Beat a few more trainers, then found an old guy at the entrance to Rusturf tunnel whining about losing his “darling” Peeko (something concerning about that… I fear for that Wingull’s safety). Went into the cave and added a new Pokemon to my team – Charlie the Whismur, lv.7, Serious nature. Should be useful when it comes to learning Strength. Assuming he’s still alive, of course. Unlike Jabs… Poor Jabs.
Anyways, beat up the Aqua Grunt using Swift’s Wing Attack. It pleases me to have that move already, considering it’ll probably stay on Swift’s moveset forever. And hooray, Darling Peeko is saved. Well, assuming you consider being forced back into a life of being chased “playfully” around an old pervert’s log cabin as “being saved.” I bet the poor budgie was just trying to escape, and I ruined it all.
The tool who lost his Devon Goods abducted me and took me to his boss, another dubious old man. Oh, I take it back, he gave me a Pokenav. Good bloke. I found a girl wanting to trade my Slakoth for her Makuhita. I was keen, until I realised I didn’t have a Slakoth, and I had no way of getting one just yet. Maybe later young girl.
Got a Quick Claw from the Trainers’ School, gave it to Pepper. Got Cut from “Cutter’s” house – sounds like a self-harmer – but had no-one to teach it to. Discovered I couldn’t proceed any further without Rock Smash, so headed back to Mr. Briney’s house, stopping off to grind a bit with Charlie on Route 104 (yes, I skipped Petalburg Woods. Damn Wurmple).
Sailed to Dewford with Mr. Briney, and obtained a Silk Scarf for Charlie. Got an Old Rod from a fisherman by the Gym, and used it to obtain my newest team member – a Magikarp, lv.9, female, whom I forgot to nickname. Again. Argh. She will be named Marjorie at the first opportunity.
Headed up to the cave in Dewford. A nice Hiker gave me the Flash HM, and I realised I needed a Zubat or I wouldn’t be able to use it. Instead I ran into a Makuhita, lv.9. Caught him and named him Thumper, Hasty nature. ARGH. Hasty?! Awful. Couldn’t it have been… I dunno, Brave? Or Impish? Or ANYTHING other than Hasty? And it’ll be a dark time in this cave when I look for Steven later.
Stuck around in the cave to grind a bit and get Crash ready to face the Gym – didn’t want to take any chances, I’ve read about people failing Nuzlocke runs on Brawly before and I didn’t feel particularly secure that I’d beat him, given that both Charlie and Pepper were weak to Fighting moves. I realised that not being allowed to use Flash without the Dewford Gym Badge meant nothing seeing as I couldn’t teach it to any of my Pokemon anyway, so I headed through the cave to find Steven. On the basement floor I ran into an Aron, and was sorely tempted to break the rules to catch it. I like Aggron. Didn’t break the rules though, and on I went, killing Aron all the while and gaining truckloads of XP from them.
After stumbling in the dark for a while I tracked down Steven and obtained the Steel Wing TM. Sweet. Taught it to Swift. Escape Roped out to heal, then headed back into the cave basement to train where the Aron were.
Then it happened again.
I switched in Thumper to train him up a bit against a wild Aron. Thumper is a Fighting-type, and Aron are Rock/Steel, meaning that Thumper's Arm Thrust attack would do quadruple damage against it. This should have meant Aron's swift demise. But Aron critted Headbutt. Thumper went down in one. First battle, first attack. This Nuzlocke thing is pretty brutal.
Crash finished the Aron off and I scarpered, seeing as Crash had hit lv.20 by this point, Swift had evolved into aSwellow at lv.22 and I felt ready to take on the Gym. It’s lucky in a way that I hadn’t had Thumper for long enough by this point to get attached to him. Still, poor little fella. I mentally added Aron to the list of Pokemon I no longer liked (so far: Wurmple, Aron).
Into the Gym I went, nearly 7 hours playtime on the clock – probably more to do with the time I’ve spent typing this up rather than how long I’ve spent grinding. And in the end, Brawly was a complete non-event; Swift had steamrollered the Gym trainers on the way to evolving, and Crash OHKOd both of Brawly’s Pokemon with critted Mud Shots.
I couldn’t teach Bulk Up to any of my Pokemon, so I moved onto Slateport, trying to bump up Pepper and Charlie’s levels by using them against the beach trainers and those in the lemonade hut, nipping to the Slateport Pokemon Centre every now and then to heal. I decided against fishing for a Route 107 Pokemon until I got a better rod – no sense just getting another Magikarp to not use.
-Samwise
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