Chalkey's Escape from Pallet Take 2, Part 5

Today, while grinding for the Elite Four, I realized something: just because I can't catch other pokémon doesn't mean I can't mug the shit out of them.

I taught Pidgeot Thief, and then proceeded to use it on everyone I could find. Wild pokémon tend to hold items, which gives me a few nice things here or there, like Sharp Beak. But what really made this experience enjoyable was discovering I could steal items from trainers. And with that, I'm adding a tally to my usual stats at the end of my blog entries, labeled "Pidgeot's loot" - all items I stole from other trainers.

Captain's Log:
Time: 9:09 (nine hours, nine minutes)
Pokédex: 30
Badges: 8
Lineup:
-Fat Blasta the Blastoise, level 53
-JBlox the Pidgeot, level 49
-Jeps the Jolteon, level 47
-Liz the Doduo, level 24

Casualties:
-Dick Eater the Spearow
-Mr. Nido the Nidoran M (in-game trade)
-Steph the Pidgey
-Ari the Diglett
-Shannon the Pidgey
-Joey the Snorlax
Total dead for the cause: 6

Pidgeot's Loot:
-3 Black Belts
-1 Sitrus Berry
Total items stolen from other trainers: 4

Fit the Fourth: In which a heroic sacrifice is made so the party may advance

Our trainer fair returned to city three
And found a boat to ferry her across
To Dewford town, you can hardly see
In Granite cave (It's easy to get lost)
She caught a Zubat, which could not learn cut
Then stumbled, training Shroomish and Davesprite
For Dewford had a gym, and it was shut
unless one took on trainers who could fight
And fighting types are weak to flying 'mons
So Taillow was the choice, others were pawns

Eventually, when Squiddles had evolved
And Davesprite reached the nineteenth level too
To beat the gym, our trainer had resolved
The other punks went down without ado
So Taillow wiped out Brawly's first guy - smack!
And Metatite he took down in one hit
But Machuhito stood his Wing Attack
And critically killed him - Holy shit!
Then Squiddles used a mach punch, took him down
But Dave was dead, I could not help but frown.

Team:
Edmund, Marshstomp, Level 18
Squiddles, Brelloom, Level 23
Exquisite, Abra, Level 13
B'Elanna, Poochyena, Level 8
Opa, Wismur, Level 6
Disappoint, Zubat, Level 7

Box:
Nog, Poochyena, Level 4

Casualties:
Maddie, Zigzagoon, Level 7
Davesprite, Taillow, Level 20

Chalkey's Escape From Pallet Take 2, Part 4

It's comforting to know that something that was once really difficult is now relatively easy. When my last run failed, I decided to take on a few areas just for one before I restarted the file. The Fighting Dojo annihilated my entire team at this point - an injustice that was rectified by Pidgeot alone this time around. Pidgeot and I laughed as we crushed every pokemon in the entire dojo - the whole time breaking the "No shoes in the dojo" rule that was apparently strictly enforced.

After this, I felt confident enough to face Blue and head up Victory Road. Again, as a point of pride I had to prove to myself that my Pidgeot was superior to his for nostalgic rivalry, though all the training in the dojo kept this in the bag. His Alakazam gave me a lot of trouble and required a sacrificial kill from Snorlax to get the job done. Rest in peace, you fatass.

In my last patch of grass, I found a Primape. After a critical hit almost killed my Jolteon, however, I instinctively ran from it out of self preservation. Better to lose a chance of catching than to lose a hard trained pokemon at this stage of the game - with Snorlax gone, my fighting team is down to three.

When I get more time to play, there will be lots of grinding involved.

Captain's Log:
Time: 7:30 (seven hours, thirty minutes)
Pokédex: 16
Badges: 8
Lineup:
-Fat Blasta the Blastoise, level 51
-JBlox the Pidgeot, level 43
-Jeps the Jolteon, level 42
-Liz the Doduo, level 24

Casualties:
-Dick Eater the Spearow
-Mr. Nido the Nidoran M (in-game trade)
-Steph the Pidgey
-Ari the Diglett
-Shannon the Pidgey
-Joey the Snorlax
Total dead for the cause: 6

In which hardships are faced

Since my last post, I obtained some new fighters: A Bellsprout named Lao Tze, A Hoppip called Epicurus, and a Zubat, finally. I'm calling this one Heidegger. Fought Falkner easily with no casualties. I ought to have picked up an Onyx in Union Cave, but I very very foolishly thought my newly caught Bellsprout was a week enough choice to damage him. Yes, I thought that maybe the giant rock monster could stand up to my tiny flower for one hit, but that is real world logic and in Pokemon land, I one-hit K.O.'d it. Since then I have learned that with an attack that is super effective against no one, attacks that cause sleep and paralysis, and Mean Look, which keeps Pokemon from fleeing, Spinoza the Ghastly is basically tailor-made to catch other Pokemon. Hopefully I won't have a repeat of that incident.

But my failure to catch an Onyx was nothing compared to the tragedy that was about to strike. Caught completely off-guard by a rival battle coming out of the Slowpoke Well, My Rival Hook's Bayleaf killed Socrates. I suppose it's somewhat appropriate - the original Socrates was killed by a plant, too. Still, without my starter things are going to get tougher. I've resolved to do a lot more training before I move on.

