DetroitLolcat's Firered Nuzlocke Challenge!
Part Three: First Encounter
Lolcat walks silently from Pewter Gym with first Badge in tow headed for the Pokemon Center. His Town Map notified him that the next destination was Mt. Moon and that it could take a solid day. Lolcat realized that if he couldn't cross the mountain today, he should at least enter Route 3 and pick up a fourth member for the team.
On the way out, Lolcat spies a Scientist in the distance. Knowing that they usually pack Electric types, Lolcat fears that he could lose a team member to the man if he wants to battle. The man locks eyes with Lolcat and begins to speak:
"Oh, Lolcat. I'm Professor Oak's Aide." Lolcat breaths a sigh of relief. "I came here to deliver a package to you from your mother. It better be worth it, as I was stung by a Weedle in Viridian Forest to get here!"
Lolcat opens the package and sees a sleek, comfortable pair of Running Shoes. The instructions involved pressing some B button but Lolcat couldn't decipher what that meant. It was much easier to run with the shoes, so Lolcat ran into Route 3 feeling better than ever. Numerous Trainers plagued Route 3, meaning that Lolcat would have to battle cautiously if he wanted to preserve his entire team. The first Trainer was a Lass who sent out a Pidgey to match Butterfree. Though the Pidgey landed a super-effective Gust, it still fell to a combination of two Confusions. The Lass's second Pokemon was another Pidgey who fell to two Water Guns from Squirtle.
Lolcat heals the hurt butterfly and proceeds to battle the second Trainer on Route 3, a Bug Catcher from Viridian Forest. His Caterpies and Weedles could not match the mighty force of a 50 BP Confusion and all were swiftly 1-2 hit KOed. Lolcat decided that Spearow could use a little experience, so he sent out the tiny bird to battle the third Trainer, a Youngster with a Rattata. Spearow and Squirtle made short work of the rat, as Lolcat didn't want to risk a critical from Quick Attack. Spearow was able to exact his revenge on the next Trainer, a wimpy Bug Catcher. The fifth Trainer or Route 3 possessed a Rattata, which Lolcat met with Butterfree. Butterfree gave it a one-two Confusion punch and did the same for the girl's femae Nidoran. Squirtle defeated the final Trainer, a Bug Catcher.
After defeating that rather boring group of Trainers, Lolcat continues down the long Route until he spies a large field of tall grass where a potential fourth member of Lolcat's army awaits. Lolcat searches the grass top to bottom, but the only wild Pokemon that pops out is a Pidgey. Since there is already a Pidgey waiting in Lolcat's Box as a backup, the decision was made to have this Pidgey join it. Lolcat captures the Pidgey only to store it in the box.
On the way to the Pokemon Center in Pewter, Lolcat decides to take a shortcut but finds himself in eye contact with a Trainer. The Trainer decides that something must be wrong with Lolcat because he is not wearing shorts, and Lolcat comes to the conclusion that this child must be mentally handicapped. Though Lolcat doesn't like harming the retarded, he decided not to give a damn and send Spearow out to mercilessly annihilate the boy.
Lolcat continues down the trail, noticing that the terrain gradually transforms from a green, grassy field into a rocky, rugged mountain base. "Mt. Moon must be nearby", thought Lolcat. After walking for about another ten minutes, Lolcat spies a lone Pokemon Center next to the opening of a cave. Plastered on the front window of the Pokemon Center was a sign that read: "Mt. Moon Base Lodge. Climbers welcome to stay as long as necessary to prepare for crossing mountain. Beware- Numerous Wild Pokemon located in mountain!"
Deciding that it was late, Lolcat checks in for the night. He plans to summit the mountain the following day. "I wonder where Blue is? Is he on the other side of the mountain? Or did I already pass him?", thought Lolcat as he drifted off into peaceful slumber...
Or maybe that slumber was less than peaceful. As he slept in the Lodge's small, cozy room, Lolcat's peaceful sleep was interrupted by a not-so-peaceful dream. A deep, commanding voice could be heard in Lolcat's head: Lolcat. Stop this madness. You were never supposed to train Pokemon. You were never supposed to enter Trainer's School, and you definitely were not destined to even dream of earning a Gym Badge...Please, Lolcat, give up this insane Pokemon League challenge before you injure yourself...or worse, your Pokemon.
Lolcat wakes up at an early 7:00 AM, hoping to reach Cerulean City on the other side of the mountain by nightfall. The dream he had last night was peculiar, but Lolcat simply dismissed it as being shocked at winning his first Gym Badge. Lolcat picks up a copy of the Cerulean Times at the Pokemon Center, and the front page was a headline that read: "Team Rocket attacks Cerulean City for Fourth Consecutive Day". "Hmm...Team Rocket", thought Lolcat, "I hope they'll be gone by the time I reach Cerulean City. And if Blue's already there, there could be a problem! I have to get to Cerulean City STAT!"
