Hello Internet!
I hope all of you are doing well and staying healthy! We are now past our first month of 2021 but in some ways it still feels like March 2020. I’m just hoping that everyone can get vaccinated soon so the world can go back to some sort of normal. Anyway I’m just going to continue to use this time in quarantine to write, play video games, and hunt for jobs. Speaking of writing, let me quickly talk about all the pieces I’ve published in the past couple weeks. January 24th, I published a Weekly Blog about the Disney/Pixar Movie “Soul.” This movie is really good and I definitely recommend watching it if you haven’t seen it already. It kind of destroyed me emotionally, but like in a good way. It’s probably a movie that will cause me to cry every time I watch it. Then that Wednesday I published a Poem titled “Paparazzi.” This poem is one that kind of came to me in parts while I was busy doing other things. It’s all about being in the limelight and the pressures fame can bring. I’m just a dude on the internet with no fame, but I feel like this Poem can also apply to other types of pressure. That Friday, I published an Image Prompt Piece titled “Vibrant Gate.” A woman is woken up in the middle of the night and finds that there is a strange light coming from the woods and quiet whispers calling to her. She wanders into the woods to investigate but finds dark forces are there. This past Wednesday, I published a Poem titled “Profound.” Once again this Poem came to me in parts and I think it turned out well. It’s kind of a meta poem about being a poet and whether or not poetry has to be profound in it’s meaning. Lastly, this past Friday, I published a Writing Prompt Piece titled “Force of Nature.” While helping evacuate people from a dangerous wildfire, this man spots a beautiful woman made of silvery light which seems to protect the people. After that he becomes obsessed with her and wants to track her down by chasing extreme weather hoping to see her again. He sees his love and obsession as a good thing but the guardian spirit thinks differently. So yeah that’s all the things I wrote in the past couple weeks. Sorry that was so long but that’s what happens when you miss a Weekly Blog and then have to summarize so many things.
Now that we talked about the things I’ve done in the past, it’s time to talk about more things I did in the past. About six months ago now I chronicled my Pokemon Emerald Nuzlocke in a Weekly Blog. That was my first time doing a Pokemon Nuzlocke and I did good for a while, but ended up losing to the final bosses of the game and my Nuzlocke ended in failure. Now six months later I decided to take another shot at it but instead of doing a Pokemon Emerald Nuzlocke, I went with a Pokemon Ruby Nuzlocke. If you are confused about what a Nuzlocke is, I highly recommend checking out the Emerald Weekly Blog because I explain it in a lot of detail there. The short version is that I played through Pokemon Ruby with specific sets of rules that make the game a little harder than a casual playthrough. I can only catch one Pokemon per route and if a Pokemon’s HP goes to zero and feints, the Pokemon is considered dead and I have to release them back into the wild. You lose the Nuzlocke if all your Pokemon get knocked out and you can’t continue. With my Emerald Nuzlocke, I technically still had Pokemon to battle with after my main team was defeated but I didn’t want to spend all the time grinding up my Pokemon to take on the Pokemon League once again. I just called it dead. The other thing I want to mention is that I chose Pokemon Ruby over Pokemon Emerald because it’s similar enough to make it seem like a second shot at the same Nuzlocke, but still different enough that I’m not retreading on the same ground. A lot of the plot around the games are similar and I don’t want to bore you, the reader, while you read this Nuzlocke. With all of that out of the way, let’s jump into my Pokemon Ruby Nuzlocke.
The game starts with you moving into Littleroot Town and being sent out to find the Pokemon Professor of the region. You find Professor Birch just outside of town being attacked by Poocheyena and the Professor tells you to grab a Pokemon from his bag so you can save him. In my Emerald Nuzlocke, I started with Treecko but this time I went with the Fire-Type Starter, Torchic which I named Spicy. I was determined to make this fire chicken my champion and Spicy proved themselves in our first battle against our rival, May. Her Water-Type Pokemon, Mudkip, was easily defeated and I managed to catch both Rocket the Zigzagoon and Bugsy the Wurmple as I made my way to Petalburg City. There I met with my Father, The Gym Leader, and my other rival, Wally, caught his first Pokemon. Then I traveled through Petalburg Woods where I caught Mario the Shroomish. I fought a member of the evil team, Team Magma, and continued on to Rustboro City to take on my first major challenge. I took on the first Gym Leader, Roxane and her Rock-Type Pokemon. It was a tough battle in which both Rocket and Bugsy were killed, but Mario delivered us a victory. I got my first Gym Badge and had to track down some more Team Magma grunts. They stole some secret goods from the Devon Corporation and I’m tasked with getting back. I defeat the Team Magma Grunt and return the goods all while picking up Chirp the Taillow. With my team in better condition I head south to Dewford Island with the goods and a letter. I deliver the letter to Steven Stone, Pokemon Champion of the region, and then go to challenge the second Gym Leader, Brawly and his Fighting-Type Pokemon. In this battle Mario is super clutch once again but I end up losing Chirp. Every victory comes with some defeats and at this point I’m afraid that I won’t be able to keep a team strong enough to make major progress.
