The Nuzlocke Games

[batmanrises]

“Rest well, Bird CJ. I am sorry I failed you.” Batman said, standing up, Tthe grave now filled in. He reached into his bag and pulled out her pokéball. He leaned over, a single tear dropping from his face onto the dirt as he placed the pokéball on top of the grave.

Batman looked down at his Pokémon, then, after wiping his face, turned around.

“Come on guys, we have to keep going. We can’t afford to get behind.”

Batman left his team out of their pokéballs as they moved toward Route 3.

When they got in sight of the route, Batman could see a small crowd lined up along the edges of the walkway. He looked back at his Pokémon, who were all trotting behind him. He knew that turning around would only further confirm everyone’s suspicion that he was weak and vulnerable; he kept walking. Slowly the sound of the people came to his ears. Some people pointed his direction and he heard a loud mixture of boos and cheers. When he was close to the start of the route, most of the noise died down and people turned to watch as Batman continued, trying to look casual, but the expression on his face was too confused, too frightened. A few steps ahead there were several kids lined up along the path. He continued forward, wondering what was going on. As he started passing by the crowd, he saw that the kids were all holding pokéballs, some obviously nervous, others looked almost eager, like they had been waiting for this moment for hours. As Batman got close, he decided to try and walk by quickly, hoping the kids would be too shy to stop him. As soon as he walked near the first one someone from the crowd shouted:

“Don’t let him get past you! You can take him!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Batman could clearly see the kid twitch at the sound of the voice. He heard a small shaking voice call from beside him

“Hey, I challenge you”

Batman stopped walking and turned slowly, his mind instantly filled with despair. The kid looked no older than six, the pokéballs significantly larger than his hands. Batman had always seen battlers face many opponents in prior years, but he never realized how much younger they were. Only children and a few select adults were allowed to face the Nuzlocke challengers, except for the gym leaders. Looking around, he noticed that the children’s families were the ones pushing their child to fight. The man from the crowd shouted again,

“Take down one of his Pokémon and I will take you to Seafoam Islands for a week!”

Batman realized what was going on: the privileged families were having their children fight the competitors for sport, or maybe to show dedication to Team Rocket. In all of the years that he had watched he never considered that the challengers came to fight because they wanted to. As Batman thought about the reasons, his mind was clouded by disgust and anger. He had never understood the morbid pleasure people got from these games, now he was face to face with it.

Timidly, the boy threw the pokéball in front of him. As the boy threw out the ball and started to smile at seeing the Pokémon he would fight with, Batman’s thoughts cleared for a moment: No kid was innocent under the influence of Team Rocket.

The Pokémon the kid had were nothing special, they were weak, and the boy was ill prepared. The man from the crowd kept calling out directions, swearing loudly at each blunder his child made. Batman beat him easily, and the kid quickly handed over a small sum of money and ran back into the crowd. Batman walked forward, hearing the man critiquing the boy’s performance and loudly proclaiming his disappointment.

A few yards ahead, another boy was waiting, this one a harsh contrast. He had an arrogant smile and his hat twisted around out of his eyes. The boy quickly shouted right as Batman got in front of him. Batman beat him just as easily as the other, but the confidence the boy had made the battle look less one sided. The crowd’s mixed cheers and boos filled the air. Batman started to feel light headed, the crowds involvement and constant noise starting to get to him. He pressed on, battling several other challengers, none of whom really posed a threat. Batman, dazed from the emotions of Brock seemed very out of it through the battles, barely noticing that the challengers had run out and the crowd was dispersing. A bump against his shoulder from the father of the first boy as he walked past him along the path woke him out of his daze a little. He looked up just in time to see the man’s angered eyes glaring briefly before the man turned back around. Batman slowly started working through his Pokémon’s health, trying to get back into the situation. As he got more focused, he saw a section of tall grass of to the right of path one hundred yards away. Checking his Pokédex to confirm this was a new route, he headed over to the grass.

