Taking Flight : A HeartGold Nuzlocke
1. If a Pokemon faints, it dies
2. Catch only the first Pokemon on each Route
New Bark Town 6:57 PM
The sun is setting by the time the family's Fearow lands outside a large building surrounded by windmills. The wind nearly knocks the cap off of your head, and you stumble a little when you jump off of the harness on Fearow's back. It just isn't your day now, is it?
There's this weird guy waiting to greet your parents in the doorway of the large building, and you cross your arms and fiddle with your bag's clip.
"Thank you so much for letting our Gray come over so late," your father says. "This just might get Gray to finally start on her Pokemon journey."
"No problem," the man replies. "Your son is in good hands. I'll get him started."
You scowl and pull down the brim of your cap. "I'm a girl," you mutter, but the guy doesn't hear you.
You watch as your father thanks the man yet again and bids farewell to you. He leaves you there. Before you can comprehend that you are on your own, the man drags you inside, blabbering enthusiastically about his research or something.
"-And that is why I'm going to let you have one of these Pokemon to walk around with!" Professor Elm finishes with a self-satisfied grin. He motions to a rack of three Pokeballs.
You have no idea what's going on, but you play along and grab a random Pokeball from a rack. It clicks open, and a blue baby crocodile thing hopped out. You recognize it as a Totodile from the books your parents always shoved in your face.
Cicero Lvl. 5
Male Totodile
Adamant Nature
Proud of its Power
New Bark Town
The Totodile looks disoriented for a moment, then waddles over to you. Kneeling down to greet it, you decide to ignore the razor sharp teeth in the Pokemon's jaws.
"Totodile." You say. "I am Gray, and you shall henceforth be named Cicero."
It yawns, and it becomes very hard not to notice the knives in its jaw. It waddles around you to get its bearings, and you turn back to the Pokemon Professor.
He was looking at his computer before he notices you. "Ah, may I ask a favor, son?"
"I'm a girl."
"Yes, indeed." He continues. "Dear boy, a dear friend of mine, Mr. Pokemon wants to show me something that he found. But it's late and there are more dangerous Pokemon active around here. So could you go and see what he wants?"
"Dangerous Pokemon?" You repeat. This was exactly why you didn't want to go on the traditional "adventure" your parents swore by. "How is that a good idea?"
"So you'll do it? Great!"
"But I-" Before you could answer the madman, he tossed Cicero at you and pushed you out the door with a couple of potions. Now it's definitely not your day at all.
Route 29 7:04PM
The first thing about Route 29 that you notice is that it is nearly dark. You wish your parents gave you a flashlight. Maybe you could buy one from a store on the way. Cicero chirps and squeaks little rattling noises at you as he clambers up your leg and onto your shoulder. He's pretty heavy, but you dare not drop him. After all, you can actually the feel click-clicking of his razor sharp teeth near your ear. You like your ears where they are, thank you.
And then you hear the cries of the nocturnal Pokemon. Holy Arceus, this was terrifying. Why couldn't your parents drop you off in the morning instead of at night?
Gray, Gray won't go away,
She'll stay home for another day.
You shake your head to clear the mocking voices of her peers from Violet City, and Cicero scolds you with small nudges for nearly shaking him off. There are Pokemon rustling all around you, and the sun has almost set. Night was closing in.
Cicero leers at the HootHoot, and then wriggles around your shoulders so that he's hanging off of your neck. Again, he's heavier than you'd expected, but again, you like your face exactly as it is. While you're lost in thought, something snaps a twig behind you, and you hear screeches all around you. It's completely dark now, and the only lights you can see are the glowing eyes of the Pokemon all around you. Cicero tugs at you hair for a bit before hopping down to the ground and taking lead. You try to follow his distinctive chuckles and the bouncing yellow lights coming from his eyes. Cicero always came back for you whenever you lost track of him, and you resolve to get him some nice good treats later on.
You pass by many fainted HootHoot in Cicero's wake, and you don't know whether to feel a bit nauseous or a bit grateful. You reserve your judgement on that matter.
Cherrygrove City 7:39PM
It seems like you spend eternity in darkness before you see the lights of Cherrygrove City. Holy Arceus, you're pretty happy about making it there in one piece. Mostly. Your nerves are completely shot, and you feel like you're about to burst into tears or go on a mental breakdown. You do neither when Cicero jumps on your shoulders again. Instead, you nearly have a heart attack, to put it mildly. He chatters nonsense in your ear, and it somehow calms you down a bit.
