Home in Time for Christmas - a Pokemon Red "nuzlocke" challenge report

[Seperallis]

3


BOI breezed through the next battle with WHAT aboard the S.S. Anne, finally obtaining the “Cut” HM from the ship’s captain; with that in hand we were able to apply the move to Patrick, replacing his tackle and giving us access to the Vermillion City gym and its electricity-wielding trainers.

At this point, BOI had to choose between using Patrick’s favorable matchup to electricity in the gym but risk his low damage output not being enough to topple the leader’s Raichu with its level advantage and a powerful base 95 power Thunderbolt attack, or force Backpack to evolve early into Nidoking, giving him ground typing upon evolution (and thus an immunity to all electric attacks) while losing out on all of the attacks he can learn as a nidorino. Due to the locked party rule, a swap to Manfred the Diglett was not allowed.



I'm clearly not a fucking retard, so while losing a free Horn Drill does suck, Backpack the Nidoking lived up to his namesake and carried the party through to their third gym victory.

Some sleeping Snorlax were blocking roads and the Saffron City guards hadn’t eaten their Wheaties, so after grabbing ASMRdeus the drowzee east of town and swinging by to pick up the HM #5 “Flash”, the team doubled back to Cerulean to take the roundabout way through the rock tunnel on our way to the fourth gym in Celadon City. Blasting our way from Cerulean City to Lavender Town was pretty easy, and netted Revelation the Voltorb and Clint the Machop to our burgeoning reserves roster. We were pretty close to over-leveling the next gym at this point, so we did our best to avoid nearly all the trainer battles on the road from Lavender to Celadon. After picking up Good Boy the Growlithe on the way and grabbing Louis the Eevie for free from the top of the apartments, BOI almost went immediately into the gym.



Almost.

Despite Birb being birb, it had no flying moves, something I could have remedied by getting the “Fly” HM if I wasn’t a complete idiot. Instead, I finally addressed the elephant in the party and went back to grind “I” the zubat up to a usable level.

Did I mention that I simply hate zubat? There’s no real reason for it, more an age old bias since my young’un days; I just always found them nothing more than an annoyance over the 21 years they existed, what with their rather weak attacks and confusion status. I had intended to use “I” as a sacrifice, throwing him in to earn a free swap in the middle of battle when things got rough, but I began to consider a change of heart after leveling up “I” into a Golbat; with his poison immunity and bug-type Leech Life attack, BOI swept the plant gym for his fourth badge.