Current team:

- Monke.

- Betsie.

- Wayward.

- Howard.

- Baby.

.

Once again, the Nuzlocke rules specified nothing about the Safari, so I decide to catch one pokémon per area (except for the one in which I caught the late OwO). Thus, I catch an Azurill named Barbara, a Wooper named Lmao, a Starly named Honk, a Budew named Elegance and another Wooper named Rofl.

I then add Honk onto the team, and teach him Fly and Defog, but that also means... More grinding.

As I am about to do so, I find a Team Galactic recruit talking out loud about shady business. Upon seeing me he tells me not to follow him and flees, so I'm obviously following him... But Abortion decides to pop up and make me waste some more time. Oh well, free exp, I guess.

Once I kick Abortion's ass, he points out the obvious by telling me that grunt is probably up to something nasty, and to keep a close eye on him. Then, he himself skedaddles, and thus I proceed to continue chasing that bowl-cut motherfluffer, not because Abortion told me to, but because again, I was already doing so before he interrupted me.

Sure yeah, don't help me. You are useless anyways. No wonder your mother named you Abortion.

As I proceed to chase the grunt, I take the chance to train Honk at the restaurant, and he evolves into Staravia.

Eventually the grunt gets tired of me chasing him, challenges me... And Honk sweeps him, no damage taken.

.

I find Cynthia near Lake Valor, and she gives me a medicine for the Psyducks that are blocking the path back on Route 210. She also mentions some mysterious Pokémon, each resting on one of the three lakes.

Once I reach Route 210 and give the medicine to the Psyducks, they retreat, and Cynthia catches up with me, then asks me to bring a talisman to her grandma, who lives in Celestic Town.

I make it there, and a Team Galactic recruit is blocking the entrance of the cave, in which I can find the getiatric woman. He says they intend to destroy this town with a bomb, so Baby and Monke kick his sorry behind.

Once I enter, I find the cronologically gifted lady, who is standing in front of some ancient ruins. I give her the talisman, and she asks me to take a peek at the ruins. Apparently, she loves the way I stare at them with my dead inside, soulless Nuzlocker eyes, because she gives me the move Surf. Sadly nobody in my team can learn it.

To make things worse, the time I had been dreading has finally come: I must battle Fantina, sexy murderer of teams, elegant owner of Mismagius and Drifblim, refined crusher of all hopes and dreams. Several flashbacks from my childhood come to me at once, but they won't stop me. As a kid it took me lots of blood, sweat and tears to defeat her. This might be a Nuzlocke, my Pokémon can actually die, but I am older and bolder, and my resilience and determination are at their peak.

I am ready to make my way back to Hearthome City. As soon as I exit the ruins, I take a look at my surroundings. It seems like there has been a fight. Cyrus is there.

He begins to tell me about his goals, as if I give a damn. He recalls the last time he sermoned, back in Mount Coronet. After wasting saliva, he leaves.

On my way to my potential impending doom, I leave Baby at the daycare center with Millie, who is seriously growing up, and then retrieve Barbara from the box in order to teach her Surf and add her to my team.

As I train my team so that I can avoid an one-sided massacre, Monke evolves into his final form: Infernape, and as I try to get all my mon to level 40, Honk also evolves into his final form: Staraptor.

.

The time has come. My team is fully trained, and thus I take a deep breath and get into the gym that left the heaviest imprint in my memory as a kid, and will probably do so again in this Nuzlocke.

There's this sign in every floor with math questions in it, and the answer is the number of the right door. Deliberately, I pick the wrong doors in every floor first so that I can face the trainers behind them, and thus get some more exp, while testing the Gym's power and kicking some ass for free.

Monke is my first mon, my starter, my most reliable and strongest boi, and he easily sweeps each and every trainer, one by one, leaving nothing but ashes behind, and then, the battle against Fantina finally begins.

Monke defeats Drifblin with relative ease.

Just as I remember, Mismagius poses a much bigger challenge and threat. Monke brings her to the red, but Fantina uses a hyperpotion. Then, Mismagius confuses Monke, so I have to keep on healing him from bith his and her attacks, while Mismagius's health slowly decreases from the burns he has caused her.

...and then it happens.

In one single turn, a Shadow Ball brings Monke to a low health, and he deals the finishing blow upon himself in his confusion.

Monke is dead. My starter is dead. This is the death that has caused more impact. I knew that the dreaded Mismagius would leave an imprint on me, I knew my team would probably be reduced... But I never thought the blow would be so low.

As I mentioned earlier, thsi gym left an imprint on me as a kid, and it has, once again, as an adult.

But the battle isn't over, and Monke's death won't be in vain. This is a call for resilience and cold, hard revenge.

Wayward steps in, ready to avenge the fallen star... But she is oneshot.

Yet another hard hit. I was looking forward to have her become a Mismagius herself, but I guess Fantina decided there can only be one... And I am determined to bring the number down to zero.

Howard steps in, and brings Mismagius to her lowest with Ancient Power. She confuses him, but his determination lets hom land one more Ancient Power, and the vengeance has been complete... But the battle isn't over.

Fantina's last Pokémon Gengar comes in.

Howard's focus has been lost now that retribution has been dealt, so he keeps hurting himself through his confusion. Luckily, he is very resistant to Gengar's own attacks.

As soon as Hogwart's confusion fades he uses dig, but turns out it doesn't affect Gengar, which I should have known. All his attacks that do damage aside of dig have been used up, so I have to switch him sith Barbara.

Barbara's health is brought down to its half, and her surf barely does any damage. After I heal her, Gengar uses Spite, decreasing Surf to only 3 PP.

I heal Barbara again, and Gengar takes the last PP of Surf away with yet another Spite.

Barbara moves on to using water gun, which barely scratches our foe, and the PPs of that move begin to be taken away as well.

Gengar confuses Barbara, but she still manages to land another water gun, bringing that pesky ghost's health down to less than half.

Barbara's health is once again reduced to its half as well, but she manages to land another water gun despites her confusion, and then I heal her once more.

One more time, Gengar reduces Barbara's health to its half and I once again heal her. This is slowly going from tragic and epic to repetitive.

Gengar reduces the PP of water gun again, and once again does Barbara land a water gun despites her confusion, and once again does Gengar reduce the PP.

For the first time, Barbara hurts herself in her confusion. Gengar then manages to bring her health down to its half once more, and then poisons her. That makes Barbara snap out of her confusion, and land her very last water gun. Then I heal her with my last superpotion, Gengar confuses her again, I unpoison her, then Gengar severely reduces her health and poisons her again, which leaves her in the red.

Enough is enough. I refuse to lose more Pokémon, so I switch to Betsie, who is very resistant to Gengar's attacks, although she does get poisoned after the second one.

Betsie then manages to kill Gengar, thus bringing an end to this battle, which was epic at first, then it turned angsty, and lastly it decreased to tedious and boring.

I have the badge, but my two best Pokémon now rest in peace.

.

RIP Monke.

RIP Wayward.