[Text Only] Let’s Play: Pokémon Platinum [Nuzlocke Challenge] – Part 11

Ok, before we get started with where we left off I should go over what I did between segments. Basically I took a good day or so to get the whole team up to Lv. 30 before the next gym just to be safe. Thankfully no one died during the training (though we had some close calls) and we are ready to go. Since the whole team leveled up to 30 I should mention that Sparkrai the Luxio evolved into its final form Luxray! I also got the Poketch app for checking berries but I don’t really care about that (I didn’t even know it existed before today to be honest). After finding nothing of interest I go into the Contest Hall, not for contests but to find the gym leader who is found here. I’m greeted by Keira and my Mom from back in Twinleaf Town and they give me some contest accessories and a dress in case I ever wish to participate in a contest. Since I find them a bit boring I won’t be doing that. After all that I walk over to the “French” lady in purple herself, Fantina the Ghost type gym leader of Hearthome city. She says some fancy stuff in French that I can barely remember from French class about 4 years ago and tells me she looks forward to battling me. She then heads off to the gym and I follow behind. Now this gym was actually the fifth gym you faced in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl but here in Platinum it’s the third (they do this so you don’t need to backtrack all the way to Hearthome after being there once). Truth be told I’m still a bit nervous about this gym because Ghost type Pokémon are always a bit tricky to handle and always have some surprise up their sleeve. Since Eevee and Luxray both have Dark type moves I will be depending on them a lot here. Now to fight the gym trainers!

After defeating the trainers with almost no trouble it is time to take on Fantina! Nothing has really changed with my Pokemon except that Eevee is now Lv. 32 but other than that it’s the same team. The battle begins and Fantina begins with her Duskull at Lv. 24 while I send out Luxray. It is actually faster than me and gets off a “Shadow Sneak” but that does little damage and I go for Bite with is Super Effective but it lives with little HP. She heals it with a Super Potion while I use Spark. It then goes for the “Shadow Sneak” again but I finish it off. She goes into her Haunter Lv. 24 and I stay with Luxray. Since I used Bite she gets off a Sucker Punch which does little damage and my Bite defeats it in one go thanks to a Super Effective critical hit! Finally, it’s down to her last Pokémon Mismagius which is Lv. 26. It goes for Shadow Ball and does a decent amount of damage. I go for Bite and get her down to less than half HP but her Sitrus berry heals most of that off. I decide to heal Luxray this turn and not take any chances. She uses Shadow Ball and gets the Sp. Defense drop on me which could prove troublesome if left alone. Another Shadow Ball, I live with 19 HP, another Bite, she just barely lives! I decide to go for another Super Potion and she does the same. We both have almost the exact same amount of health at this point. Then, she goes in with Confuse Ray but I am not effected by that this turn and go in for Bite. She is now in the low HP zone but I need to decide if I should deal with the confusion or make a switch. I decide to make the switch into Eevee who is not affected what so ever by a ghost move like Shadow Ball. She goes for Psybeam but I shake that off just fine. One Bite from Eevee and it’s all over. Luxray levels up and that is that. I get TM 65 “Shadow Claw” and the “Relic Badge” from Fantina and move on my merry way. I will admit that is one of the toughest Sinnoh battles for me but the team stood strong and overcame the challenge just fine.

After healing up and getting some supplies I get ready to head out for Route 209. However, I forget that Barry is there waiting to battle me… for some reason this completely slipped my mind. He now has 4 Pokemon like me and he starts with his Lv. 25 Staravia (*sniff* I miss Nimbus… *sniff*). Luxray beats it no problem and he goes into his water type Buizel at Lv. 23. This again is, no problem for Luxray. He now goes into his Lv. 27 Grotle (his Turtwig evolved) and since I have no better ideas I use bite with Luxray. After awhile I finally paralyze him with Spark but none of my attacks are really doing much to him. However, he eventually gets the best of me. After living with 1 HP after raising his defense so much, he hits Luxray with a critical hit Razor Leaf and kills him. I’ll admit, this made me really sad since Luxray was the longest running member of the team along with Prinplup. I get in there and have Prinplup finish the job and avenge his fallen buddy. Finally he sends out Ponyta his Lv. 23 Fire type and I stick with Prinplup and destroy it with Bubblebeam. After losing Barry runs off like the moron that he is and I go to lay Luxray to rest with the rest of the fallen members.

After healing up and releasing Sparkrai the Luxray I move on. I don’t know why but releasing Luxray really made me sad. More so than any of the others that I had to let go of (even more than Nimbus oddly enough). I suppose it was because he was my second Pokémon after Piplup (if memory serves) and had done so much for the team. Just look at the Fantina fight. He almost single handedly too out a gym leader but loses to an idiot like Barry. *sigh* Ranting aside, we need to move on for the rest of the team and pick out another team member (hopefully) on Route 209. There aren’t too many Pokémon that I’d really like on this route. Just one comes to mind and it’s so rare I’m not holding my breath. However, too my dismay it turns out to be a Biberal (I know I wasn’t going to get a Chansey but at least a Ralts would have been nice). I decide to “try” and catch him for HM use but I get a crit on him and it faints… not a big loss. Back at Route 209 I pick up a few items here and there, get the Good Rod, and put the Odd Keystone in the Hollow Tower you find here where it belongs. Now to fight the Route 209 trainers!  

   After fighting the trainers I exit the route and enter Solaceon Town, only to be greeted by the Luxray murder himself, Barry! Thankfully, I don’t need to battle him right now and he just goes on about the Pokeball seals and the HM Defog, two things I don’t really care about. I finally get a chance to heal up the team and now I plan to go into Lost Tower to train a bit and fight the trainers there since there is nothing important to do inside until you get the HM for Defog. So, I’ll be doing that and next time we will fight A LOT of trainers. See you next time and thanks for reading.

Real quick before I head off, while training in Lost Tower (home of the Pokemon spirits) I ran into and caught another Gastly at Lv. 20 and named him Soul (after a character from Soul Eater and since the last one was named Poe I figured it fit). So I'll be training him up to be with the rest of the team as well. 

In honor of our good pal and great teammate, Sparkrai the Luxray…