Batman strolled through the grass, still only partly there as he remembered Bird CJ. He looked behind him and his Pokémon were still trailing along behind, obviously in shock from the crowd’s noise. Noticing that Pokefana was the least affected, Batman called him up by him to confront the Pokémon that came out. It wasn’t long before a Nidoran jumped out from near the rock wall at the edge of the grass. Pokefana rushed forward at the sound of Nidoran’s growl, standing between Batman and the wild Pokémon. Batman wasted no time in giving out orders, the threat of a poison Pokémon and the possibility of capturing another Pokémon on his mind. A few moves later, Batman had captured the Nidoran. The rest of his Pokémon circled around as he introduced himself and his other Pokémon to the newest team member. Learning Nidoran’s Name, Zakair, Batman prepared to talk about the games, letting Zakiar know what kind of journey he was in forn. He slipped backwards in his focus as images of Bird CJ became fresh “Don’t give up on me” the voice echoed. He stared into the rock face behind Nidoran.

After a few seconds Strawmander leaned forward, trying to look into Batman’s face. He knew that Batman could have a hard time with the new Pokémon, but he was worried that it was taking this long. As he finally got a clear view, Strawmander could see Batman staring into the distance, his mind clearly elsewhere. Strawmander, though normally shy, shook off his mental blocks to try and help out. He remembered how little time he had with Bird CJ and didn’t want to waste the opportunity to help out and comfort Zakair.He stepped forward, putting himself a step closer to the Nidoran.

“We are part of the Nuzlocke Games.” Strawmander said softly, but confidently. As the Nidoran sat back, letting his back legs give way so that he sat firmly on the ground, Batman looked down at Strawmander, who had snapped him out of his daze when he spoke. Despite giving him a confused look, Strawmander came put his hand on Batman’s arm:

“I know this is hard for you. Let me take care of this. “ Strawmander turned back to the rest of the team who were all looking on intently, surprised at Strawmander’s boldness.

“Let us,” he said, gesturing back at the team who sensed what was going on enough to step forward, “take care of the new members. You focus on keeping all of us alive. We can share the load. We’re a team.” Strawmander’s gaze was soft toward Batman, a tear floated on the edge of his eye. Strawmander looked at the rest of the team and thought about how quickly there could be one of them gone forever. Strawmander dripped a few more tears while trying to hold the rest back. He didn’t want Zakair to see any sign of sorrow right now.

Batman nodded, keeping the tears back desperately. He should have known that his starter would come to his aid, but, in the moment, there seemed like there was no one. Batman realized that his Pokémon were more than just the tools for winning, more than creatures to be loved, they were friends, allies. Team Rocket had always taught that Pokémon were tools, weapons. His mother had always told him to reject that idea, saying that Pokémon were so much more than that. However, it was not until Strawmander stepped up to take leadership and showed that he cared that Batman understood. Strawmander was becoming more a friend to him than anyone but his mother and he had only known his starter for a short time. As he looked down at his team, who was comforting the Nidoran after the implant Strawmander stuck in with care, he had his full epiphany: “These Pokémon are not my friends, these Pokémon are my family.”

 

[batmanrises]

Ok, Chapter 5 is up! I split this one again, maybe someday my chapters won't be huge (probably not). I am already starting chapter 6, so anyone waiting on naming (@greninjamaster17 and @Arceusrsz ) I should have some pokemon for you to name shortly. Anyone else wanting to name a pokemon, now is the time, the are quite a few captures before the second gym. Let me know what you think by leaving a like or a comment. Thanks to everyone who is still sticking with this story.

 

[batmanrises]

Chapter 6: Rocket


The chair slowly turned and a shorter, athletically built man stared back at a squirmy, lanky man of around forty.

“You clearly underestimated how much of his father he had in him” the man said through gritted teeth and pointed at the monitor on his desk.

“Oh no, he is just getting lucky.” The other man said softly, almost mouse like.

“Trust me, the pressure will get to him. He will cave. He doesn’t have his Father’s emotional strength. I can see . . .”

“You had better be right” the voice snarled back.

“This kind of success by a commoner, the son of a condemned, could mean another uprising. I am going to send some grunts his way. If he makes it past the next gym, we’re going to have a problem: You are going to have a problem.”

“Don’t worry, I will get Gary after him as soon as he is able to attack another participant. He’ll take care of this.”

