So, skipping the boring Fire Red intro and info-dump, lets get right to the starter choice! We are given three options:
cSanae: A Faith type Puppet. Note that on the wiki links provided, faith is called shinto.
cAlice: A Reason type puppet.
cReisen: A Heart type puppet.
So this is our triangle for this game! Reason beats faith, faith beats heart, and heart beats reason. I'll pretend that makes sense to my poor little brain.
Now, who to choose? Well, I've used Sanae before, but she was always typed as grass/water. I don't know what to make of this Sanae at all. Additionally, faith is weak to beast. Guess what beast is a stand in for? Mostly, normal types. A few others as well, but a good lot of normal types such as say, NAZRIN, are now beast types. Guess what attack is beast type? TACKLE.
I don't know if Sanae is good or not, but taking her as my choice on my first Nuzlocke of this game seems a poor choice.
And then Reisen. Heart seems to be strong against things like Dark, and of course reason...its a little like bug, then? I'm not much of a bunny fan, though.
Then there is Alice. This...this I understand. She's psychic-type, essentially. I know how to handle that. I am used to Alice. I used an Alice in my WL run! Used. Past tense. Not because the run is over, but because my Alice DIED.
So lets give her a second chance here. Welcome back, Etta!
Etta: What...what is...Digi?
Hey there hun. How are you feeling?
Etta: Different. This is...not the world I am used to.
Its all right. We'll figure it out together.
Etta: Are you using the same rules?
I am. First catches only. Making a challenge out of a challenge.
Etta: ...
Ya. I'm a little stupid like that.
Etta: Will you actually learn the type chart this time?
I-I am learning the WL type chart! I'm...I'm just taking awhile! Look, lets just get on with this. We've got a rival to beat up.
...why did the game say he got a cLilyWhite?
...I am worried.
No, never mind. Its a cReisen after all.
Etta: It does not matter WHAT he choose.
cReisen fainted
Because he always picks the wrong Puppet, of course.
Lets take a look at Etta's stats and ability now. I would post a link to an image, but it seems the screenshot got overwritten. However, she has an ability called Barier. I didn't misspell that. That's how its written in game.
Etta: Incompetence with engish aside, this is a useful ability for me. My stats cannot be reduced with this ability in place.
Ohhh, I cannot WAIT to abuse this. Or at least watch the AI fail extensively.
As usual of Fire Red, Oak is a lazy bastard, and doesn't give us any orbs to start off. Worse yet, the mart sells none. But...what's this? Oak hasn't picked up his parcel?
When in doubt...blackmail!
After some nudging, Oak decides it best to give us a few Tohou Orbs, in return for our most secret silence in regards to what he was having shipped to his lab. Custom balls indeed.
All right, time to do some catching.
On Route 1, we encounter a beast type cNazrin. I'm naming her Leif, after my Nazrin in WL.
Leif: Is...is there some reason you captured me, specifically?
Yes. You were the first thing that I found.
Leif: ...that is an odd way to decide things.
Consider yourself a part of a...challenge. Something extra tough. Extra special.
Leif: Well-in that case, lets get started!
She comes with pickup, EXCELLENT. Yes, its every bit as abusable as one might hope. She is also holding a...green UFO? I...I don't even know. I'll figure it out later.
Leif: My present is not appreciated?
No no, its fine! *pats her*
On Route 22, we get a flying-type Tokiko. Note that they don't do that silly normal sub-type bullcrap that the normal pokemon games do. Not that normal EXISTS anymore anyway. I just got a Tokiko in WL, so I shall name this one Kish as well. She comes with Limber, which is...nice? The kinds of things that might paralyze her aren't really ones she would be fighting-but I guess Nature types might do that too.
Kish: My limber physique should be admired, not criticized!
Sure, dear. Whatever you say.
Reaching Route 2 means watching an old man showing me how to kidnapped little girls. Yes sir, that was VERY educational. Can I Leave Now?
Right, Route 2, hunt for non-dupes...
Tokiko, Nazrin, Nazrin, Nazrin, Tokiko....WHERE ARE MY NOT DUPES.
???: Looking for somebody?
Oh, hello there Yousei. Welcome to the team!
I love Daiyousei. They are sis's.Once again stealing from my WL run, she shall be dubbed Mura. She's a nature type, which is equivalent to grass in this game.
Mura: Yer a strange one. But whatever ya say. Mura's just as fine a name as any.
Right, last catch for now, lets head to the forest. A Wriggle! Most excellent! I already have a name for-oh. Whoops. She fainted. Well that sucks.
Etta: Ehehehe...sorry about that. I thought she could live through a second attack.
It's all right. Accidents happen.
So before we proceed, I'd like to take a moment to examine these new Boneka, and their evolutions. I will NOT do this for every Boneka I encounter, only the ones I capture and own myself. Mainly because if I did it for every-freaking-thing, I'd be here all day, and you'd be very bored.
First on our list is Etta!
- Alice: Special attacker, no suprise there. Evolves at 36.
She learns something called Mana Burst. Wonder what that is. Otherwise not a lot of noteworthy moves. Very balanced stat-wise, not fragile at all which is nice. That speed is low, but I think that's okay. If she can get a good set-up move, she'll be...set! *b'dum tsh*
Etta: I am fond of this form. It is, after all, my natural one.
- Attack Alice: Less balanced.
She can learn Signal Beam, but I dunno what that even IS in this hack, since bug doesn't exist. I'm more inclined to stick with normal Alice. I can give her higher SpA via things like Calm Mind. Defense is harder to fix in battle.