Pokedex
7

Play Time
6:23

Badges
1

Party
Epicurus, a Lvl. 9 Hoppip
Lao Tzi, a Lvl. 13 Bellsprout
Spinoza, a Lvl. 14 Ghastly
Descartes, a Lvl 12 Unown
Heidegger, a Lvl. 8 Zubat
Kierkegaard, a Lvl. 13 Spearow

Graceyard
Nietzsche, a Lvl 4 Zubat killed by Descartes in the Ruins of Alph.
Socrates, a Lvl 15 Totadile insta-killed by my rival's Bayleaf in Azalea Town.

Chalkey's Escape from Pallet Take 2, Part 3

Short entry, as Nathan's about to go to bed. But I met my aforementioned goal - eight badges in under eight hours!

With Silph Co. going by so quickly, I decided to power through the Saffron and Viridian City gyms - which reached my goal but ultimately screwed me over. Blastoise overpowered just about everyone, but at the cost of having but one Pokémon to stand up to Blue right before Victory Road. I'll need to go back to some places I skipped if I want to not lose anyone at this point - I'm already down to three fighters.

Maybe I'll try the Saffron Dojo tomorrow.

Captain's Log:
Time: 6:41 (six hours, forty minutes)
Pokédex: 16
Badges: 8
Lineup:
-Fat Blasta the Blastoise, level 51
-JBlox the Pidgeot, level 43
-Jeps the Jolteon, level 42
-Mikey the Snorlax, level 30
-Liz the Doduo, level 24

Casualties:
-Dick Eater the Spearow
-Mr. Nido the Nidoran M (in-game trade)
-Steph the Pidgey
-Ari the Diglett
-Shannon the Pidgey
Total dead for the cause: 5

A Quick Update

I worked hard, but obviously not hard enough. While Zeetha made short work of MAyI lost Gwen the Beautifly to a critical hit from Wailmer's Rollout. Gwen, while not the most popular member of the team, will be missed sorely by Azula, the magikarp. Azula learned a lot from Gwen, and saw her as a sort of older sister. I wouldn't be surprised if this further alienates Azula from the rest of the group. I've decided to bridge the gap with Kraken, the Tentacool. They can be leveling partners, since they both have catching up to do, and the shared water type should help them get a long.

This post is short because I'm mostly just training right now.

Team
Kraken, Lv13 Tentacool
Jayne, Lv22 Makuhita
Bailey, Lv20 Linoone
Zeak, Lv20 Grovyle
Zeetha, Lv21 Taillow
Azula, Lv16 Magikarp

Playtime 11:07
Pokedex 14
Badges 2
Graveyard
Toby, the Zigzagoon
Gwen, the Beautifly

Chalkey's Escape from Pallet Take 2, Part 2

There comes advantages and disadvantages to attempting the Nuzlocke with FireRed/Leafgreen, most of which come from assuming you know everything just because you played RBY. Aforementioned advantages come from when you're right in this assumption, and disadvantages come from the opposite. But, so it goes.

I skipped Saffron City initially because I couldn't for the life of me remember how to get inside; in RBY, you just had to buy a lemonade, soda or freshwater for the guards, but in FRLG you have to actually find Tea somewhere. I had no recollection of this, and spent forever trying to cram the damn fresh water down the thirsty guard's throat.

I also forgot entirely that, exclusive to FRLG, Bill the Pokémaniac kidnaps you and takes you to the Sevii Islands. I might have had an option to skip this, but I was skimming through the text pretty fast in the interest of time. When I was young, I was a big fan of Pojo, which chronicled a guy playing Gold for the first time with a rate of eight badges in eight days. My goal for every game since then has always been eight badges in eight days, or eight hours if I've played that version before. Sometimes, like in this case, my goal is its own worst enemy, as I skipped right over whatever option I had to skip this detour to the first three Sevii Islands. I didn't catch anything there, but I did kill a lot of Fearow and Raticates.

But it wasn't all bad. My prior knowledge came in handy as I pulled off finishing Silph Co's Rocket bust in a personal record of seven minutes total. I also took it as a moment of personal pride to annihilate Blue's Pidgeot with my own Pidgeot (part of my nostalgic pet projects at work - this was always very important to me as a kid). I completely ignored the guy that gives me Lapras, knowing that I could only take one of either Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan or Lapras under Nuzlocke rules (as all of Saffron City counts as one area). I'll just decide later, I guess.

Captain's Log:
Time: 6:21 (six hours, twenty one minutes)
Pokédex: 16
Badges: 6
Lineup:
-Fat Blasta the Blastoise, level 43
-JBlox the Pidgeot, level 40
-Jeps the Jolteon, level 40
-Mikey the Snorlax, level 30
-Liz the Doduo, level 24

Casualties:
-Dick Eater the Spearow
-Mr. Nido the Nidoran M (in-game trade)
-Steph the Pidgey
-Ari the Diglett
-Shannon the Pidgey
Total dead for the cause: 5