Inside the cave, Lolcat realized that Mt. Moon could be the source of Lolcat's fourth teammate. However, since it's almost guaranteed that the Pokemon will be a Zubat anyway Lolcat doesn't really get his hopes up. Ten seconds of walking proves this notion, and a Zubat immediately joins the two Pidgey in the Box. The team reenters the cave, seeing that the path splits into two directions: one to the west, and one to the east. Lolcat arbitrarily decides to walk on the western path, picking up a TM09 in the process. The TM contains Bullet Seed, a completely useless Grass move with about as much power as Bubble. Continuing through the dimly lit cave, Lolcat is found by a Bug Catcher who declares: "suspicious men are in the cave! I can't take any chances! Go, Weedle!"
Apparently this boy believes that he can defend himself with a Weedle and Kakuna. However, Spearow's Peck quickly convinces the boy the error of his ways. Usually after defeating a common Trainer Lolcat would just take the prize money and leave, but this Bug Catcher seemed to know something. Lolcat initiates the conversation.
"So, what do you mean by 'suspicious men'?"
The Bug Catcher replies, "A few hours ago some weird looking men wandered into the cave muttering about criminal activity. I'm positive that the men are from Team Rocket, the thugs that are attacking Cerulean."
Lolcat thanks the boy and runs off, doing his best to avoid any black-cloaked hoodlums. However, the path that Lolcat took simply led to a dead-end, so Lolcat turned back and ran down the eastern path. One Trainer with a Clefairy battled Lolcat, but she was quickly stomped by Squirtle. On the path, a Zubat ambushed the team and Lolcat sent out Squirtle to combat the bat. After three Water Guns, the bat fell, but Squirtle stood motionless, unable to return to the Pokeball.
"Uh...master", eked Squirtle..."I'm feeling a little funny...", Squritle announced, glowing white. Squirtle collapsed, sprawled out on the cave floor. His glowing white form began to expand, his color starting to return a darker blue. When Squirtle returned to his feet, he was a solid foot taller and screamed "WARTORTLE!" Squirtle had evolved, and then reentered the Pokeball.
The path led eastward, but took a sharp turn forwards until Lolcat spied a manhole with a long, metal ladder leading underground. Lolcat descended down the ladder into the nearly pitch-black "basement" of the mountain. The lower level was much smaller than the upper and was much easier to navigate. Spearow made short work of the Paras that dwelt within. After a few minutes of walking Lolcat discovered a second ladder leading upwards to the main floor.
After climbing those stairs, Lolcat blinks a few times to readjust to the better-lit surroundings and steps forwards from behind a rock. Immediately, he hears a commanding voice from a black-garbed man.
"You! You have fallen into the trap of Team Rocket, THE Pokemon gangsters! Now, surrender your Pokemon!" The Rocket member summoned a Sandshrew to attack Lolcat, but Lolcat challenged him to a 3-on-3 fight. The grunt accepted and Lolcat sent forth his Spearow. The Spearow started off the duel with a Fury Attack, connecting five times before Sandshrew steels himself with a Defense Curl. However, the Fury Attack did enough damage for Spearow to clean it up with two Pecks. The grunt then unleashed a Rattata who struck with a Quick Attack to harm Spearow, who retaliated with a two-hit Fury Attack. Though Spearow could probably survive another Quick Attack, Lolcat recalled the bird and sent out Butterfree in case of a critical hit. The butterfly shrugged off a Tackle and a Quick Attack and smote the rat with a Confusion. The Grunt finished off the fight with the obligatory Zubat which was demolished by Confusion. Lolcat won the battle.
"Drat! You wait, red man! There are more Rockets in the cave than just me, and they'll avenge me!" announced the Rocket. Lolcat discovered that the room contained a Star Piece, but the cave terminated in a dead end. There was nothing to do but backtrack to the cave center, detouring to the Pokemon Center to heal the wounded Spearow.
This time Lolcat passed by the descending ladder and reached a sandy pit in the middle of the cave. The eastward path ended and branched into a north-facing path and a south-facing path. Guessing, Lolcat chooses to walk down the southern path. On the way down, Lolcat passed by a Super Nerd with a frightening Pokemon, Magnemite. Lolcat was about to make the rational switch but realized every Pokemon on his team was Electric-weak. The Magnemite fires off a Metal Sound against Wartortle, and Lolcat meets the frightening reality that this battle will almost definitely cost Lolcat a pokemon. Lolcat retreats to Butterfree who meets a second Metal Sound. Planning to sacrifice the butterfly, Lolcat orders a Confusion which connects but then the mini Magnet fires off a Thundershock. Butterfree's HP quickly depletes to zero nine.
