#mascara didn't learn any attacking moves until i got cut

[kianlonplayspokemon]

Pokémon Alpha Sapphire Nuzlocke: Day 2

Total Deaths: 0

Current Party: Picante the Torchic, Perrito the Poochyena, Avión the Wingull, Máscara the Zigzagoon, Dos the Zigzagoon, Pelota the Silcoon

So the first thing I did after catching Pelota was of course to run my ass back to Petalburg City to heal and immediately stick him and Dos in the PC. Because I really wanted to have some kind of back-up plan in case I whited out against my most formidable adversary thus far... Team Aqua Grunt with his level 9 Poochyena.

Well, okay, he had a name but I forgot it because I didn’t have time to write this journal on the same day I played. Anyways, I was nervous because I knew that Poochyena would spam Sand Attack and Howl (in that order) and if I couldn’t knock it out, my pretty low-defense team would be screwed.

Naturally, the best way for me to counter this was not to send out Avión, who’s immune to accuracy loss but at this point very weak. No, I just had Máscara do a ton of sand attacks of his own, and then swapped him out with Perrito to finish the fight.

So I saved the Devon Researcher from this guy and finally made it to Rustboro to challenge Petra. She promised to be a huge threat because only one out of my four Pokémon knew any moves that would be effective. My Wingull.

I’m not looking up typing/attacks/walkthroughs on this run. I didn’t pay attention to her Dex entry. So at this point, I think, oh crap: I have a flying-type. If even one Rock Tomb lands on her, my run ends here. I did attempt to catch another ‘mon before starting the gym, and I did successfully get Volar the Taillow on Route 116. 

My party was all around level 13 when I waltzed on into the gym. Avión took down all the gym trainers with ease, and all their Geodudes with Sturdy tried to Defense Curl with their brief second chances at life, so I was feeling pretty good. At least, about Petra’s Geodude, which was killed in short order. 

The Nosepass, though... that Nosepass is tough. So I sent out Máscara to use Charm and Sand Attack until its attack and accuracy were so low that I thought I’d be safe from Rock Tomb.

And... I was right. Guess what? Not only is Wingull a pure water-type I guess, when Rock Tomb improbably managed to actually hit, it only did 6 damage thanks to my charming Zigzagoon. After a few Water Guns, Nosepass was defeated and Petra gave me my first gym badge. 

Bruno showed up after that and thankfully didn’t re-match me so I went to Rusturf Tunnel, hoping to find any encounter. Well, and I had to get the Devon Goods back and advance the plot and stuff, but I mostly wanted to find a Whismur. I didn’t see one after three minutes of running, so I just fought Team Aqua over Sr. Arenque’s Wingull and received his eternal gratitude.

...and some errands from Devon Corp. Good thing Sr. Arenque said I could sail with him whenever, because now that I got the dang parts back I have to deliver them to Slateport, and I have to bring a letter to the president’s son Máximo. Yay.

I found out that Marcial was the easiest gym leader ever. Picante didn’t do anything during that battle, but Volar one-shot everything with Wing Attack despite being under-leveled, which gave him [Picante] enough XP to evolve.

After I got that second badge I figured I’d better do that errand and found Molestoso the Zubat in Granite Cave. I also found Máximo, who was muttering about Primal Kyogre and Mega Evolution in front of a rad cave drawing. I’m sure that won’t be important later.

Also in Dewford, I discovered that I can no longer make the entire populace say “Your Mother”, which is very sad. But I did get the Old Rod and since Dewford Town has water... that’s an ecounter, baby!

An encounter with Pez the Magikarp, who I almost accidentally knocked out. Whoops. He got sent to the box automatically, where he will live with Molestoso until such a time as they are needed. Volar has earned at least a temporary spot on the team thanks to his stellar performance with the Fighting Gym. All in all, a good day. Next stop: Slateport.

Total Deaths: 0. 

Current Party: Picante the Combusken, Perrito the Poochyena, Avión the Wingull, Máscara the Zigzagoon, Volar the Taillow