Written Story Kanto Teen Mon [HIATUS] Simple Beginnings - A LeafGreen Nuzlocke

[niightear]

note: this nuzlocke has been restarted; everything here is for the restarted run!
the og run didn't get that far, for those who didn't see before: the team consisted of a hasty male bulbasaur named waltz who got to level 7, a relaxed male pidgey named blue (route 1 capture) who was caught and died at level 3 (from a mankey), a bashful female rattata named sneak who was caught at level 2 and got to level 7, and a lonely male mankey named tambo, who was caught at level 5 and got to level 6. i didn't even get to viridian forest-​

so basically, long story short for those who are new to this thread, i was playing on emulator and forgot to save in-game, only making a battery file. not even a save state (i've barely used visualboy advance, i just wanted to be able to have the ability to speed-up). due to this, i lost all my progress past my first visit to viridian.
so thus, i’m restarting this nuzlocke already. after a single day. i didn’t get very much done yesterday luckily, i mean, i got my three beginning encounters and leveled up a little, but that’s about it, which is good, though it means i have to start grinding all over again.
anyways, i forgot to introduce myself: hi, i’m puppy! i’m new to the forums and to doing nuzlockes; this is my first nuzlocke, though i guess you could say it’s my second given the fail of yesterday? either way, it’s in leafgreen, specifically a version with some quality of life changes i made using the pokemon universal randomizer, with those being as follows:

• no more impossible evolutions! while it’s unlikely i’ll get an abra, and i’m not sure on machop or geodude, it’s nice for eevee if i decide to evolve it into umbreon or espeon, since those were formerly impossible,,, for more reasons than one. speaking of-
• the national dex is unlocked from the start, meaning i can get evolutions which were introduced in gen 2 from the start, which is super useful for pokemon like crobat and, as i mentioned before, espeon and umbreon.
• indoor running shoes! not useful from the start, but still a nice addition.
• fastest text speed! it still feels like it goes on forever, though.

but with that out of the way, let’s get into the stuff people are probably here for.

Spoiler: Rules

• Each Pokémon that faints is considered dead and must be permaboxed.
• You can only catch the first Pokémon you encounter in an area. Shiny Clause and Dupes Clause are in effect.
• Every Pokemon must be nicknamed.
• If Surf, Strength, Cut or Flash can't be learned by a Pokemon you have, you may catch another one who can learn it, BUT they must be boxed when not being used.
• In the Safari Zone, each area (center, east, north, west) gets a unique capture.

Spoiler: Prelude - High Above

Far, far above the region known as Flor watched an elusive pink Pokemon. It was their region to watch over, protect, and even guide, when needed.
It seemed a normal, peaceful night. Even the large, bustling city of Mintbloom* was quiet, silent even. There weren’t even any critters chittering or sky-highs flying, simply the silence.
The region they guarded was an interesting one to the voyant**. So many unique Pokemon, from all different walks of life, all living the same simple lives, many having the same goal.
Fighting the Elites at the Indigo League was the dream of many young Pokemon. A hefty goal, it required beating the battle master of eight of the major cities - Evergreen*, Pewter, Hyacinthorn*, Inula*, Mintbloom, Fuchsia, Saffron and Crimson*.
In the new and small town of Petunia, two young benders - a plant-like**, Bulbasaur, and fire-heart**, Charmander - were both soon to go on their own Indigo League journey. The elusive wasn’t supposed to pick favorites, but something about that Bulbasaur seemed… different. As if Arceus themself blessed them. Which, maybe they did - it was hard to know, really. The elusive was unpredictable.
The voyant couldn’t help themself from flying down to the town of Petunia, keeping hidden as they peeked in through the plant-like’s window, seeing that they were still awake, eagerly writing in what looked to be their diary. This late? Though I’d probably be pretty restless, too, if I was them…
Mew wasn’t supposed to pick favorites. But, this Bulbasaur…
They’d keep a close eye on them.

Spoiler: author's notes

there’s not whole lot to say here really. this chapter’s pretty short, i couldn’t think of a lot.
anyways, i should actually start doing the nuzlocke now instead of sitting here writing an author’s note. stay tuned for the next chapter, which will probably be up to viridian forest, much like last time, for those who saw that when it was still up!
* alternate town names are something i’ve seen in the few trainerless nuzlockes i’ve read that i thought was a neat idea! i ended up making all the town names plant-themed, mainly after flowers. mintbloom is celadon, evergreen is viridian, pewter stays pewter due to that also being a flower, hyacinthorn is cerulean and named after the water hyacinth, fuschia and saffron stay the same due to those both being plants, and crimson is cinnabar.
** again, alternate type names are something i've seen in what trainerless nuzlockes i have read, and since i think they make since, i included here; i'll go over them when they're mentioned! for this chapter, we have voyants, the term for psychic-types; plant-likes, the term specifically for grass-types with plant traits; and fire-hearts, the term for fire-types!