You brush past the PokeCenter, and head straight for the PokeMart. You want a flashlight, and that's all there is to say on the matter. The store's florescent lights leave you blinking back tears after a while in complete darkness, but the clerk didn't ask any questions and just waved you away. You're grateful for that. You don't think you could handle any other human interaction for now. It's already bad enough being kicked out of your home and sent on this mad quest. But, hey, you got your new flashlight, so you're happy.
Before you leave Cherrygrove City, you check your PokeGear that your father had given you before he dragged you onto his Fearow. The screen showed that it was getting quite late, so you decide to step up your pace so you can get this errand over with. You miss your room already.
Route 30 7:48PM
Route 30 wasn't much different from Route 29, and with Cicero decapitating or pulverizing every little bug or bird in his path, you find this Mr. Pokemon's house in a little grove. To heck with politeness, you barge inside and collapse, catching your breath. Your little companion chuckles madly and latches onto your red jacket with his little stubby arms.
Mr. Pokemon's House 8:10PM
Mr. Pokemon gives you a too-big grin when you say that Professor Elm sent you, and nearly shoves an egg into your arms. It's lighter than you'd expected, and try to keep Cicero from gnawing on it. There's another person in Mr. Pokemon's home, someone you recognize from all the lectures in the Pokemon School before you stopped coming. Professor Oak simply looks at you briefly, and then plucks Cicero from your shoulder to examine him. Your little Totodile screeches until the man laughs and places him back on the ground. He runs back to you and clings onto your leg. You decide to put the fragile egg into your backpack.
"My name is Professor Oak," the man says, "and you're a very lucky boy to have such a rare Pokemon! I believe I can expect great things from you, great things."
"I'm a girl." You say, though you feel that it would not make a difference.
Professor Oak looks at you with pity. But he smiles. "Of course you are, lad." Cicero growls a bit, sensing your frustration and anger, but you pick him up. Oak fishes around in his lab coat for a moment before handing you a flat, palm-sized device. "This is a Pokedex," he says,"it records information on Pokemon you've seen and captured. I have a feeling you'll put it to good use."
And then Cicero starts to gnaw on that too. Great.
The two men usher you out after a brief rest, and you find yourself, once again, in the dark.
Route 30 8:30PM
You fish out your flashlight, and flick it on, spreading fearsome shadows across the ground. You see the glowing outlines of nocturnal Pokemon all around you. Forget that, you quickly shut off the damn thing. Cicero can guide you. You nearly freak out again, when your PokeGear lets out a beep-beep. You tap your wrist, and Professor Elm's voice rang out in the night.
"H-hello? Gray?" He sounds a bit out of breath and panicky. "O-oh, Arceus, you have to come back here, quickly! Oh, how terrible."
"Professor?" you say quietly, but the call ends.
Okay, now you feel nervous again. You heft your backpack, taking care to check in the egg, and start running to Cherrygrove City. Maybe you can call back and find out what happened. Cicero, leading you through the tall grass, keeps the wild Pokemon at bay. And, sensing your nervousness, he continues a stream of crooning as you run.
Cherrygrove City 8:56PM
You have to stop running for a break after you come to Cherrygrove. Sometimes you regret your 5 year seclusion, and now is one of them. But the feeling goes as fast as it comes, and you sit down to check on the egg. It's unbroken, and still warm to the touch. You feel a slight pull toward it, but chalk that up to your nervousness. You only just step toward New Bark Town when you bump into a boy with fiery red hair.
"Watch where you're going," he snaps, and his eyes land on Cicero, and narrow. "Your Pokemon's weak," he continues on, and you bristle. "I have the better Pokemon."A Chikorita cowers by his heels. Cicero glowers at it, and it shivers.
"Okay then." You say, and try to step around him. He blocks your way. "W-what do you want?"
The boy rolls his eyes. "W-what do you want?" he mimics, and huffs. "What kind of a guy are you? Don't you know that if two Trainers meet, they have to battle?"
"I'll pass. And I'm a girl." You add in a low whisper, and you know that he doesn't hear you.
He smirks. "You have no choice." The boy calls his Chikorita forward, nudging it with his foot. "Chikorita, tackle."
The plant dinosaur let out a chirping battle cry and bashed Cicero with its head. You stand frozen as Cicero falls onto his back. "Cicero, s-scratch?" You command.
