Nuzlocke

RULES

• Any Pokémon that faints is considered dead, and must be released.
• The player may only catch the first Pokémon encountered in each area, and none else. If the first Pokémon encountered faints or flees, there are no second chances.
• All caught Pokémon must be nicknamed.

I read these rules out loud, letting them sink into my memory in case I forgot them. I had never taken part in a Nuzlocke challenge before and had only just discovered what it was. The definition I had found online had explained it to be 'a set of rules meant for making the game harder and more of a challenge for the player'. I had already played though my Diamond game a good three times now and had gotten bored. From what I had heard, it sounded like a fun way to play through my game a fourth time. After thinking it over for a while, I eagerly slotted in my game and started it up.

I selected 'New Game' and Professor Rowan appeared on the screen, giving his usual lecture. I skipped through most of the text until I got to select a gender and name. I chose a girl and called her "Yumi", as that was a nice Japanese name I had been toying around with for some time, and it seemed fitting. After naming my rival, who I just called Sammy like I do every time, and skipped though the rest of Rowan's speech and my game finally began. I was slightly impatient to get to the actual Nuzlocke and ignored the usual cutscenes. As it came to the point where I got to choose my starter, I felt a sudden thrill. The challenge started here. For my starter I chose a Turtwig, seeing as it was the only starter I hadn't used yet, and nicknamed it "Jake". After that I continued on with my adventure.

The beginning of my Nuzlocke was very successful, aside from fainting the first wild Pokémon I found. Since I failed to catch the first Pokémon on the Route, I decided to just train up Jake there for a little while, before moving on. By the time I reached Oreburgh City, I had caught a Bidoof, Shinx, Starly, Budew, Geodude and a Zubat. I had a whole team along with going the whole time without any of my Pokémon fainting! That is, until I reached the first gym...

I entered the gym feeling confident. I had trained my team hard and had faith in their strength. However that faith was quickly swept away. One of the gym's trainers approached me and a battle started. Sending out my Starly, "Chirps", I used Wing Attack. Roark's Geodude attacked back with Rollout, and unfortunately, it was a critical hit. "NO!" I screamed with frustration as my fleeting sustenance of a full team was brought to an end. I hissed and finished off the trainer with Jake before rushing to a Pokémon Centre. I started up the PC and placed Chirps in the box and hovered over her "Goodbye, my friend... And thank you". I reluctantly selected "Release" and Chirps vanished from sight, going (in my imagination) to a place of rest. Getting slightly caught up in the moment, I had a minute of silence for my lost Starly before moving on. My Shinx, "Shocker", was in the PC box, as, without room in my party, I had reluctantly put him there.

"Your party is full. Shocker can not be placed here."

My jaw dropped as I stared at the text. "WHAT THE HELL?! THERE IS AN EMPTY SPACE RIGHT THERE!" Furious, I tried again.

"Your party is full. Shocker can not be placed here."

"Screw it then!" I placed Shocker back in the PC and logged off, muttering to myself. "What a stupid glitch!" I was rather pissed off, and despite the somewhat frustrating fact that I could now only have five Pokémon in my party, I continued to play. My bad luck did not end there. I found myself struggling in a lot more battles and by the time I reached Hearthome City I only had three Pokémon left. Jake, Shocker and a Buizel I nicknamed "Nano". Catching new ones was no good, they never lasted long. But that wasn't the problem. The last two spaces in my party said the same thing.

"Your party is full."

The glitch had spread to a second place as well and it was beginning to concern me. I constantly had a sense of dread hanging over me and it was when I went to the Hearthome gym that I found out why. My small team of three had battled though the gym with ease but when I reached the gym leader, Fantina, she said something strange. "...It apears you have lost souls hanging onto you ...Come back when they have been freed." I was stunned. Having played though the game many times before, I knew this wasn't supposed to happen but when I spoke to her again she just repeated herself. I exited the gym, wondering what she could have meant. I opened my party to check Nano's stats but froze. There were two Pokémon in the glitched spots. Two Pokémon whose sprites were pure white with blue eyes that seemed to burn into me. Shaking, I opened their stats. One was a Starly, no name, personality 'Lost'. Not normal. The other was a Bidoof, no name, personality 'Lost'. Definitely not normal. At first I just sat there staring at the DS, stunned. I exited. Maybe this was some rare kind of glitch! I had never heard of anyone mention it on the internet which could mean I discovered it! I grinned, feeling a little proud of myself. I tried to move one of the strange Pokémon to the front of my party, wanting to try it out in battle.

"??? refuses to be moved."

"This is ???'s spot!"

I stared at the sceen, puzzled, and tried the other. It was the same. "Hmm... Fine then. I'll just put the other Pokémon I have in the PC, then they have to be sent out first!" Running to the Pokemon Centre, I opened the PC. I let out a shriek. My box--

All of my boxes... Were filled with the white Pokémon. They were everywhere! There wasn't even room to put in my Pokemon. But each of the boxes had been given a new name, and they all said the same thing.

"Murdered."

It was beginning to dawn on me as a recognised some of the Pokémon in there. They were mine. The ones I had lost. It had displayed them in the first box and they had been repeated to fill up the whole PC. Hovering over them, I saw that their expressions were filled with agony and some even had splashes of red over their cold white bodies. Unable to bear looking at them any longer I rushed to turn off the PC.

"You can not leave here. This is your place."

"W-what..?"

I tried again. And again. And again. Over and over and over. The same thing, it burned my eyes each time it appeared until it said something else.

"You're not allowed to leave."

"This is your place."

"Just like we didn't leave our places."

The sprite of my Starly and Bidoof appeared of the screen, each looking disturbed and cold. They looked morbid, blood and broken limbs replacing their previous white sprites. "Their places..?" I realised they meant their spots in my party.

"You left us to die!"

"But you can't leave us now..."

The PC turned red, each Pokémon inside flashing me grim smirks.

"...We are taking you with us."

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