FriEnd (2020)

A small comic series about my Randomized FireRed Nuzlocke run.
Warning: some blood / death (I mean, it is a Nuzlocke after all)

The Rules

One Per Area

Can only catch the first encounter in each area. Gift Pokémon count as an encounter. Cannot trade.

Fainting = Death

If a Pokémon faints, it dies. No tricks, no do-overs, no resurrections.

Other Rules

All encounters are randomized. Must nickname all encounters. Play on Set mode. No healing or stat items during battle.

Destiny Bond

Originally posted September 26, 2020.

Critical Hit

Originally posted January 4, 2021.

Shadow Tag

Originally posted September 23, 2020.

The Team

Halbird

The one, the only, the starter, Halbird. He really pulled his weight around in the early game, bullying anyone who dare enter the range of his Silk Scarfed Fury Attack. The free nugget he held at the start also helped. Even though his usefulness did fall off quite a bit after the third gym or so, he was still useful in dealing with the many Grass and Bug types that the party encountered. He was also one of the most fun characters to write lines for, so that's a plus.

Zoop Doop

My first encounter, and probably my overall favourite party member. I burnt a bit of the free nugget money trying to catch him, but it was so worth it. No weaknesses and immunity to the countless Psychic/Normal/Fighting attacks, Self-Destructs, and even Sand-Attacks? What a legend. He was also my first casualty, and his death hurt the most.

Underrated

I like Chikorita. Bulbasaur is probably my favourite of the Grass starters, but Chikorita is alright in my books. Underrated seemed like an okay encounter at the time, but he really did get better over time, becoming the most well-rounded and versatile party member. The lack of any amazing attacking moves was a pain, but his bulk absolutely made up for it.

Slesh

The MVP of the party, she's probably the reason why I got to Victory Road in without any deaths. She had the best attacking moves of the whole party and could reliably OHKO any threat that the others couldn't deal with. Together with Underrated they formed the group's defensive core. She'd tank physical hits and dish out massive damage, and she'd tag out with Underrrated whenever a heavy-hitting special attacker would come into play.

Kapatrick

To deal with the crippling ice weakness of the group, Kapatrick was added to the group, and was honestly far more useful than I thought they'd be. Strong Special Attack and Speed, good stats, and it got to learn Fire Blast? Pretty sick. I didn't use them in every battle, but whenever I did, they never failed to impress.

Don

I caught them on Route 3, used them for a while, then benched them after realizing that curb-stomping with legendaries is no fun. Oh well, at least it was a funny catch.

Garen

A "just in case" backup member for the Elite Four, replacing Prime. Never got used in a real fight.

Mush

I caught Mush all the way back at Rock Tunnel, and he was taken out of the PC as a replacement party member heading into Victory Road. He was still level 17, so I spent like half a day just getting him to a decent level. He ended up not really doing much during the Elite Four fights, so when it came time to fight my rival, I felt kinda bad. So I ended up placing him as the first in the party... only for him to immediately go up against a Wobbuffet. One Counter later, and Mush was turned into mush.