Hello, all! This is a Blind Nuzlocke challenge a friend and I are writing together. You can find this story (and his specific Nuzlocke rules) on his dA under the username Staxuin.

Some quick definitions for the unaquainted are below.

Blind: Game is played without the use of guides and without previous knowledge of plot events. That means no knowledge of battles, dungeons, plot twists, anything of that ilk (with that in mind, please refrain from spoilers in any reviews you might leave!)

Nuzlocke: A set of additional rules for Pokemon games in order to increase the difficulty level. My co-writer is using more difficult rules, while mine are more basic. You can Google "Nuzlocke" for basic information but any relevant rules will be explained in-story

Phew, that takes care of the giant author's note. On to the story!

Endless blackness stretched as far as anyone could possibly see. The shadowy abyss was so absolute that not even one's hands could be seen. An odd feeling of warmth pervaded the place, it was comfortable; but it seemed a bit out of place. Distant sounds echoed distortedly as they penetrated the blackness. One repeated sound in general particularly stood out. It almost sounded like...

"Riley! Riley! Get up!" a voice shouted. The boy being called grumbled something as he was shaken by his mother. "I know you're a deep sleeper, but this is just ridiculous," she muttered. The aproned woman pushed up her sleeves as she ceremoniously inserted her finger into her mouth. She held it up dramatically before slowly bringing it toward the sleeping boy's form. She crept up by his head and quickly stuck her finger into the boy's ear.

Riley woke with a yelp and slipped off the bed as his muscles contracted randomly with a thud. He lay there, dazed, for a few moments before he sat up as he rubbed his sore head. "Oww...," he muttered as he winced at the pain. He thrashed as he attempted to disentangle himself from the covers that seemed to have attempted to strangle him. "Mooooom... I wanted to sleep today," he whined, "I stayed up late last night."

"That's your fault," his mother said pointedly before rolling her eyes, "I have something important for you to do, that's why I woke you up." She raised her eyebrow at Riley muttering something under his breath, so he stopped. "I need you to find a woman with a green hat. She'll probably be on the overlook since she's not from town. Her name's Bianca and she's going to give you something important!" she said excitedly. Riley looked at her unamused; whatever it was, it couldn't be important enough to interrupt his sleep. "Now go! Shoo!" she called out as she pulled him up and pushed him toward his dresser.

Riley put on his clothes disgruntledly and as soon as they were on, she threw his bag at him and ushered him toward the door. "But, I want to watch TV!" he said as he was pushed out the door. The door slammed behind him with an odd finality. Promptly, a crowd of people wearing green hats of various style walked past. Riley groaned exasperatedly. "Tourists," he muttered. Whenever they came in groups to Aspertia, mostly for the view, they always wore some odd clothing that made them stand out. He seemed a bit unlucky with this group. He made a disgruntled sigh before he leaned back against the door. He was a little older than 16 and one of the three teenagers in the town. The town wasn't very big, but it had a pokemon center and many two-story houses, his wasn't one of them though. It wasn't like it was, what was it called... Nuvima, no, Nuvema Town or anything; but it definitely wasn't your Castelia or Nimbasa City. His stomach broke his reverie by reminding him that he hadn't eaten breakfast yet.

He began to walk toward the house next door. He stumbled up to the door and twisted the knob. The door was unlocked like usual; almost nobody locked their doors in Aspertia. Riley offhandedly wondered if it was a small town thing or an Unovan thing before he wandered into the two story house. He moved through the foyer into the kitchen where he opened the fridge and dug through its contents. He heard a deep sigh behind him, but kept looking through the food.

"Don't take the leftovers in the white container, they're mine. If you touch them, I'll break your kneecaps."

"Mmhm..." Riley waved off the brunette girl and snagged an apple from the fridge before plopping down on the couch beside her. He grabbed the remote from its place on arm of the couch, flipping to the Battle Channel before settling into his seat.

"Hello! It's time for the "What's That?" show, where we talk about wonderful items!"

