Heyo, so here's an author's note before the story starts. Feel free to disregard this if you just want to get to the content, but I'll leave this here anyways. So, this'll be a novel adaptation to the nuzlocke that I'm currently playing through. This'll be my first real story that I'm putting a lot of time and effort into, so there might be mistakes and the like, but it's all part of a learning process. Feel free to leave criticisms and the like whenever you feel like it; I'll always be up to suggestions.
Now for the story itself. For the most part, it'll be in the perspective in our main protagonist, but things may or may not change as time goes on. The only constant characters throughout the story will be the human characters in the games, since pokemon are liable to die at any point within the context of a nuzlocke. In addition to this, characters may mesh together based on what the game give me nature and trait wise, but I'll be doing my best to differentiate the party members as much as possible. Just as a warning, there will be a fair bit of exposition and action may be slow to come early on as I want to have a good character basis before too much happens. This will be a very character driven story, so it's key that the characters are kind of dynamic and interesting.
Update wise, I'll be aiming for a chapter every week or two weeks, but I can't promise anything due to work and having a social life. The chapters themselves will always focus on one area, with the exception of the first two chapters being in Nuvema Town. There might be some adjustments depending on the area (ie. Route 4, Desert Resort, and the Relic Castle being covered in the same chapter) but only time will tell.
But, without further ado (if you stuck around for that spiel), I present to you, Binary Drop: A White Nuzlocke Story!
Chapter 1: A New Dawn, Literally.
*DING DING DING*
The echos of my home's doorbell reverberated throughout the household, rousing me from my oh so peaceful slumber. I can't see much thanks to my sleep induced daze, but I can kind of make out the time on the digital clock next to my bed. It's 5:00. What kind of maniac goes up to people's houses at five in the morning? Regardless, I'd have to go answer the doorbell for the maniac in question. Mom's too exhausted from working two jobs to sustain us, so I at least owe her that. Things have been tough since dad isn't here to help us out anymore. Anyways, I groggily made my way out of my bed and towards the door, clad in nothing but my pajamas and my horribly disheveled hair. I made it downstairs without sustaining any casualties, and upon opening the front door, I was greeted by Professor Juniper, donning her usual labcoat and signature hairstyle. I should've figured as much, she didn't seem like the type to ever get any rest. She's far too eccentric for mundane activities like sleep.
"Heyo! I've got a present for ya. It's your lucky day Laika!" She was grinning from ear to ear, and upon rubbing my eyes to see a bit better, I noticed the two boxes that she was carrying. One was a really large box, taking both of Juniper's arms to lift, and even then, it looked like she was struggling. On top of that one was a much smaller box, about the size of a brick if I had to guess.
I gestured her over to the coffee table near the door to place down the boxes, and she gladly hobbled over to the table to do just that. "Whew! I gotta get in better shape. Carrying those boxes was hell on the arms." I nodded in agreement. She was panting and in a cold sweat by the time she placed down the boxes. Anyways, since she looked tired out from that activity, I pointed towards one of the chairs surrounding the table, and got up to get a glass of water for the poor professor. She plopped herself down unceremoniously on the chair, and gulped down the glass of water in two seconds flat. Kind of unnerving, but hey, it's Professor Juniper. She does these kinds of things regularly.
"You're probably wondering why I came to your house at this odd hour in the morning aren't cha? Well, like I said before, today's your lucky day. I'm gonna give you the chance to go on your very own pokemon adventure!" Upon hearing those words, I cocked my head to the side in confusion. I thought mom wanted me to stay at home and do something normal like school; that's why she made me stay at home for the past 16 years rather than letting me go on an adventure at the age of 10. Juniper looks like she picked up on my confusion, and shot me a grin in response. "Don't worry about a thing Laika. I talked it over with your mom, and she said that it's all right. In fact, she wants you to go out and experience the world now that you're a bit older. I mean, going out on your own at the age of ten is pretty dangerous, and it would be even more dangerous for someone in your condition." Aside from the pang of annoyance I felt when she took a jab at my disability, what she said sent a wave of joy down my body. It was exciting. I get to do what every kid's been raving about ever since they were born.
"You're curious about what's in the two boxes here, aren't cha? Well, one of them should be obvious. You're gonna need some pokemon if you want to go on a journey. The big box here has a selection of three pokemon for you to start out with. The other is something special from me to you. Go ahead, open it." Reaching over the table and prying the smaller box open, I saw that it contained some kind of earpiece, kind of like a bluetooth headset that you place on one ear. Seems kind of unnecessary, I mean I have my own pair of earphones that I rather enjoy using. I turned my head and my face scrunched in mild confusion. But like before, Juniper caught on and started explaining.
"That's no ordinary headset; it's the fruit of the Juniper Lab's research! For the first time ever, we have a means of transcribing pokemon speech into a human language! It's one of our pre-release prototypes, so it's not perfect, but it should be accurate for the most part. I know how much you love pokemon, so think of this as a little bonus for having a bit of patience and delaying your journey for your mother's sake." Now, that made things a lot more interesting. I wanted to see just how this works, so I seized the device, clipped it onto my ear, and made my way towards the box to pick out my partner. But before I could open the box, Professor Juniper grabbed my hand to stop me.
"Now now, you'll have to be a little more patient. You're not the only one going on a journey today. Bianca and Cheren are also starting today, so you all get to stay together for a bit longer! I'm gonna tell them to come to your house around 10 AM so you guys could all pick out your first partners together, so wait a bit for their sake. Well, I gotta run and get things done. The morning's still young and there's still so much work to do." On that note, she got up and briskly jogged out of my house, closing the door on her way out. Well, that was a whirlwind of new info to process in a short timeframe. Regardless, I feel hyped. Adventure and excitement is waiting just around the corner, but I guess I'll be a good person for now. Cheren and Bianca are both really good friends, and they made life here not quite as boring as it could've been. Placing the translator back into its box, I picked up the two boxes and made my way back to my room.
Upon arrival, I placed the big box soundly on the big table in my room while my translator was plopped on the little desk next to my bed. I noticed the time when I was placing all of the boxes down: 5:15 AM. It's still too early to really be out and about, so it's time for bed time again. Crawling under the covers, I closed my eyes, envisioning the excitement that'll come in the morning.