Welcome to another story, Diary! This story is yet another companion work to Usurping, and part of the Traveler series. It's a bit different from the other entries though, and also a bit different from my writing as a whole. This story is also fairly technical, so those who do not like more technical writing should give it a pass. More will be explained in the author's notes, so see those for details. As always, I do not own Pokémon. Also, due to the way this story is formatted, it will have spoilers for the entire series, including future ideas.


1. The Start

Day 1 (February 3, 2018): Kanto

So it's been a long time since I've done this. By this, I mean a Pokémon challenge run. Especially a solo run. I've only completed one. Oh, there was that Absol run I started a few months back, but I have since abandoned it. I swear I will come back, but the story idea for that run has been abandoned too. Well, mostly. I have plans to return to it, but I've no idea how.

I suppose I'd better introduce myself, and this whole idea of stories with Pokémon games. I guess one could call me a simple writer, and this story a "metafic". Apparently, it's a story about writing, where there's some awareness of fictional events being pretend. It's not a type of story usually write, but I have the urge to put this one to page.

Because sometimes my writing is not so simple.

It has spawned characters, worlds, even entire series with thousands of words…

Like a series called Traveler.

Traveler, yes, that's the reason why I'm doing this.

Well, I suppose I should also explain what I'm doing.

I am planning on doing a solo run through all the regions using only a female Gardevoir.

However, I'm not going in blindly. There are a few rules.

One of which is that there is only one game per region. So, for example, I will be playing Emerald, but I cannot play Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire. This also extends to runs where a region can be done twice (such as Kanto in the Johto games). I also will not do any of the postgame, even if the content would normally be available to a solo run.

The exception is White 2, because of how long the postgame is, and because I find it interesting. White 2 will be played in Challenge Mode with Memory Link enabled. Legendary Pokémon do not need to be captured, unless it is necessary for the game to progress. Things that would make my Pokémon much stronger, such as trading in TMs, Pokémon Refresh, and Join Avenue may or may not be used. It depends on how difficult the game becomes.

In most of the games, I am using a randomizer to force myself to start with Gardevoir.

However, in games where I can't, I am simply starting with Ralts and evolving it to Gardevoir. Some games will not allow me to trade in Pokémon other than the traditional starter until later. If this is the case, I will simply play through the game with my starter only until I am able to trade my desired Pokémon in. All Ralts traded in will be hatched from Eggs. These Eggs will be from the completed save files of other games.

If new regions are discovered while this run is going on, they do not need to be completed to finish the run. If I can find a way to add them in, however, I will. All regions must be completed in order, starting with Kanto. If I lose a fight, I am allowed to continue or restart from a previous save. There are no leveling restrictions, even in games where I gain boosted experience (such as those played with a traded Pokémon).

With out of the way, I might as well move on to a more specific reason as to why I'm doing this.

It has to do with a certain storyline in the Traveler series.

And with that, a certain character.

I have plans to include a Gardevoir named Gracie in the Traveler series. Gracie is also planned to be a major character in some of the books. Before most of the books in the series take place, Gracie goes on a journey across the regions. She sees that something terrible will happen in the future, and has an instinctive desire to protect someone. This desire is something that comes with her species. Therefore, Gracie sets out to find someone to protect, make herself stronger, and to try and prevent the disaster that she foresees.

The journey that Gracie goes on will be the plot in the story Angel, named so because Gardevoir are based off of guardian angels. Angel is another companion story to the Traveler series, but unlike this one, it actually takes place in that universe (as opposed to being metafic and mainly commentary). It probably won't copy this story exactly, mainly because some aspects don't carry over. For example, Gracie is a wild Pokémon, so she's not going to be fighting Gym Leaders for Badges. And I probably will find some of the battles easy, so some of these easier ones will be taken out. But I will try to keep what happens in Angel as close to the events here as possible.

I probably should say why I'm using this format, since it is a bit different than what I normally write.

At first, I wasn't sure how I would write Gracie's journey, only that I knew she would go on one. However, I remembered my challenge runs, and that I hadn't done one for a while. I also remembered how much I enjoyed one, and that I was still getting used to solos. Therefore, a Gardevoir solo through the regions seemed like the perfect way to represent Gracie's journey through her story.

However, in order to pull off a story like that, I knew there would need to be notes and commentary on the games I was playing.

So here I am, writing this story in order to record Gracie's perilous journey. It's almost like a diary, with me jotting down my thoughts about the different places the games will take me.

I'm not sure what exactly I will write, but I hope the entries here will tell of my success.

After all, Gracie's journey depends on it.


Author's notes:

-So, as stated before, this is a metafic containing my thoughts and commentary as I work through Gracie's solo runs. As such, concepts will be more technical (for example, not describing what Pokémon look like or specific attacks). It may also be a bit more disjointed, as I work through the parts of the games at different speeds, simply remember more, have trouble in some areas and not others, or have more story ideas for one area than another. Chapters will vary in length, but will probably be shorter than what I usually write.

-Those familiar with the blog on the Artist's Zone may recognize this style. For those who are interested, the blog is mentioned on my fan profile, and I am known as "onewiththewheels" on the corresponding site. However, please be aware that blog posts are not edited, and that they may be infrequent depending on what I am doing. This story is also being written the way it is because it started out as a series of blog posts before being ported here.

-Another thing that is different from my other stories is author's notes. In this story, aside from than this starting chapter, author's notes won't be seen very much. This is because I'm already doing commentary and my thoughts on the games, when this commentary would typically be put in author's notes.

-Finally, there is the fact that while the story is related to the Traveler series, it is not directly taking place in them. Therefore, it's possible to skip the story, wait for Angel, and not miss out on any information about the series. However, I am not sure when Angel will be written, or what events will be omitted. I also may not talk about the run itself in Angel, unless there is something that really needs explaining. So while this story is not required to understand any of the others in the series, it still contains a lot of information about said series.