After getting my second Gym Badge from Brawly, I catch Splash the Magikarp and travel across the sea to Slateport City. I go to the local museum to deliver the goods to Captain Stern and Team Magma shows up again to cause trouble. I defeat them easily and move onto the next route. Here I grind heavily to get my pokemon a little stronger and Splash evolves into Gyrados and Spicy evolves into Combusken. At this point I have a very tough rival battle with May ahead of me and even though I win, I lose Mario to May’s Mashtomp. Another victory that came with a cost. After that battle I travel upwards to Mauville City to push aside Wally and take on the third Gym Leader. This Gym Leader is Watson who uses Electric-Type Pokemon and I don’t have too many things that are good against him. I do end up winning the battle without losing anyone major but I do seem to be catching Pokemon that don’t last longer than one Gym Badge. With the third gym badge under my belt I travel further North. I end up catching a Numel named Lava and a Slugma named Magma. I travel through Fallarbor Town to Meteor Falls where I find Team Magma and Team Aqua battling it out and arguing over land versus water. They are set to clash again on Mt. Chimney and I chase after them to stop them. I battle with Team Magma’s Leader, Maxie and I’m on a bit of a hot streak. I traveled down the Jagged pass where I caught Porkchop the Spoink. However, any good will I think I have at this point is cut short when I lose both Magma (the Slugma) and Porkchop to Pokemon using Self-Destruct. Pokemon with Self-Destruct and Explosion are always bad for Nuzlockes and I really felt that pain. Eventually I made it to Lavaridge Town to take on the fourth Gym Leader. This town’s Gym Leader is Flannery and she uses Fire-Type Pokemon. At this point Splash has no water moves but is still clutch in the battle and I win my Fourth Gym Badge. I’m halfway through my Pokemon Nuzlocke but my team has not been very consistent. Every major battle results in victory but it always has a cost. This is no different when I head back to Petalburg City. I take on my father, Norman, and his Normal-Type Pokemon. Spicy is very good and their Fighting-Type brings me victory.
After this I add a few new main members to my team. I catch a Trapinch named Quake, a Magnemite named Bug, and a Gloom named Daisy. I traveled to the nearby weather station which had been taken over by Team Magma. I defeat all the members and Bug evolves to Magneton. I’m getting stronger and stronger and it’s time for another rival battle with May which is pretty one sided for me. I move on to Fortree city where I meet up with Steven again and receive the Devon Scope which lets me see invisible Pokemon. I defeat the invisible Kecleon which blocks the entrance to the Gym and then I take on the sixth Pokemon Gym. This Gym Leader is Winona and she’s a tough Gym Leader who uses Flying-Type Pokemon. I think that this is going to be another battle where I lose people, but I get incredibly lucky against her Pokmeon. Bug takes out most of her Pokemon and Splash takes out her Altaria. I get my sixth Pokemon Badge and then head South-East. Along the way I catch Phantom the Duskull. Now my team is up to six Pokemon and I’m hoping that this will be my team until the end. I travel to Mt. Pyre to clash with Team Magma again, but they end up stealing the Blue Orb which they believe will be the key to control the Continent Pokemon, Groudon. I end up taking the Red Orb and follow Team Magma to their base on the other side of Lilycove. At this point my team is Spicy the Blaziken, Splash the Gyarados, Daisy the Gloom, Bug the Magnemite, Quake the Vibrava, and Phantom the Dusclops. Not too bad if I say so myself.
So I make my way into Team Magma’s base and defeat them but they get away in a stolen submarine. I end up surfing across Hoenn’s large sea to Mossdeep City. There I check out the Space Station and talk to Steven again. However this visit is cut short because it’s time that I get my seventh Gym Badge. I take on the twins, Tate and Liza and their Psychic-Type Pokemon. Now I haven’t talked about it a lot but there are some changes between Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Emerald. Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire came out first and then Pokemon Emerald came out later as the definitive version. One thing about Emerald is that they change some routes and Gyms in order to emphasize Double Battles since that battle type was introduced in this Pokemon generation. Playing Emerald first and then Ruby really showed me how much things got improved in Emerald. Tate and Liza’s Gym in Pokemon Ruby is so simple and boring and their battle is very easy compared to the Emerald Version. I win the battle without any problems and I receive my Seventh Gym Badge. Now it’s time to take on Team Magma once again. Taking on criminal organizations as a ten year old with magic animals is just something you have to do. I follow the stolen submarine to an underwater cavern and take on Team Magma again. This time I battle with Team Magma’s leader, Maxie again and after defeating him, he uses the Blue Orb trying to awaken Groudon. His plan kind of works because Groudon wakes up but it immediately breaks out of the cavern and starts wreaking havoc on the Hoenn Region. We escape to the surface and Maxie realizes he might have messed up. Harsh sunlight is shining down and both Maxie and Team Aqua’s leader, Archie, talk about how messing with nature and weather is a bad idea. They run off and Steven shows up telling me that there might be something we can do to stop Groudon. We both travel to Sootopolis and meet up with the Eighth Gym Leader, Wallace. We all travel together to The Cave of Origin and I’m tasked with stopping Groudon. Luckily I picked up the Master Ball from Team Magma’s base and I use it to catch Groudon, saving the day.
