use a Super Potion. I took the opportunity to heal Azula with the Fresh Water I had been given by Clyde outside the club. Both sides were back to square one. Then a status ailment changed the course of the battle and I am happy to say it was from Azula inflicting a burn. That combined with the Fire Spin Azula was maintaining on the field drained the life out of Whirlipede until it was knocked out!

An eruption of cheers and applause came from the audience followed by Roxie letting out a sigh. “What are you doing losing, Roxie?! Well…I guess that means you're strong! This stinks, but I gave it everything I had, and I feel revitalized and refreshed now! Here! Proof that you beat me!" She tossed me the Toxic badge from across the field. I turned the badge over in my hand admiring the poisonous design. With two badges under my belt in the Unova Region I was starting to stand out as a skilled trainer once more. As I had my eyes down on the badge Roxie threw something else and hit me in the head. “Venoshock!” She shouted at me looking over her shoulder. “It covers the target in a special poisonous liquid! Even better, if your target's already poisoned, it does double damage! Heh heh! It almost packs too much of a punch!"

“Too bad you never had the opportunity to poison me,” I smirked back.

Roxie gave me the same glare from earlier. "Your Pokémon WANTED this win! Nothing I can do to stop a Pokémon from rocking out to its maximum potential!” Roxie let out a loud strum on her guitar and her fans erupted once more in her support. Seamlessly she went back to her performance, with everyone acting as if a Pokémon battle had never interrupted in the first place. Since I got what I came for, I stuck around to listen to enjoy the music.

Nya Lv. 18 Azula Lv. 19Brodie Lv. 16

Edited June 25, 2013 by AZKnight

[Pokelord]

Nice, I recently started a Blue (yes a BLUE) Nuzlocke.

Keep It AZKnight.