Etta: I cannot discount this form, however. Sheer power...I like that.
- Technician Alice: What?
I so confused. She learns more moves I'm not sure of. Mind bomb-sounds physical at any rate-ice beam, and mana burst again. A physical Alice. My mind does not comprehend.
Etta: I...I do not understand. Why would I ever become a master of physical moves and attacks? And why would doing so cause my defenses to become even worse still?
Next up, Leif the Nazrin!
- Nazrin: Becomes Beast/Heart upon evolving at 25.
Very...average. Interesting moveset, no idea what half of this does. Tri attack? Zen headbutt? Clean bite? She has equal attack and special attack, so I guess she can do anything. A little fragile though, especially that hp.
Leif: Just you wait. I'll be strong soon.
- Technician Nazrin: Eh? I can't figure out the theme in these technician evolutions.
Learns Tri attack, Voice bind, and some other things...Jamming? Mist Ball? Huh. Clearly meant to be a special attacker, and has better defense. Might be a better choice? More specific may be good for her.
Leif: But I am capable of specializing as well. her whiskers twitch Just watch and see what I can do.
- Helper Nazrin: Okay, I get this one.
This one is obvious. She gets swords dance, substitute, and baton pass. You do the math.
Leif: I do like helping...but this is not in my style.
Kish's Turn!
- Tokiko: Stays pure flying, evolves at 25
Kish: I will absorb hits, and still hit tha enemy where it hurts tha most!
- Attack Tokiko: So naturally she has this as an option.
Feather Dance again, Brave bird, Facade is always fun. Zen headbutt again too. Might consider this one, but it will depend on the needs of my team.
Kish: Or I can abandon my defense, and go all out!
And last, but certainly not least, Mura!
- Daiyousei: Stays pure nature, evolves at 28
Well shit, no wiki move info. Editor time.
Stats wise, she's got mediocre stats across the board, except for her speed. But she needs to be able to DO something with it... Lets open up the editor, and take a look at her moveset.
Ah, she has baton pass. That explains it. Also gets air slash, energy light(A grass type move in WL/AW, likely nature in this one), aurora beam...nice I guess. I'll be using her just because.
Mura: Just because!? Please. You hafta use me. Because I am AWESOME.
- Attack Daiyousei: Of course this.
...interesting. Slower, meh defenses, GREAT special attack. Learns moves like water pulse, mana charge(calm mind I think. But who knows in this hack.), Air slash, baton pass AGAIN...mystic water? I don't even know, at this point. I might consider this one as well.
Mura: And I'm even more awesome like this. You know whut's better than running circles around people? Stompin' all over 'em!
So for our first rival battle, we've got some training to do. I'll sum up the events that occurred.
- Etta got psyshot, a reason-type 40 power attack. Excellent. She's not difficult to train at all, and actually was already level nine when I started grinding.
- Leif is a little annoying to grind. Why? She's beast type. Beasts have an annoying amount of common weaknesses, namely to flying, fire, and water. They resist ghost and earth, that's it. Yaaaaay. Oh, and one of the two com mon's here is Tokiko, which is of course flying type. So I have to either switch-grind her for those, or run until I encounter other Nazrins. Fun.
- If your wondering why I'm bothering: Nazrin, and beast types in general, get a LOT of type coverage. They are similar to normal types, in that way. Beast itself is SE on ghost and faith, but most beasts can learn a lot of other moves. So for sheer type coverage, I want to keep Leif for awhile.
- Case in point, at level eight, Leif gets Thief. This does exactly what you think it does. This will be abused. Dark is now SE on reason-no surprise-and dream. It actually does not effect ghost anymore. Huh?
- Training Kish is much easier. She's flying type, and the routes are full of beast-type Nazrin. Peck, peck, and more peck. She also learned quick attack, which is now a flying type move.
- That could be dangerous. I'm going to have to be careful of what moves these Puppets are packing. Even if they have attacks I'm used to, they could be types I'm not expecting.
- Mura gets trained next. She learns gust, which is now a wind type move. That makes beating up on Tokiko much easier. Remember, wind is essentially electric now. Mura's type, Nature/Native, also resists beast, so she has a very easy time training in this area. Then she learns attract.
- No, sorry, correction: HE learns attract.
- By the way. In this game, Mura and her like are called 'Native' types. The wiki calls it Nature. I kind of prefer nature better, so I am likely to just refer to them as that. I'm not really sure why they went with native, it...doesn't make much sense, really. Its essentially grass type. I get shinto —> faith, but this, not so much. Ah well, moving on.
- No, sorry, correction: HE learns attract.
My whole team is now level 10, so lets go ahead and take on that rival.
Oh. I was expecting something level 7, like in the original Fire Red. That was silly of me, wasn't it? I stuck Mura out front, not sure what to expect. She's not going to be too useful for Wriggle though, as its nature type in this game.
Kish: Yummm...tasty bugs!
Well, the Wriggle is down. But that was the easy one.
So remember, Reisen is a heart type. Unfortunately, I don't have anything SE on heart.
Well frack. A different approach then. We'll have to play little cheap here.
Mura: I thought there weren't supposed to be a lot of guys around here!
Me too! Just stay out there a little bit. I'm going to heal Kish.
All right. Time for step two.
Phew! I really should have leveled more for that, but live and learn.
Next time: We visit a forest, grind s'more, and take on a gym leader!
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