 

[niightear]

so funny story,,, apparently i don't know how visualboy advance saving works in the slightest. i forgot to save after doing some grinding so now all my progress is gone because i last saved once i first got to viridian.
how do you open .sav files and have it actually load progress am i just dumb or something help-

 

[Yuna]

so funny story,,, apparently i don't know how visualboy advance saving works in the slightest. i forgot to save after doing some grinding so now all my progress is gone because i last saved once i first got to viridian.
how do you open .sav files and have it actually load progress am i just dumb or something help-

Whenever I'm playing on an Emulator, I always make sure to save TWICE.

I save using the regular save option from the menu, but I also use the save states option VBA and other emulators have. Then once you boot up the game again, you can load that save slot from there in case your regular save failed.

 

[niightear]

well, the first full day of playing went pretty well, as did writing this chapter (though it got a tad long), so into the first full chapter we go!

Spoiler: Chapter 1 - A Simple Start

The sun shone above the small town of Petunia. There were a few simple huts, with few living in the town. One of the residents, a young Bulbasaur, awoke to the sun’s rise, beaming when he realized what day it was: his coming of age!
The Bulbasaur, Bud, jumped out of his hay bed, quickly grabbing his bag from the counter. It had everything he’d need - a diary, some Potions, and some money. He scampered downstairs, where his mother and father, both Venusaur, waited for him.
“Were you planning on leaving without saying goodbye?” his dad asked, feigning offense. His son chuckled. “Coal already left, I’m pretty sure - your mother said she saw him leaving town.”
“Sure did,” replied the female Vensuaur, “anyways, we’re proud of you, Bud. Just worried… you know how dangerous the league can be. You know how many go and… don’t come back…”
A sad look drifted onto her face. Bud raised a paw to comfort her. “I’ll be okay, Mom. I’ll have Seph and other friends with me, after all! Speaking of, where is Seph?”
“He should be waiting by the entrance to town,” his father smiled, “good luck, Bud. Me and your mother both believe in you.”
Bud beamed, nodding before exiting the hut and making his way over to where Seph was waiting, just as his dad said he likely would.
“Hi Seph!” he greeted. The Rattata smiled and waved at him with a paw. “You ready? The trip to Evergreen shouldn’t be too long.”
The critter* nodded. “Mhm. I’m ready!”
“Well then, let’s go!” the plant-like exclaimed, skipping off. He was faster than his Rattata friend - it didn’t take him long at all to end up in the slightly larger city of Evergreen. The Pokemon living around were primarily crawlers*, though there were also a couple critters, and even a sky-high* or two were strewn about.
“Oh, I have a friend who lives nearby!” Seph exclaimed. “I think he’d be willing to join us.”
“Really?” Bud asked, receiving a nod from the Rattata. Not even an hour into his journey and they were getting another teammate! “Well, lead the way, my critter friend!”
He received a chuckle from Seph, though the critter soon heeded his friend’s words, guiding him to what looked to be a small path into a forest looming above.
The Evergreen Forest was a dangerous place. The crawlers living about could poison you, whittling down your health, and in some cases, you might even find yourself paralyzed by the forest’s rare shockers*, unable to move.
“Seph? Is that you?”
The question snapped Bud from his thoughts. He turned to the source of his voice; a Pidgey, flying not far above the ground. The sky-high had a look of intrigue in his gaze.
“Oh, hey Swoop!” Seph exclaimed, turning to Bud. “Bud, this is my friend, Swoop. Swoop, this is Bud. We’re going on a journey to the Indigo League together - do you wanna come along?”
Swoop paused for a second, considering the request before nodding. “Sure - why not? I don’t have much better to do.”
“That’s the spirit!” the plant-like exclaimed. “It’s great to meet you, Swoop! Now, we should probably do some training, then I want to check out the path to the left of the city. I think it’s the Indigo Path!”
The basics* both nodded, following their companion to the path between Petunia and Evergreen - Beginner’s Road. It was a safe place to train, especially for beginners and other lower-leveled Pokemon. Sometimes Bud would sneak out at night to train, sparring with the other Pokemon on the route. He didn’t generally get out scot-free, which was a tad annoying, but also beside the point.
The critters and sky-highs of the route noticed the travellers, turning to look at them in curiosity.
“Er, hey everyone,” Bud didn’t know how to phrase this, “would any of you mind helping us train?”
Offers of spars came in soon. The training was quite tough - there were many close calls, with Bud having to cover the basics many times. The two basics seemed to develop slower, though it seemed it was simply because of the battle being split between them. By the time the sun was beginning to set, Swoop and Seph’s strength levels were both 5, with Bud’s at 8.
“I think we’re ready to try to explore the Indigo Path,” the plant-like yawned. He was tired, but it was the last thing he wished to do before renting a room at the Pokemon Center.
“I think we should get to the Pokemon Center and sleep,” Swoop replied, “but we can explore the path first, I guess.”
Seph simply nodded, following the others as they made their way to the path. It was quite quiet, making the rustling from the trees quite apparent. Bud quickly went on guard, preparing some Leech Seeds just in case.
“Oh, did I scare you?” the voice seemed calm as down from the trees jumped a Mankey. “I didn’t mean to do that… I’m Swipe. You’re travellers, right?”
“Oh, yeah, we are,” the plant-like nodded, “I’m Bud. The Rattata’s Seph, and the Pidgey’s Swoop. We were just exploring around here before turning in at the Pokemon Center!”
Swipe nodded, seemingly contemplating for a second. “I’m joining you. I doubt you bunch of ragtag kids are gonna be able to survive the wild yourself.”
“You’re probably not much older then us,” Swoop pointed out, “so maybe don’t call us ‘kids’ or ‘ragtag’ or anything.”
“That’s not very nice, Swoop,” Bud scolded the sky-high before turning to Swipe, “we’d be glad to have you on the team, Swipe!”
The Mankey was likely smiling under her shaggy fur. “Alright. Well, what do you want to explore, Bud?”
The plant-like paused before chuckling. “Er, I actually think I’m too tuckered out… let’s go to the Pokemon Center now.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Swoop!”
The moon’s light shone through the Pokemon Center’s window, one of the few sources of any brightness as Bud wrote in his diary.
Me and Seph started our journey today, and I’d say it’s going really well! Seph introduced me to his friend, Swoop the Pidgey, and we met a Mankey named Swipe - both joined our team, meaning we have four members!
There’s not a lot of diversity in our skills, though… me, Seph AND Swoop can tackle and not much else, and Swipe can, well, swipe, but that’s about it. We’ll need to train more before going into the forest as is, of course, but I’ll have to figure out when we all learn new skills… that’s something for future Bud to figure out, though!