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Batman got his Pokémon into the Pokémon center to heal up before Mt. Moon. Zakair was still nervous, but the rest of the team was making an effort to make him feel welcome. Batman stepped outside and stood at the cave entrance. The darkness enveloped everything more than 10 feet in. Batman turned to his team and went down on one knee to talk to them.

“Ok, this cave is big and dark, I will need each of you to pull your weight, but if you get too tired, you have to let me know. I heard there are Zubats everywhere in this cave and I don’t want any of you to be in danger of going down. Each of you are strong enough to support the other as we go through. Ratat, you can take the lead to start.”

Batman turned to Ratat and let her jump into his hand as he put the rest of the team into their pokéballs.


With Ratat sitting softly in his palm, he walked into the darkness. Looking around, there were glimpses of light from what looked like flashlight beams. He took a few steps forward before a Pokémon leapt forward out of the darkness. Batman gave a quick screech and stepped backward, trying to balance himself. The Pokémon flapped its wings hard, shoving air into Batman’s face before it flapped evenly, hovering 5 feet in the air. In the darkness, Batman squinted, trying to figure out what attacked. All he could hear was the steady flapping of wings.

“Ratat, can you see him?”

“I can. What do you want me to do?”

“If it is a Pokémon, we need to catch it. Weaken it first with a tackle.”

Without hesitation, Ratat jumped high and hit the Pokémon right between the wings. The Pokémon went backwards, but Batman could only hear that the wings had stopped moving. Then Batman heard a soft thud in the distance. Batman pulled out a pokéball, waiting for another sound. After a few moments, Batman could hear the wings start flapping hard, trying to lift off the ground. Batman aimed the pokéball at the sound and threw the pokéball. Batman listened for the flapping, but it never came. A few seconds later, Ratat came up to Batman’s feet:

“We got him! We got him!”

Batman smiled softly; but, thinking about Bird CJ, his guilt mounted inside him, and now he had brought another unwilling participant into his fight. Stepping slowly, navigating the dark, Batman stepped in the direction he had thrown the ball. After a few steps he felt his foot tap something that rolled a few feet away. Batman stooped and slowly moved his hand, till he grasped the ball. He lifted the ball slowly, then turned toward the light at the exit.

“Come on, Ratat, let’s introduce him to the rest of the group.”

After they were outside, Batman let the rest of his team out of their balls. Then, when everyone was out, he released the newest catch in front of them. The ball hit the ground and a zubat popped out. It flapped it’s wings softly, getting itself upright. After a moment of adjusting his sense to the outside, the zubat turned to everyone.

“To whom do I now report?” the zubat asked, searching the small group. The zubat, though without eyes, still knew exactly where everyone was.

“I am.” Batman said with as much command as he could muster. The zubat quickly turned his direction.

“Ah, you. I hear the voice of a trainer, but I sense more fear than command. I can either assume that you are afraid of the dark, or that you lack confidence for some reason.” The zubat was facing Batman and looked as if it were actually gazing at him, but it felt to Batman as if she were gazing through him. Batman opened his mouth to speak, but the zubat spoke first.

“It is the latter, am I right? Yes, I believe so. You are a part of the dreaded Nuzlocke Games.” The zubat sighed softly and shook its head. “Yes, that must be it.”

Batman was taken aback by the zubat’s quick understanding and timidly spoke up.

“Yes, I am a part of the Nuzlocke Games.” He paused. “I am sorry to pull you into it . . .”

“Well,” the zubat said with a distinctly solemn tone, “I suppose I am in it whether you are sorry or not.” After a short pause, the zubat continued.

“Even so, you do seem genuine. I understand your moral dilemma: To survive with your starter you must continue, but to continue, you endanger others. Such a dreadful game.” The zubat softly flapped her wings, as if she could cleanse himself from what she said.

 

[batmanrises]

Batman took a step forward when the zubat was done speaking and knelt beside her. “I know it doesn’t mean much, but I wish there was another way.” Batman reached into his bag and grabbed a tracker. The zubat shook a little, obviously nervous.

“Go on, do it.”