The brunette turned up her head from the book she was reading, turning to her sudden visitor and fixing him with a knowing glance.

"Did your mom kick you out of the house again?"

"Yep."

"You didn't get breakfast, did you?"

"Nope."

The brunette muttered something unintelligible to the boy watching TV before returning to her book. The boy stared at the lighted screen, his attention toward the outside world diminishing with every second. He spaced off for an unknown amount of time before a yelp caught his attention. He snapped out of his stupor to see that a backpack had been thrown at the girl sitting with her book.

"Yes, yes. I'll tell her, Aurea. Goodbye." There was a beep before the woman spoke again, "Riley! You're over here already! Good." The indomitable Mrs. Joy stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor. The stylishly dressed woman held a X-transceiver in her hand and had the other on her hip. "You know where you're going, so go!"

A few moments passed and the two teenagers found themselves unceremoniously thrown from the house. "I'm blaming you. Whatever it was, it's your fault," the brunette mumbled, rubbing her nose that was still sore from the thrown backpack.

"Whatever, Iphigenia. I have no idea what they're doing either," Riley said as he rolled his eyes.

The brunette punched him in the shoulder before speaking, "It's Jen! Get it right for once." She crossed her arms and looked away, "I don't know because my mother tells me nothing; youdon't know because you probably weren't paying attention when your mother told you what you were supposed to be doing. So, I'm blaming you." Jen punctuated each you with a harder poke in the boy's chest before she tossed her long hair and made to walk away. She walked down the street and prepared to turn the corner before she stopped with an unhappy expression on her face. "Oh great, him," she said exasperatedly.

Since she didn't seem to be stomping off in a huff anymore, Riley walked over to catch up to her. His eyes lit up when he saw who was coming. "Jack!" he called out. The dark, spiky haired boy that completed the trio of teenaged youths in town grinned. They gave each other a high-five before Jack looked at Jen mischievously.

"I got a new one for you!" he said, "So, Iphigenia? More like Iphihernia!"

"Burned!" Riley called out before he high-fived Jack again. They broke out in loud laughter as the brunette looked completely unamused at the display.

She fixed both boys with withering glares. "If you two are quite finished..."

"Not a chance!" Jack smirked, sticking his tongue out. The girl glared at the boy with visible wishes that he would die a horrible death. Luckily for Jack, a smaller girl came running up to them.

"Jaaaaack!" his sister called out as she skidded to a stop next to them, "You still have chores to do! If you don't get back soon, you'll have to do mine too!" After that announcement, the little girl bolted off with her sandals slapping against the pavement loudly as her form faded into the distance.

"Oh shoot. Well, I'll see you later. Mom usually means it when she says things like that," the dark haired boy continued before he dashed off after his sister.

"Aww...," Riley whined as his friend ran off, "Now what do we do?"

"Beats me, brainiac," Jen snapped, "Aren't you supposed to know where we're going?"

Riley paused for a few seconds with an unhappy look on his face before he spoke, "That was a rhetorical question. And all I can remember is something about a lady with a green hat. I was half asleep when she told me; what more do you want from me?"

"Ugh, typical." Jen threw her arms up, sighing gustily before starting down the path again. "Well, if we're looking for someone, they're going to be in town. We might as well start looking."

Riley ran to catch up to the quickly retreating figure. "She said something else... something about not being from town? That's all I can think of."

"If she's not from here, she's probably a tourist...," Jen's eyes lit up, speeding up her pace. "That's it! Think, Riley, what's the most touristy place in town?"

Riley jogged a bit as the increase in pace surprised him, "The overlook in the north part of town? That's where most people come here for."

"Exactly! Come on, we'll probably find her there!" she said before she began to run, "See? You're not completely hopeless, just mostly hopeless!"

"Thanks! Hey, wait a second...," the blonde haired boy thought for a second before he spoke again, "Hey! Wait up!" He dashed after the girl that ran off into the distance, greatly outpacing him.