Nuzlocke Part 1: It Begins

A beautiful box sits on top of my desk. My friends Cheren and Bianca are eagerly waiting for me to open it and make my selection. Today is the day we get out first Pokemon.

I carefully consider my options, but am overwhelmed by the infectious smile of Tepig.

"I'm going to call you GigglePig." I pick him up and quickly step back to allow my friends to make their decision.

Bianca barges ahead and aggressively embraces Snivy, cramming as much love as she possibly can into his fragile little body.

"You can have that one Cheren." Bianca says, pointing at Oshawott.
"I wanted that one anyway." Replies Cheren. I don't buy it, but Oshawott is convinced.

I start to make my way for the stairs to go thank Professor Juniper for the gift, but Bianca has other plans.

Snivy and GigglePig slam into each other over and over again until Snivy falls into a crumpled heap.

"Good job, GigglePig!" I run up to give him a big hug, but am interrupted by Cheren.
"It's my turn to fight and prove I'm the strongest!" Cheren shouts confidently.
Before I could even check if GigglePig was okay, he tackled Oshawott, and the battle ended in a flash.

"We should probably go thank the Professor now," I suggest. Happily, we walk to the lab, with our beaten and bruised new pets in tow.

Nuzlocke Challenge Introduction

I recently purchased Pokemon White. I enjoy a good Pokemon game, but I wanted to spice things up a bit. As such, I decided to take on the Nuzlocke Challenge. There are two rules to Nuzlocke:

• You may only catch the first wild Pokemon you see in an area.
• If a Pokemon faints, it is dead and gone forever and must be released.

There are countless variants, but it is accepted that one must give a name to each Pokemon to develop a stronger emotional bond before it is inevitably shattered. I am also using the option where you cannot switch Pokemon after every KO in trainer battles. I'm excited to take on this challenge because all the Pokemon you encounter up through the Elite Four are never before seen in previous versions. That means I'm more prone to mistakes like underestimating which moves a Pokemon has or what type it is. It wouldn't be much of a story without a little drama or tension. As is part of the Nuzlocke custom, I will be cataloging my story here. It will contain spoilers to the Pokemon story, but such is life. You have been warned. Buckle up, have some tissues ready, and enjoy. You can start with Part 1 here.