Nuzlocke Diary 02

NOTE: If you haven’t read the first part of this Pokemon Diamond Nuzlocke series, check out the previous entry.

I took a bit of a break after my previous Nuzlocke entry. Before starting this challenge, I hadn’t played Pokemon Diamond since… idk, like 2010? And the last main-line Pokemon game I played was Sun, which is a pretty easy game imo. Given all that, I wasn’t quite ready for how much of an actual challenge this was going to be. That being said, I gathered my courage and pushed on to wards Veilstone City

After the loss of BRICK., McPunchy joined the team. Unfortunately, he had been sitting in the PC box since I captured him and was still sitting at lvl 17. Time for some level grinding. With McPunchy at the front of my roster, I walked into the tall grass of Route 210. A wild Geodude was my first encounter. An easy duplicate that I could KO and move on. Or at least, it would have been, had the wild Pokemon not had Self-Destruct. On the second move, the Geodude exploded, taking McPunchy with it. Oof. So much for that addition to my party.

I avoided most of the trainers and tall grass on my way through Rt. 210, not wanting to risk over-leveling my good Pokemon (and not wanting to risk any more losses before making it to my next Poke Center). The few Pokemon I did encounter on 210 were all duplicates, so I headed on to Route 215 with a net loss.

Route 215 went smoothly. Blue made easy work of any opponent in the heavy rain and I was at Veilstone City before I knew it! I laid McPunchy to rest in the “RIP” PC box and took out Ballet the Meditite. At least I had a backup-backup fighting type. Still, I needed to head back into Rt. 215 for (you guessed it) more level grinding! I made sure to run from any wild Geodudes though… just in case. A Wild Abra was unfortunately my first non-duplicate encounter for that area, and it easily broke out of my first-turn Pokeball and teleported away. Oh well. Oh and at some point the egg I received in Hearthome City hatched; I named the new Happiny “lil baby”

With my best Pokemon up to level 30, I headed into Maylene’s gym (but not before doing some GAMBLING first, of course). I felt pretty good about the gym, knowing I had my Staravia to take care of all of the fighting-types. Borbo had even learned Double Team, that combined with Aerial Ace would make quick work of any foe. I stumbled through the sliding wall puzzle, somehow messing up the timing to avoid all of the spinning trainers. But I made it, ready to get my third gym battle.

I began by setting up some Double Teams, hoping to wipe Maylene’s team without being hit too hard. The enemy Meditite and Machoke went down with one Aerial Ace each, all that was left was her Lucario. As soon as Maylene’s ace was sent out, I realized I should have done a bit more prep work. Fired off a few more Double Teams maybe. Her Lucario was fast, accurate, and hit like a TRUCK, taking away far more health that I had anticipated. Slightly panicked, I switched in Ballet, hoping I could chip away with Confusion. Sadly, Ballet could do hardly any damage and fell within a few turns. All while the Lucario healed the damage inflicted by borbo with Drain Punch. I used Ballet’s sacrifice to get a clean switch and brought borbo back in. Aerial Ace did good damage, but he wasn’t nearly evasive enough. I got the Lucario down into the red, but I knew what was coming next: the full restore. Tried as I might, borbo was finished. I pivoted Blue in, But the Lucario brought him down to half with one hit. Having no choice, I pivoted in lil baby; A planned sacrifice Pokemon I hadn’t anticipated using so soon. Fang entered the battle. Not enough. My beautiful Luxio fell to Bone Rush. I knew Bunbun wouldn’t survive against such a strong fighting type, but I was desperate by this point. Bunbun didn’t even last two turns. All that was left was Blue. My starter, battered and facing a monster of a Lucario who that had healed itself back up to full health with Drain Punches and wiped the rest of my team with Force Palms.

Knowing how it was going to end didn’t make it any easier. It always hurts when you lose your starter.

And with that, my first attempt at a Pokemon Nuzlocke came to a sad and abrupt ending. I guess that’s how most of these challenges go. Still, I hadn’t expected the third gym to be such a gauntlet. I haven’t restarted my game yet. Maybe I’ll just turn it into a casual play-through and give Maylene another shot. Whatever the case, it was a fun little experiment and I enjoyed the attempt.

(To be continued?)

• Current Team:
  • NONE

• Total Pokemon Captured: 19

• Total Pokemon Lost: 5
  • Gumby (lvl 14 Bidoof)
  • BRICK. (lvl 19 Geodude)
  • Rose (lvl 17 Budew)
  • Bubble (lvl 22 Drifloon)
  • Plato (lvl 15 Bronzor)
  • McPunchy (lvl 17 Machop)
  • Blue (lvl 30 Prinplup)
  • Fang (lvl 30 Luxio)
  • borbo (lvl 30 Staravia)
  • Bunbun (lvl 28 Buneary)
  • Ballet (lvl 28 Meditite)
  • lil baby (lvl 15 Happiny)