#driftveil

Soul Soldier 085 Activated

Primary Function: Great Northern Gauntlet

Description: He's perhaps one of the toughest lieutenants on Earth, working for the Wendigo-like Number 017: Blizzaro, and capable of breaking even the hardest metals with his massive gauntlets. He’s also considered the big, younger brother of fellow Minotaur, Number 035: Taurus.

Despite this brutality, he’s also soft spoken and gentlemanly when not in battle, speaking in a thick, Russian accent. In fact, he’ll often challenge wisemen to chess, and is considered a Soul Soldier of the Motherland. He's served their Czars up until the Russian Revolution. Then, he served as the unofficial bodyguard of Vladimir Lenin.

However, during the decline of the Shepherds, Driftveil was deactivated to avoid falling into the hands of the ominously ambitious Joseph Stalin. And as shown by history itself, that discretion was more than warranted.

When he was at last reactivated, he was sent along with Blizarro and Number 028: Rasputin to establish a base in Russia so as to revive that branch of the Shepherd lineage. To ensure that Russian government would not attempt to destroy them, George Olivier sent a spy in the form of the secret policeman, Number 083: Johnny.

As of these days, Driftveil and Rasputin oversee the training of new Soul Soldiers created in their area, as well as monitoring the goings on in places such as Siberia, Sweden and Norway.

Back to Unova with Driftveil City!

Lot to cover, lot has happened, lot may happen again, or not at all. Needed to do some training, wild pokemon weren’t doing the job, went after the gym. Got some good experience for team, particularly Tornado and DeepC, accidentally found ourselves in front of Clay, the gym leader. My.... dunno what it is, but I couldn’t walk away once I got there, so challenge him we did! We were under-leveled. It mattered rather little in the end. The only pokemon that gave us trouble was the Excadrill. Faster thing, tough thing. Took a beating and gave it back worse. Killed Tornado, took a big chunk out of DeepC. Sent in PuriPrison to buy time to heal, PuriPrison went down in one hit. That was the part that really blew me away. Audino is a tank, overflowing with HP and focused on all manner of defense. One hit, even a crit? That’s scary. Hope came in the form of Zoroark, our lovely Zorua who evolved during the gym training. Evolved into a BEAST.

*Note: I tried, I checked, Zorua is unable to be given a nickname. Can’t be done.

His stats are higher than even DeepC’s, mostly Sp Atk and Speed and Attack. Snarl is rather helpful against a multitude of tough Defense pokemon, but really need to find some new moves for him to learn. All that really matters is that he was fast enough to hit Excadrill, tough enough to survive getting hit back, and strong enough to finish him on the second blow.

We made our way to Chargestone Cave, caught a Tynamo, unique in that it is the only pokemon to have 0 weaknesses. Electric-types are now only weak to Ground, not Ground and Rock anymore, and with Levitate, Tynamo is immune to Ground. But Emolga is cuter, so into the box he goes! Kept reaching a “bridge out” thing with Bianca and people, so kept going back into town to find stuff to do. A scientist gave me a “unique” Deerling with Serene Grace ability. It’s still not that great a pokemon though, so he’s been in & out of the party. Welcome, The Cure!

Was really dreading having to do the World Tournament thing. These kind of Battle events are always high risk, no reward, but this one was apparently plot required to MOVE ON WITH THE FRIGGIN’ GAME. Won the whole thing, but each member of the party died at some point so it feels really hollow. I’m bending a rule here and calling it a pass because again, these dumb things are high risk and NO reward, thus serving no place in a Nuzlocke.

The cave underground, however, proved interesting. Encountered a Gurdurr, who was successfully caught! But is probably going into the box. Caught Krokorok in the next area, also probably staying in the box. Near the end, we encountered an event VOLCARONA. This is one of the most amazing and powerful pokemon in any game, but exceedingly rare. One must train a Larvesta to lvl 59 for it to evolve into Volcarona. No Nuzlocker has time for that. This thing did not want to go in the ball. Used up all but one Ultra Ball, most of the Timer Balls, and a more potions, full heals, and moomoo milks than I can count. For having Gust as its most powerful move, this thing was dangerous. Literally, its move set was Gust, String Shot, Fire Spin, and Leech Life. 4 of the weakest moves in the game and it nearly killed DeepC. Out-leveled us too. But now it is on our side! Welcome, ClownMastr! Welcome, QuickDraw! Welcome, FurryFire!

Good, because DeepC went down near the end of Chargestone Cave against, *sigh*, another Excadrill. Still way too friggin’ fast and tough and strong. Praise Arceus for Snarl. I want to change things up this time, but honestly I’m realizing the One Punch Man theme isn’t lending itself to much challenge, so have a new idea. The Max Revives I find, those are the number of revives I have. And there’s a very good chance I’ve already sold one. Well, the next one goes to DeepC because she’s a level away from evolving. The Cure has evolved however, so hopefully now will become useful. Also caught a Tranquil, so have a backup flyer. Welcome, SkyCaptain!

Also missed a chance at a catch. An Axew in that cave north of Driftveil. Took a little too much damage and refused the ball. Burned itself, passed out from injury. Bugger.

Catches:

Chargestone Cave: Tynamo, aka SparkPlug

Relic Passage: Gurdurr, aka ClownMastr

Relic Castle: Krokorok, aka QuickDraw

Relic Castle (Event): Volcarona, aka FurryFire

Route 6 (Event): Deerling, aka The Cure

Route 7: Tranquil, aka SkyCaptain

At least I think that’s the name of the town. Less familiar with this region and writing posts hours or sometimes days after events have transpired is less than optimal. I am the flawed human being, yes.

Moving on! Crossed the bridge, collected some feathers, and a bird (Ducklett, one of those “we gave up on an original idea” pokemon), and made it to Driftveil! The city has.... dramatically changed since Pokemon White. Bigger, it seems, without the Cold Storage area. Despite having only been there once, and without hanging around after the plot event was done, I really liked Cold Storage. I miss it. Anywho, checked out the buildings, got a few more items including a Big Root and some incense(s), and prepared for the long span of grass and grass-type pokemon.

But first, a detour to some Ex-Team Plasma members who I genuinely feel a little sad for. And to cement those feelings in my heart, they offered me a Zorua. I friggin’ LOVE Zorua. Unfortunately, didn’t come with a nickname option, so will have to find the Name Rater. Somewhere. I’d argue “Zorua” is a good enough nickname, but I know that argument will never be won. Nuzlocke rules are firm on this topic. Ah well, at least the otherwise useless Ducklett is good for flying.

Did some prep work, ran around a lot, and waited for a patch of rustling grass. Going after something rare and interesting. Plus, don’t really need a Grass-type. Tornado is doing the job just fine. Hit the jackpot with an Emolga! Still a nasty bugger, so ended up bringing PuriPrison into the mix to Secret Power it to sleep and catch it. Taught her Volt Switch, and that’s how she trains! Hit ‘em and switch. Working quite nicely. Very, VERY careful with Zorua, because this pokemon is already an orphan. I will not allow him to die. Ever. So long Loki II, your moves suck anyway. Also putting away GirlOnFire temporarily, since Driftveil’s gym is Ground-Type.... and nothing good will come of sending her into that mess. DeepC and Tornado will probably suffice.

We are now reaching the point where my overpowered starters are just like any other pokemon. Can no longer just rely on them if things get sticky. This is where things start getting harder, more drawn-out, and also a little more dull.

Catches:

Charizard Bridge: Ducklett, aka HellBlisz (should have saved the name, Giradamnit)

Route 6: Emolga, aka LightMaxy