Batman stuck the needle into the zubat’s soft fur, then placed the device. Once he finished, he softly withdrew the needle.

“What is your name?” Batman asked, remembering he had never asked.

“My name is Doku Tori,” the zubat elegantly said with a soft bow, one wing folded under her, the other extended out to his side as if her were bowing at the waist.

“My name is Batman, and this is my team.” Batman gestured around to the group, who was, up until now, silently watching with solemnity; they hated that part almost as much as Batman did.

After introductions were made, Batman lead the team back into the cave. Zakair went in the lead this time and Doku Tori went above Batman’s head, helping call out directions in the dark. With Doku Tori’s help, they quickly made it to the lower levels. It wasn’t long, however, before there was a figure in the dark.

“That man up ahead, we should avoid him. His kind only brings trouble.”

Batman looked ahead, but could only see an outline in the dark, even after his eyes had adjusted.

“Is there another way?” Batman asked, looking up at Doku Tori.

“Sadly, there is not, but we can wait to see if he leaves.”

Batman let out a soft breath, thinking.

“No, if we wait, we risk more encounters and we are starting to stretch thin.” Without waiting, Batman stepped forward, slowly moving toward the figure. As he got closer, he saw why Doku Tori was so afraid of them, the man bore the Team Rocket emblem on his clothing. Batman started to turn, but heard the loud bark of command from the Rocket Grunt.

“Hey, you! Where do you think you are going? Come back here so I can see you.”

Batman slowly turned and took a few steps toward him.

“Ah, Batman.” The grunt said as if he were excited, “We have been expecting you. I hope you are ready for a battle.”

The grunt pulled a pokéball from his belt and tossed it out. Surprised, Batman hesitated.

“Take him down, Batman!” Doku Tori shouted.

Batman jumped slightly, as if startled, then threw out Zakair. Zakair quickly conquered all three Pokémon, but looked very tired after the battle. Batman called him back and set Ratat in the front position.

“Just because you have a few Pokémon doesn’t mean you can compete with the elite class. Just wait, you’ll be exposed as the lower class Grimer filth you really are.”

Before Batman had time to respond, the grunt ran off further into the cave. Batman paused for a moment, absorbing the words the grunt threw at him. He was used to those kinds of remarks, as the son of a condemned, he was constantly ridiculed. This Rocket grunt had sought him out. Batman had never considered that Team Rocket might actually interfere with the contestants to kill some off. Thinking about it, he was not sure why it shocked him. He started moving forward into the cave, getting close to the bottom layer, which Doku Tori said was near the exit. As he moved closer to where the grunt had fled, he realized it could be a trap. Looking down at the pokéballs filled with the Pokémon he promised to protect, he wanted to turn back. Deep down, he knew he had no choice but to continue. They were going to find him eventually; he couldn’t hide from that.

Batman slowly walked through the passage, one hand firmly grasping Ratat’s pokéball. Through the passage, a large cavern opened up. The back end of it was lit softly. In the distance, a man was arguing with several Team Rocket grunts. The conversation was heated, but they stopped abruptly when the grunt Batman had beaten moments before turned and pointed back in his direction. The two other grunts came forward, walking slowly, confidently. Batman stood frozen in fear. “There is no way I live after this,” Batman thought. He had not heard of anyone beating Team Rocket Grunts and living. Even if you won the fight, you disappeared shortly afterward, usually the headlines were “Trampled by Rhydon” or “Sliced by Scythers.” Sometimes they even had pictures of mangled bodies, but no one ever believed it. They all knew why and how they had died.

The grunts stopped a few feet from Batman, much closer than most people get before a battle. The grunt that came up first was obviously the leader as he spoke first and had his chin jutted out, trying to make himself appear bigger and more brutish than he really was.

“So, you are the one who thought it was a good idea to mess with Team Rocket?” the man asked. He took a step back, letting his partner have equal footing.

“Well, Bart, you wanted a chance to prove yourself, take your shot. Take this pathetic kid out. Once you beat his Pokémon, he’ll let out a whimper and die right on the spot like the useless magikarp he is.”