Astounded, Lolcat realizes that all hope is not lost on this fight. Unless he gets criticaled, Wartortle will be able to take two Thundershocks. Switching to Wartortle and expecting to take an Electric shock, Watrtortle only gets Tackled and finishes the Magnet off with a one-two Water Gun punch. The Nerd sends out a Voltorb but it swiftly meets a watery grave. Lolcat heals once more and returns to the cave. The next Trainer that dared stand in Lolcat's path was a Bug Catcher. I'm not even describing this battle because it is a Bug Catcher. Caterpies and Metapods do not deserve DetroitLolcat's descriptive powers.
The path U-Turned to the north, and Lolcat stepped through the brown, murky path to meet up with the original northern path. The path widens and Lolcat spies a Lass in the distance. Unfortunately, the battle is just another mundane, repetitive battle that serves little purpose to the chapter's plot. Just think of a Spearow Pecking some Grass-types to death. Lolcat passes another manhole but decides not to take the path as last time, it only led to a gangster-infested dead end, instead choosing to battle a Youngster. The Youngster, however, had an interesting comment to share with Lolcat after battle:
"I came all the way down here to show off to girls". Yeah, man, you show off those Level 10 Rattatas. Those rats really are a Quick Attack to a woman's heart. What a moron.
Lolcat sees a second manhole by a dead end in the cave, so the way out had to be either through that manhole or the one that Lolcat passed a few minutes ago. Deciding to explore every area of the cave, he chose to take the first ladder down to the basement floor. After dropping down, the path moved a few yards to the side and presented a second ladder to the ground floor. The room was a dead end occupied by a lone Rocket. Hoping to grill the criminal after defeating him, Lolcat challenges the crook to a battle. The obligatory Zubat was swiftly killed, but then the grunt sent out an Ekans to match Spearow. Spearow led off with a Fury Attack and Ekans used Wrap. Spearow continued attacking furiously but was met with a Poison Sting from the little snake. As we all know, Poison Sting might be the most dreaded move in the game (next to Explosion) in a Nuzlocke, and we all know why. With no Antidotes allowed, Lolcat was at the mercy of the RNG not to poison the bird, but alas, Spearow was NOT POISONED. One last Peck finished the thief off.
Now that the thief was at Lolcat's mercy, Lolcat demanded to hear why the criminal team was invading the mountain.
The crook spoke, "Uh...our boss sent about five of us Grunts to get some Fossils. Fossils are kind of profitable these days and Team Rocket wants a cut of the profit, you know? And with so many people moving from Pewter to Cerulean we thought we'd pull off a few Pokemon too! Please, man, don't kill me! Here, I'll give you this TM if you let me liiiiive!", the man bawled. Lolcat accepted the TM and proceeded towards the ladder.
Back on the ground floor, Lolcat could know with certainty that the correct path to Cerulean City was through the final manhole, so Lolcat quickly ran to the dark descent. The underground floor was similar to the other areas, just a straight path that hooked to the right. However, once the trail hit a dead end there was one striking difference. The ladder at the end led further underground. There would be no problem with that normally; however, there would be virtually no light two stories underground. Since that was the only way to Cerulean City, the pitch-black path had to be taken.
Lolcat says a quick prayer asking for safe passage though the cave and his prayer was answered, as the bottom of the cave was lit artificially with electronic lights interspersed throughout the bottom. The trail, fortunately, did not split at the bottom but did spiral around the mountain's perimeter, meaning that any Rocket Grunts could not be avoided. Noticing his first adversary, a black-cloaked criminal, Lolcat sent out a Butterfree to take on the Rocket. This Grunt was a cut above the rest as his Rattata knew Hyper Fang, but Butterfree's new tactic Sleep Powder was to much for the weak rat to handle.
The murky trail continued to circle the cave's perimeter, but no Rocket grunts were stationed nearby. Lolcat trainer Butterfree a little against the cave-dwelling Pokemon knowing that a Rocket leader could be nearby. After running around the entire cave, Lolcat spied one lone Rocket Grunt standing between two wide, rocky pillars. The Rocket had to be defeated if Lolcat wanted to progress. The Rocket blabbed on about discovering Fossils for profit and then attacked Lolcat with a Rattata. Wartortle made short work of the Grunt's Pokemon.
The path looped around in a semicircle and Lolcat saw a metal ladder in the distance that would be his ticket out of the dungeon. However, that escape ladder was guarded by a Rocket Scientist determined to stop Lolcat from proceeding out of the cave. The Scientist challenged Lolcat to a duel: three Pokemon each. Lolcat summoned Wartortle and the mad scientist sent out a Grimer. Lolcat called for a Water Gun to strike the sludge heap and the Grimer retaliated at the Scientist's command. The deafening roar of two words from the Scientist made Lolcat's heart drop.