Now that Hoen is no longer threatened by a massive drought, I take on Wallace to get my eighth and final Gym Badge. He has very strong Water-Type Pokemon but I’m able to take them down with Bug and Daisy leading the charge. Even his Milotic is no match for Bug and his Thunderbolts. I get the final Gym Badge and now I am ready to take on The Pokemon League. Well, not exactly. If you remember last time I made it to the Pokemon League but ended up being very underleveled and ending up losing. This time I spent quite a bit of time grinding and leveling up in Victory Road battling against trainers and eventually I took on Wally at the end up Victory Road. My team going into the Elite Four is Spicy the Blaziken, Splash the Gyarados, Daisy the Vileplume, Bug the Magnemite, Quake the Flygon, and Phantom the Dusclops. These are the six Pokemon I’m trusting to deliver me a victory. Now I just have to take on Four Elite Four Members and the Champion all in a row. The first Elite Four Member is Sidney who uses Dark-Type Pokemon. Between Spicy, Splash, and Daisy, Sidney is no match for me and I move on to the second Elite Four Member. Her name is Phoebe and she has Ghost-Type Pokemon. She is a bit tougher but I’m able to win over her without any losses thanks to Splash leading the team. The third Elite Four Member is Glacia who uses Ice-Type Pokemon. Again Spicy is MVP in this battle but Bug also held his own. I win pretty easily and four on. The fourth and final Elite Four Member is Drake and he has Dragon-Type Pokemon. Dragon types are especially hard and I know this won’t be easy. Again with some good strategy, Quake is able to unleash their own strong, Dragon-Type Attacks. I almost lost Bug to Drake’s Salamence, but pulled off a victory without losing anyone. Four Elite Four Members down and I haven’t lost anyone yet. Now only Champion Steven stands in my way to becoming Champion of the Hoenn region. He has very strong Steel and Rock Type Pokemon so I know it’s going to take my all to defeat him. What followed was a very intense battle. I end up losing Spicy, Quake, and Splash, but thanks to their sacrifice and the power of Bug, Phantom, and Daisy, I win. I let out a huge sigh of relief. I lost some really good Pokemon in that final battle but I won. All six of my Pokemon get inaugurated into the Hall of Fame (three alive and three technically dead) and I become the new Pokmeon Champion, ending my Pokemon Ruby Nuzlocke.
Overall I had a ton of fun doing this Pokemon Ruby Nuzlocke. Again I recognized the differences between Pokemon Ruby and Emerald, with Emerald being the superior game, but I still enjoyed playing through Ruby. I’m also super glad that I was able to beat The Elite Four and Steven, completing this Nuzlocke. I was disappointed when I couldn’t complete the Emerald Nuzlocke and even though I had to grind a bit more as I played through Ruby, it was totally worth it. I will probably take some time off with Pokemon Nuzlockes for now, but maybe in six to twelve months I might pick another Pokemon Game to try. If you’ve never played through a Nuzlocke run and you love Pokemon, I definitely recommend it. It gives you a very fun and interesting challenge which can put some new life into an old Pokemon game you’ve played through a hundred times before.
Thank you so much for reading that Weekly Blog. I had to speed through some parts and leave out other members that didn’t make it to the end, but it was still long. I really didn’t mean to make it so long, so if you read through it all, I really appreciate you. If you really liked this Weekly Blog, feel free to give it a Like. You can also leave a comment down below talking about my Pokemon Ruby Nuzlocke experience or any experience you had with Pokemon and Nuzlocke runs. If you are new here and are enjoying my writing, I recommend that you Follow me here on WordPress. I’m focusing on building a positive and creative space on the internet and we are getting closer and closer to 700 Followers. I’d really appreciate you joining that group and supporting my writing. My readers send me tons of love and support and it makes my day/week/month/year.
Thank you again for all your support and I hope you have a wonderful week!
-Allen_The_Writer
Header Photo Credit to Nintendo UK
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Game-Boy-Advance/Pokemon-Ruby-267167.html
Allen The Writer 