 

[batmanrises]

The second man took a step forward, his face immediately turned focused and he confidently threw out his first pokéball. The Rattata that came out and gave a loud snarl. Batman could see scars on his nose and sides. The Rattata had obviously been battled often without rest. Batman felt no real sadness for the Pokémon, though, his dislike for the grunt increasing at the thought of what he was doing to get better at battling. However, a Pokémon that hurt can be very dangerous to fight. Batman knew the grunt would fight dirty; he had to be careful. Batman through out Ratat’s pokéball and Ratat quickly got into a battle stance. After the two exchanged blows, Ratat pulled out the victory. Batman switched out to Strawmander as tbe Rocket Grunt growled and threw out a Sandshrew. The Sandshrew had similar marks to the Rattata, but not as many. Strawmander beat the Sandshrew in a few shots, and the grunt gritted his teeth in anger and called Sandshrew back. The leader mockingly clapped: “Well done. You just let a little kid beat your sorry butt. Now step back and let a real trainer take care of this.”

The larger man stepped forward and arrogantly threw his first ball forward. Batman sent Ratat back out and let her battle the grunt leader’s Rattata. This rattata looked heavily groomed, but obviously a battler and not for sure. The clear sign was a single scar running from its nose to its left ear.

The two exchanged tackles, but Ratat was hit hard, right in the neck. Ratat seemed wobbly for a second, but shook it off. Batman could tell she couldn’t take much more, but the other rattata seemed weak. Batman gave out the order for another tackle. The grunt, with a smirk called for a Hyper Fang. Batman had forgotten about hyper fang. He got a sick feeling in his stomach. The opposing Rattata managed to get the first hit and Ratat let out a soft squeak as the fangs sunk into her side. Batman saw blood as Ratat hit the ground, the opposing Rattata released his fangs and backed off. Batman rushed over, taking a half slide on his knees. He landed right next Ratat and saw the wound. The single, wide gash was oozing blood. He put his hand over the wound as hard as he felt comfortable holding it. As his hands started covering in blood, he started to feel sick. When his hands started to normalize pressing down on Ratat’s little wound and feeling the warm blood covering his hands, he realized that Ratat had not moved or spoken since Batman had gotten there.

The feelings of sickness worsened at the thought. As he slowly looked down at Ratat’s bleeding body, he started to focus back in, realizing he could not feel a pulse. Ratat was already dead. In the background, he started to hear the Team Rocket grunt, who had obviously been taunting and bragging the whole time Batman tried to care for Ratat.

“I told you to leave it to me; look at how pathetic. He looks all torn up over some pathetic Rattata.”

The lead grunt was glancing back at his buddy, who still looked frustrated, obviously mad that he was not the one to kill one of Batman’s Pokémon.

“Yeah, well I weakened him for you.”

As the two grunts started to jab back and forth, Batman looked down at the lifeless Pokémon. He held back tears, but could not hold back the thoughts racing through his mind faster than he could count them. He thought about the ways he had failed: he thought about how careless it was to forget about a move like hyper fang; he thought about Bird CJ; he thought about how ready to fight and help Ratat always was; he thought about how many more he might lose; he thought about how emotional he was again; he feared his other friends would die.

As the thoughts kept flowing, Batman put a bloody hand to the ground and lifted himself slowly to his feet. He had Ratat softly laying in his other hand as he reached to his belt and threw out the next pokéball. Strawmander jumped out and immediately turned back to Batman. Seeing what he had been hearing from inside the ball made it all worse. Strawmander’s eyes were wide, clearly upset at seeing another fallen friend. His face changed suddenly, though, and he turned angrily toward the grunts and snarled, a small amount of grey smoke clouding his nostrils. Batman’s voice cracked while he spoke,

“You think one is enough, or are you going to try for more?” Batman had intended the line to be a taunt, an angry, desperate taunt, but somehow his voice cracking still left the line hollow. The two grunts looked at each other and could not help but laugh. Anger swelled in Batman and his hatred for Team Rocket exponentially grew with each second. Batman waited for the laughter to stop, trying to remain focused in his anger. After what felt like ages, the older grunt wiped his eyes of the tears from laughing and looked at his Rattata:

“Finish this one off, too.”