The Totodile screeches and slashes at the Chikorita with his claws, and after a few hits, he finishes his opponent off with a jet of water from its open jaws. The boy watches in horror at you grab Cicero from devouring the poor creature, though the Totodile doesn't seem like he's going to. You blink as the boy returns his Pokemon to its Pokeball, snarling at it.
"Weak" he said, though the poor creature had tried its best. He pushed her aside and stormed off. You notice that he dropped his ID, and pick it up. Silver.
"Hey," you call out, stopping the boy a few feet behind you. "You dropped this." And what the hell were you doing? You haven't spoken to anyone other than your parents and the occasional visitor in 5 years, what are you doing, calling out to a person you haven't even met before? Even so, you hold out the ID and the boy nearly runs toward you and snatches the piece of plastic from your hand. He doesn't say thanks, so that figures.
But you've wasted enough time. You need to get to Professor Elm.
New Bark Town 9:30PM
When you burst into the lab, there were police officers swarming the place. You try to get to Professor Elm, but a policeman grabs you by the scruff of your jacket.
"And here I thought that the culprit would return to the scene of the crime," he says triumphantly.
You sputter. Both from the accusation and the contact. "W-what do you mean?"
"Young man, you stole a Pokemon from this lab a while ago, haven't you?" The policeman grabs at Cicero, but snatches his hand back when he snaps at his fingers. "That Pokemon right there, in fact!"
You look pleadingly at the Professor, and he starts to say something, but Ethan, bursting in, interrupts him.
"Wait! Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait!" he yells, skidding a little when he stops. "He's not the thief, the real thief had red hair! I mean really red hair, not that your hair is not nice too." He finished, a bit lamely.
You try not to gape. Red hair? "Cicero battled someone like that on our way here." At the sound of his name, the Totodile gave a low, maddened chuckle in your ear, and a chill runs down your spine. You decide to ignore that bit and shrug.
The police officer's eyes go really wide, and he let's you go to fish out a notepad and a pen. "You did? Did you get the true culprit's name, young man?"
You know what? You're not even going to bother correcting him this time. It wouldn't matter. "His ID had the name 'Silver' on it." You say.
He scribbles a note down and nods at you. "Ah, sorry for the confusion, kiddo. I'll look into this 'Silver' for now." And with that, the policeman walked away.
You turn to Professor Elm and Ethan. "Thanks," you say, because even with the little social interaction you have had, you still believe it's better to be polite than sorry.
Ethan salutes you with a grin, and takes off, his Marill bouncing behind him, while Elm breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh, this is just terrible, Gray," he says, but straightens himself up. "Anyway, what was it that Mr. Pokemon wanted to show me?"
At that, you swing your bag around to fish for the egg. Thankfully, it hadn't broken in all the excitement. Cicero tapped at it with his tail as you pulled it out. Professor Elm eagerly accepts it.
"An egg?" He says as he sets it aside, "Well, I'll run my tests on it, but I don't know what I'll find." Then, he looks at Cicero, who had taken put your Pokedex, and gapes.
"Is that- could it be?"
You pick up the little Totodile, still holding the Pokedex in its forearms, and hand the device over to him. "What is it?"
He runs his hand across the red ridges of the Pokedex and picks out a small, metal clasp to show to you. "This, my dear Gray, is the future!" He exclaims and clips it to your ear without your permission. Static noise filled your hearing and you barely made out his next words. "Professor Oak made this so that it would work with his Pokedex to allow trainers to communicate with their Pokemon. It's still in development, though, so it can only translate the languages of the Pokemon you catch!" He grinned manically. "Isn't it amazing?"
You try to clear your head from all the noise that's assaulting your ears like a screaming Exploud. The static only increases in pitch until it stops after a few more agonizing moments. The sudden silence was unnerving.
Hehehehe.
You nearly jump out of your skin. Cicero chuckled in your ear again.
Hehee.
You turn to look at Professor Elm. "What was that?" You breathe.
"That's the PokeTranslator, all the Gym Leaders are prototyping them for Professor Oak" he answers, and shuffles around the lab. "Which also reminds me! You should also think about taking the League challenge."
"What, I don't-"
He shakes a few folders at you. "Your parents want you to. They say that, and I quote, 'if Gray doesn't do the League challenge, then Gray won't be able to come home until it's done.'"
Your shoulders slump a little. You know you haven't any choice now. So, you resignedly take the stupid Pokedex back and accept the cache of Pokeballs Elm gives you. Before you take a step outside, you close your eyes. You have a feeling that you wouldn't be sleeping inside a safe, safe house for a while.
End Chapter 1