Spoiler: author's notes

not quite as long as i thought, but still a good length; it's not all that surprising to me that the later parts are written better than the earlier ones, though honestly i'm not sure on how good the writing is in general. figuring out how training would work trainerless is kind of difficult.
anyways, some things i want to go over: coming of age is basically just the period in a pokemon's life where they're considered old enough to leave and go out on their own. figured it made sense as a term. coal is the rival equivalent and also one of bud's childhood friends. strength level is the equivalent of, well, levels; i wanted to include it but i wasn't sure how exactly i could while having it still make sense, so i just went with this. and lastly, i decided to give all the routes different names! route 1 is the beginner's path, route 22 is the indigo path, and route 2 doesn't get a unique name because i don't know what i could give it. so yeah, that's about all!
(additionally, i'm currently trying to train everyone up, which is going a tad slow, though that's probably just because i decided that doing switch training was the most logical)
* okay, type terms! a critter is a sub-type of basics (normal-types), referring to the more animal-like ones; crawlers are bug-types; sky-highs are flying-types; and shockers are electric-types! while not mentioned here, another one i'd like to bring up is that fighting-types are known as brawlers!

Spoiler: current stats (image made in the nuzlocke generator)

 

[niightear]

so. the nuzlocke hasn't been going so well-
last i played (a couple days ago), i got to the rival battle in cerulean (i got through mt. moon with no deaths but there were a couple close calls) and it didn't go so well. spoiler for what happened for those who want to read it first but basically, two of my pokémon died, namely bud (who evolved into an ivysaur like right after brock's gym) and swipe (who i taught rock tomb so i could hopefully use her for both pidgeotto and rattata). i sent him out against charmander,,, you can probably guess how that worked out but he was my only pokémon whose hp was above red so i thought it was my only option really, it was either that or i sacrifice cat (my magikarp).
so i've been taking a bit of a break from playing and writing this, it'll probably resume soonish but i've been doing a couple other nuzlockes in the meantime (a normal one in soulsilver and a lorelocke in a 151 hack of yellow), so i'll probably try to get at least a good lengths into those first!