The grunt chuckled as he watched his Rattata lunge toward Strawmander, jaws open wide. In a show of agility, Strawmander spun to the side, watching the Rattata move past his head. Then, without waiting for an order, shot a small flame straight toward the Rattata’s landing point. After the Rattata landed, it barely had time to set its feet before the flame singed its fur, burning the skin. The Rattata collapsed in pain.

The grunt screamed a short exclamation, then pointed directly at Batman, a desire for blood visible in his eyes even from a distance. The grunt threw out the second pokéball, but Batman barely had time to comprehend what was going on. Strawmander took the battle on his own, using fire to quickly faint the other Pokémon. Batman lost focus the moment he realized Strawmander was taking care of the last Pokémon. He looked down at Ratat and stared at the bloody body for a few moments. He looked up when the grunt cried out:

“Ugh! beaten by a kid. You will be sorry. I see how you let your Pokémon run loose. It’ll get to you in the end.”

The grunt turned to head off toward the cave exit.

“You haven’t seen the last of us, either.”

With that, the grunts ran off. Batman sighed heavily and looked down at Ratat. The dim light made little more than the blood visible on her body. Batman turned to walk over to the side of the cave, but turned back around when he heard Strawmander softly growl. Strawmander was down near the ground, growling softly, as if he were in some pain. Batman started to move toward him, but Strawmander let out a burst of flames in his direction, forcing him to keep his distance. The burst of flame slowly burned out. Then, right when Batman thought it was safe to get closer to Strawmander, Strawmander let out a loud screeching roar, high-pitched, but threatening. Batman took a step back, almost tripping on the uneven cavern floor. Strawmander’s roar deepened and he snapped his head to face the ceiling. Flames poured out of his mouth and reached toward the ceiling. The cavern brightened to almost sunlight levels as the flames started arcing down around Strawmander. The flames obscured Batman’s view, but he could see that Strawmander was standing up. The fire twisted around to form a sphere, swirling in bright red and orange. Batman could not see anything but the wall of flames. Suddenly a deeper roar echoed in the cavern. Batman winced and ducked at the sound. Then, as soon as the roar ended, the flames died out and the cavern went back to near darkness.

Batman’s eyes were too accustomed to the light for him to be able to see well. He called out into the cavern:

“Strawmander, are you alright?”

There was silence for a moment, then a voice like Strawmander’s, but more mature answered.

“I am here. I am ok.”

Batman moved forward slowly in the darkness trying to move to where it sounded like the voice came from. As he moved, his eyes started to adjust to the dim light again and he could see Strawmander up ahead, now a dark red and much more menacing in appearance.

“Strawmander! You evolved!” Batman said with surprise and excitement. He had never seen an evolution in person, and he had heard they can be frightening. He was too caught up in the moment to comprehend what was going on. Strawmander, though did not appear to be surprised, he appeared much more cold, calculating, aggressive. Strawmander looked into Batman’s hand and saw Ratat’s body.

“We need to bury her.” Strawmander said definitively, a note of sadness in his tone. Batman’s knot in his stomach that had been there since he saw the blood fly earlier snapped tightly and felt like it hit every major organ in his gut.

“I know.” Batman said somberly. “I was going to bury her in the corner of the cave there.”

Strawmander looked at the corner, then leaned over and pressed the buttons on the remaining pokéballs. The rest of the Pokémon quickly moved over to the corner where Ratat was to be buried and started digging.

Batman looked over at Strawmander and gestured for him to come closer. Batman looped his arm over Stramander’s shoulder and they both proceeded to the freshly dug grave.

 

[batmanrises]

Ok, after a hiatus, I am back. Chapter 6 is up and ridiculously long (I promise I will work on that). I hope to move things faster. I have my next Pòkemon, a Male Spearow. Anyone left still reading can name him. I will have several more for you to name next week. I promise I will have another post up by the end of the month. I hope you guys enjoy it. I always appreciate feedback, so please comment or give a like.

Team at End of Chapter 6:
Strawmander
Pokefana
Danny
Zakair
Doku Tori