:O and :( and a volcano I guess

First off, the catching business.

I met a Wingull and I wrecked it.

Then I started climbing a volcano. There I met a little wild buddy called a Salandit. I guessed it was a fire type, so I had Freddy Stomp it to like 48% health, then switched to Cleopatra to Mud Slap the thing into red health. Her special attack is almost negligible, and Mud Slap is a pretty weak attack anyway, so I didn't mind that it would be super effective. Well, it killed the thing, so I guess Salandit is Poison/Fire for the 4x Ground damage. Bummer.

That's back when I thought Salandits were cool and nice to have.

I met another captain, a fire trainer, at the top of the volcano. His trial involved watching some Marowaks dance and identifying changes in the dance. I won't spoil it, but trust me that the way it plays out is super funny. But what's relevant to the blog is this: It ends up being a succession battle, where you fight a trained Marowak, a Hiker with a Magmar, and then the Captain's totem Pokemon, with no time to heal.

The Totem was a giant Salazzle, Salandit's evolved form. Knowing it would be attacking with Fire and Poison, I switched from Struan, who could take the hits but was already low on HP from the previous fights, to Cleopatra, who would tank the hits with her rocky bod and Sturdiness.

The Salazzle called a Salandit for support and dropped a Toxic on Cleopatra, negating her Sturdy protection. Bummer. But she was ready with a ROCK BLAST that would surely hit for huge damage... but it missed. And what's worse, they came at her with a Flame Burst and Venoshock, which does double damage to poisoned foes. Since her Sp. Defense isn't that strong to begin with, it was too much. Cleopatra was no more.

I knew that was a possibility. I knew I had to be ready for surprises. Honestly, that's why I switched to her rather than Mudbray. She was more of a brute-force tank, and I could stand to see her go, having trained a Roggenrola before.  But now it was Freddy's turn.

The next couple turns were a blur, but I remember them so clearly. Freddy took a Flame Burst from the totem Salazzle, bringing his HP from 63 to 32. He wouldn't be able to take another hit... probably. The Salandit did something stupid like Taunt, which was fine. Freddy wasn't planning on dicking around. He whapped them both with a quadruply super effective Bulldoze, wrecking the Salandit and leaving the Salazzle in critical red health, and lowering its speed. But the Salandit had a berry that raised its special attack. Now one more of his attacks would be sure to kill Freddy.

Now I had a choice. Stick with Freddy and hope the speed debuff from Bulldoze had given him the edge, or switch out. But my options were slim, and none of my other Pokemon seemed like the right choice. Struan was hurt, and Aoife was hurt and burned. Bouncee was weak to Fire and Poison, and Macho was definitely not fast enough to survive the switch and land a hit. Freddy would have to do it.

He didn't. The Salazzle barfed up some more fire, and that was sweet Freddy's last round as a member of my Nuzlocke party.

Macho had the best chance of taking a boosted Flame Burst and living, so I sent him out to try his luck, but I wasn't feeling good. This could be the makings of a full team sweep and game over. Should I forfeit Macho and use my turn to heal Aoife's burn? Or her HP? Or Struian?

I took the brave route and told Macho to use Seismic Toss. A guaranteed kill... if he wasn't killed first.

The Salazzle's hubris was its undoing, as it blew a turn using Toxic on Macho only to get thrown into orbit for the win. A bitter, lucky win.


It was a short adventure today. I gotta take some time to grieve.


RIP CLEOPATRA AND FREDDY



SO MUCH POTENTIAL.

~*~I will remember you~*~

~*~Will you remember me~*~

~*~Don't let your life pass you by~*~

~*~I let you die in a Pokemon battle because I am a bad trainer~*~

THE PARTY

Struan the Torracat
-Now with epic Z moves!
-King of everything
-We have now developed the most intense of bonds


Aoife the Trumbeak
-My most trusted confidante
-Will always get the job done
-Now knows Roost, so she can be super obnoxious that way


Macho the Machop
-Saved the day
-Learned Knock Off, so now he can punch ghosts to death too


Bouncee the Steenee
-Napped the whole time
-Is literally an anime character


Delbert the Makuhita
-Because why not, someone's gotta take hits
-B Team forever


Small Doggo the Lillipup
-Has the Pickup ability, so maybe I'll get a free rock or something
-C team. Z team?