Surviving the Quarantine Part 11:
Its July now and here is Surviving the Quarantine Post 11. I am so mentally exhausted as I write these words that I am going to condense this one the best I can. Be sure to check out the other parts which have more depth.
Mentally, I am plagued by despair. I could write out my feelings, but I don’t have the energy to do so. Instead, I’ll copy paste from one of my Facebook Statuses where I already did. I’m sure the Google Analytics is going hate me for the massive run-on sentence incoming.
Prior Post:
Living in a world that doesn’t think I have a disability while suffering every day in silence, thinks my culture that is being erased and appropriated while used for hate every day is the highest level of privilege, forces me to skip meals so I can afford to live, refuses to see my skillset as valuable enough, denies me the chance to find a job, traps me in a place I cannot leave because of a virus I never asked for, is so exhausting.
Was that massive run on sentence above exhausting to read? That is how I feel every second of every day. Yet I am ridiculed when I mention that I can’t function. I am called lazy when I try to choose mental health over capitalism. Next, I am told to follow my dreams, then called naive and stupid about the world when I try. Finally, I attempt to be myself and then am told not like that to my face.
One of the only places left that I find solace is on this rail bridge. Listening to frogs cry to each other is calming. Imagining the rail cars being moved by machines is exciting. At least no one can keep me from coming here. Yet.
The Good:
Well, that was exhausting. Let’s move on. Its taking all the energy I can muster to write this. Keep in mind, most of the above was simply copy pasted from an earlier Facebook status of mine.
Unlike last week, Dungeons and Dragons Campaigns happened in full swing. I’m even adding a new campaign to the mix while bringing back an old one too.
Centrum Glacies:
In the Centrum Glacies Campaign, the party finally defeated a spell-caster who teleported between mirrors while taking pot shots at the group. Armed with the keys to proceed to the deeper level of this labyrinth, the group met a Vampire- who promptly fled. Unfortunately, he released some of his victims on the party. Hungry victims. For blood that is.
Cycle of Millennia:
Cycle of Millennia featured a much bleaker adventure. This party dived headfirst into the temple of the God of Madness and Destruction: Kranaak. The temple dedicated to him featured torches kept burning with skulls. These skulls happened to be from slaughtered victims. Each one had their eyes carved out. The party already knows this, but for you readers, this God’s symbol is a head with the eyes gouged out.
The temple radiated so much corruption and evil, that the Paladin had to disable their detect evil abilities lest they suffocate. Even the rest of the party, who lacks this ability picked up on the sheer amount of corruption here.
All of this fails to mention that the Dark Elves in the temple exploded blood and all with Demons emerging from their corpses, when the party approached. Some of these happened to be monsters that the party had never faced before. They came close to succumbing to madness themselves, and they are only halfway through the temple.
Nuzlocke:
Well I made it through everything else in this post. I’m still extremely exhausted, so this post should be shorter than the rest. But you all came here for one thing. The Nuzlocke Story. Make sure to check out my Twitch Channel where this story happens in real time.
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 7:
Continuing onward passed Cerulean City I entered Route 5 and caught Lady Bird the Ledian. Past here and through an underground tunnel I found myself on Route 6 where I caught Homer the Golduck.
As I entered Vermillion City, I remembered that I could snag an old rod here. Wondering if only water Pokemon swam in the ocean in this strange and twisted Kanto, I tried my luck. And instead of fish, I found a bird: Bird Jesus the Pidgeot had risen again. Fully evolved this time.
Next up, I entered the S. S. Anne and fished in the water nearby, curious to know if I would find more birds. To my pleasant surprise, I found Hypno Toad the Poliwhirl instead. After fighting my way through the ship and crushing JYB again, I got the Cut HM and prepared to battle L.T. Surge.
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 8:
I bested the silly garbage can puzzle, remembering my experience in another universe with the same gimmick and battle the Gym Leader. He surprised me with yet another Feraligatr. Lots of trainers have sent out this mon. The rest of his team was much less threatening. A Horsea and Nuzleaf rounded out the battle. Not sure what he used to zap people with electricity.
Next I went to Route 11 and caught 420 Blaze the Exeggutor. Afterwards I battled some dangerous trainers. Notably a group of Gamblers calling themselves Gamers each managed to have Mythical and Legendary Pokemon including Lugia, Mew, Celebi, and Kyogre. No wonder they gamble.
