#but also fr hes going to go into his shell and be a puff ball with eyes

[intotheelliwoods]

Assorted Poptart in his viking fit doodles, + Scallione :)

[greaper-blog]

Nuzlocke FR: Part 2

Day Two

Viridian Forest

Weather: Drizzling, Humid Jean-Paul struggles on his own. He’s a runt among his brood, but his serious attitude is an asset because of his small size. After receiving some tag-team help from Big Pecks, who is an apex predator in this ecosystem, Jean-Paul finally made his first solo kill on an even smaller Weedle. Rather than be arrogant, Jean-Paul thanked the fallen for its sacrifice. Along our slow wandering through the forest maze, we encountered several trainers, bug catchers. They were easily defeated by Big Pecks, with support from Clarence. Jean-Paul was able to slowly and torturously sting some tame Metapod to death, as the trainers had caught them wild and the helpless Pokemon had never learned how to move in their cocoons. After feeding on the kill, Jean-Paul had enough energy to evolve into Kakuna.

Entry 2, Pewter City After battling several more bug catchers and with the forest edge in sight, Jean-Paul shed his chrysalis for good and evolved into Beedrill. He uses his sting like a rapier, and has become much stronger. However, we know we’re all going to be riding on Clarence’s back to challenge the Pewter City Gym.

At the gym, we challenged the single jr. Trainer. Clarence was ready to take them down, scoring multiple critical hits to wipe out a Geodude and a Sandshrew without taking a scratch.

The experience bolstered Clarence’s confidence enormously, and he finally learned to fire water out of his mouth instead of just foam and bubbles. Seeing that he was feeling hot, we rolled straight on to Brock without stopping to rest. Brock led with his stalwart Geodude. It was promptly annihilated by a high-pressure water jet. Onyx emerged and, with surprising speed, tackled Clarence. Clarence absorbed the blow with his belly and, point blank, blasted water into Onyx’s mouth, knocking it out in one shot. Clarence had solo’d the Pewter City Gym and only took a single hit. We earned the Boulder badge and tm39, rock tomb. Unfortunately, no one can use it yet.

Entry 3, Route 3 Bought supplies for the expedition to Mt. Moon. We now haven’t enough Pokedollars left to buy so much as a bag of chips, but we can’t be too careful. The party mocked my choice to buy several Awakenings and Paralyze Heals, but we’ll see who’s laughing soon enough.

It will be me, because not only will I be right, but my friends will be alive. Route 3 is crawling with trainers. Jean Paul savaged a Rattata with furious rapid jabs of his stinger. Jean-Paul has become an accomplished duelist with his natural weapons. He’s also essentially invulnerable to other bugs. Disaster was narrowly averted when we took a detour down some rocky cliffs. We ran into a small 8 year old boy who was loitering around in the rubble. Big Pecks led off against the child’s shockingly vicious Spearow.

Big Pecks tried to kick sand at it, but the angry bird was unfazed. Big Pecks panicked and switched with Clarence, who was suddenly on his back foot as the Spearow pecked him like a machine gun, scoring multiple wounds in his vulnerable parts. Bleeding and exhausted, Clarence ducked inside his shell, which confounded the Spearow momentarily. Taking a risk, Clarence fired a water jet and hit home, then tagged out with Big Pecks again in the nick of time. Big Pecks took advantage of the sodden Spearow, and hit home with wing gusts to end the battle.

It was a very close call for Clarence. Jean-Paul was furious. He was forcibly sidelined against the bird pokemon by me, and had to be put in his Pokeball to prevent him from illegally rushing into the battle. He blamed Big Pecks for almost getting Clarence killed, and called him a coward. Clarence, as usual, was modest and forgiving in his salt-of-the-earth way, but Jean-Paul’s continental blood was up and he would not calm down. Jean-Paul demanded satisfaction from Big Pecks on the field of honor, so Clarence and I separated them. We cooled off at the Pokemon Center before continuing on our way.

Entry 4, Route 3 After the earlier incident where Clarence nearly died, Big Pecks seems to have taken something to heart. His attitude has subtly shifted. He is trying to spend the time he usually fritters away in combat studying his opponents’ tells instead. He began to anticipate his enemy’s movements, and be there before they knew they were going anywhere. This has developed into a powerful technique that strikes his enemies before they can react. Jean-Paul, still working out his impotent rage, challenged an experienced Jigglypuff. The creature curled up in a ball and inflated itself to make its skin tougher, so JP flew in zig-zags and delivered a single powerful sting to an opening he found. The Jigglypuff attempted to use its signature soporific song, but the buzzing of JP’s wings kept him from being affected. JP continued harassing the jigglypuff, and although all of his stings were mere glancing blows, the puff began to weaken. Its color went from pink, to purple, to an alarming red. Suddenly the puff collapsed foaming at the mouth, leaving JP unscratched and victorious.

Shortly after that, we encountered a wild Mankey hiding in the bushes. His docile nature had made him a pariah among his tribe, as he believed in settling conflicts without violence whenever possible. I named him Matsuoyama, after the legendary martial artist, and taught him rock tomb so that he could throw boulders and crush Zubats…peacefully.

Finally, at the Pokemon center just outside Mt. Moon, we ran into a sleazy obese man who offered us a “premium” Magikarp for 500 Pokedollars. I was prepared to pass on this con, but then I remembered my old Gyarados, Isaac.

On my last attempt at this challenge, Isaac had been killed by a rogue Ditto that copied his body and killed him with his own Dragon Rage. I was heartbroken, and losing Isaac directly led to me failing the challenge by disqualification: I had no Pokemon left who could Surf. Turning down the Magikarp would mean not needing to babysit a worthless koi fish for 15 levels, but this way, I could get revenge on that evil Ditto. Isaac’s sacrifice would not be in vain.

I also remembered Rhonda Mousey, who was brave. I decided to be brave, too.

I named the Magikarp Isaac. That was a mistake: I should’ve called it Isaac II.

Dammit.