"Grimer, use Poison Gas!. The toxic wave slowly arched around the cave and centered on the turtle and Lolcat gave the order to dodge. Wartortle jumps over the toxic cloud but his jump wasn't good enough. He landed directly in the middle of the toxic cloud and fell from poison. Knowing that his health would drop if left in battle, Lolcat decided to send in a weakened Butterfree to take the upcoming Pound. Left with a low ten Hit Points, Butterfree finished off the accursed Grimer with a Confusion. The second Pokemon released was a Voltorb. Since low-leveled Voltorb rarely possessed Electric moves, Lolcat felt confident that Butterfree could finish off the smug ball with two Confusions. Those suspicions proved correct. The Scientist clicked his last Pokeball, this time containing this site's mascot, a Koffing. Butterfree launched a Confusion attack to finish this round before it started.
Though the battle was over, the war had just begun. Wartortle was poisoned with just above thirty HP and Lolcat was only in the middle of Mt. Moon. Lolcat encapsulated Wartortle in it's Pokeball and began a mad dash to Cerulean Pokemon Center with Spearow and Butterfree flying and cheering for Wartortle. Lolcat detected teh cave's entrance and stepped into the bright daylight of Route Four. There was no time to admire the beautiful day because a certain turtle and his thirty-two Hit Points needed to meet up with a Nurse in Cerulean.
Lolcat dashes eastward to the city. He passes by a sign directing him to the town.
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Two Karate experts greeted Lolcat, offering to teach him the art of Mega Punch and Mega Kick, but Lolcat politely declined without missing a step.
27 Lolcat bounds down a ledge, his eyes fixated on Cerulean City's skyline.
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A small field of tall grass was seen by Lolcat, but more importantly, so was the entrance to Cerulean City.
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17 The long, dusty path to Cerulean felt like it was miles long, and with every step Wartortle's will to live grew weaker and the sinking feeling that this journey was in vain grew stronger.
As the screen flashed and Wartortle weakened, Lolcat finally saw the gate to Cerulean and the Pokemon Center located in the middle of town. However, it had been a long time since Wartortle had been poisoned, and Lolcat knew that it would be a long process before Wartortle would be healthy again. Thrusting the Pokemon Center doors aside, Lolcat rushes right up to the Nurse, throwing Wartortle's Pokeball at her and screaming,
"Save my Pokemon, dammit!" The Nurse quickly detected the severe poisoning and began injecting Wartortle with hundreds of cc's of Antidote. The Nurse responded to Lolcat,
"I see that Wartortle has been poisoned for a while now...You know, I'm not a miracle worker and medical science has only come so far. However, Mr. Lolcat, your Wartortle is...
...
...
...
Going to make a full recovery. It was smart getting the Pokemon here in time, if you had come even a half hour later Wartortle would most likely have perished from the poisoning. Good luck, Mr. Lolcat, we hope to see you again."
The weight of the world had been lifted from Lolcat's shoulders. Now that Wartortle had made a full recovery, Lolcat was free to explore Cerulean City. The city was standard fare, it had a Mart, Gym, Pokemon Center, and exits to the north, south, east, and west. Lolcat remembered passing past Route 4 when rescuing Wartortle and decides to pick up another Pokemon there. However, the only Pokemon that presented itself before Lolcat was a duplicate Spearow which was stored in the Box with the other backups. With only one exit undiscovered, Lolcat decided to proceed to the north across the Bridge on Route 25. However, before Lolcat could step on the Bridge he heard a familiar voice from in front of him:
"Yo! Lolcat! You still back here with much better Pokemon than I have? I already got Cerulean's Badge because I nailed Misty! That broad is so corrupt, I don't think she's actually had a battle in years! You like how I get all my sentences punctuated with an exclamation point! Even the questions! It makes me seem more sophisticated! BAAAAAAATLE!"
Blue tosses out a Pokeball containing a Pidgeotto which Lolcat counters with Spearow. Though Pidgeotto would probably win this bout one-on-one Spearow's job was simply to weaken the bigger bird before Wartortle comes in for the clean-up. However, Blue's Operation Sand-Attack Hax succeeded in badly weakening the turtle. Blue launches out a second Ball, this time containing a Bulbasaur which is oddly unevolved despite the level requirement being met. Spearow begins to Peck the leafy dinosaur but the dino responds with a Sleep Powder to incapacitate the bird. Sensing that Spearow's loss is imminent, Lolcat retreats and goes to Butterfree to finish off Bulbasaur with Confusion. Blue became angry and sent out a Pokemon that Lolcat had never seen before: Abra. Knowing that most Psychic pokemon don't learn many good moves without artificial assistance, Lolcat feels safe to whittle the useless psychic's life down with Confusions and Tackles. The final Pokemon in Blue's repertoire was a Rattata which just couldn't stand up to two Confusions from Butterfree. The battle had been won, though the soldiers were wounded.
End of Part Three