Next I entered Diglett’s cave and although I caught Minus DKP the Minun, the place needed to be renamed Squirtle Tunnel. The place was just crawling with them.
At the other end of the tunnel, I found myself near Pewter City again. I used this chance to grab an Old Amber from the Museum. Also I tried my hand fishing in Veridian City. To my astonishment I fished up Zapdos.
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 9:
Should I be surprised that only a walk away from the Mewtwo Fields another Pokemon of myth roamed free? Vowing to return later, I left and went back to Pallet Town. Once again I fished, and this time Stop Back the Lickitung came out of the water.
On the way back to Squirtle Cave, I found one of Professor Oak’s Aids. Despite the many Pokemon I caught, he only cared about the ones that should have been in Kanto. Maybe I am not the only one aware of all the strangeness. Unfortunately I needed 10. I possessed 9. No Flash HM for me. Rock Tunnel was gonna be tough.
Returning to Cerulean City, my next friend met was Waste the Kabuto on Route 9. The Lord of Democracy did not belong in a world of chaos. Speaking of Chaos, I next met Sin the Sableye on Route 10.
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 10:
Rock Tunnel loomed next and was pitch black inside. Unlike my last adventure, I didn’t have a way to light up the darkness. But I trudged onward, confidant that I could make it through. I caught RollingOut the Donphan near the entrance.
My adventure had not been marked by death until this dark part of the journey. But no beacon to light my way foreshadowed tragedy. I ran into a trainer with the legendary golem Registeel. Fearing a deadly explosion, I used Sproot. But even though I kept it asleep, I did not kill it fast enough. It was not explosions that did poor Sproot in, but metal claws.
Digging my way out of the cave, I brought 420 Blaze onto the team to try and make up for a missing friend. And after some training to help it catch up, I was ready to travel through Rock Tunnel once more. This time, I made it through.
After emerging on the other side, I made my way to Lavender Town, the graveyard in this country. First I entered the Pokemon Tower and took on JYB again. He claimed that none of my Pokemon were dead. For the sake of Sproot who very much is dead, I put him in his place.
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 11:
Next, I ventured away from this place and onto Route 8. Here I found Spores2 the Bulbasaur. I named him after Spores, the starter of my very first adventure. I reflected for a moment on the fact that each time I went through Rock Tunnel I lost a friend, and then carried on.
After traveling through another underground tunnel, I found myself on Route 7. Here I met Mine!? the Wingul and ventured just a bit farther into Celadon City. As one of the larger towns in the region, I found plenty to do. First I snagged Gold Masct the Raichu from a house and then visited the massive department store nearby to buy some much needed items. Notably I found Great Balls at long last.
Before anything else, I decided to go take on Erika the next Gym Leader. She claimed to be a Grass Type Master. However, in this strange Kanto filled with random chaos, she actually was a Flying Type Leader. She used Murkrow, Pelliper, and Swablu. Armed with 4 Badges I decided to get into some mischief.
I entered Celadon Game Corner and prepared to force a 10 year old girl to take on a criminal organization. I fought many Team Rocket Grunts along the way. Some of them used Pokemon such as Jirachi which made me wonder why they served Team Rocket at all. Guess that is why they are grunts. Armed with incredible power, they still could not tap into their resources.
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 12
After making sure to crush every single one of the Grunts and extorting money from them, I took on their leader, Giovanni. He started things off impressively with a Zapdos and even took it farther with a Typhlosian. But apparently no one in this world had all their team slots filled with strong Pokemon. His last member was a Snubbul. I won against organized crime yet again and gained the Silph Scope as a prize. Also, Menace evolved into Shelgon becoming much harder to kill.
I took a slight detour onto Route 16 and caught Palindrome the Girafarig and earned myself the Fly HM. Armed with this tool and better Pokeballs, it was finally time to capture Mewtwo and Zapdos. So I flew back to Veridian City and prepared for awesome.
Despite fearing the worst, I managed to claim Freiza the Mewtwo as my own and even fished up Thor2 Zapdos. Training Freiza was a breeze and I felt renewed confidence. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Thor2. Rather because of my confidence, I was rewarded with a Pineco exploding in its face. Furious that I lost Thor2, I brought back Hotrod.
Next I ventured back to Lavender Town and climbed Pokemon Tower. Thanks to the Silph Scope, I could see Ghosts. The trainers here had succumbed to ghostly possession, and thanks to the power of Entropy, these ghosts had not been such before death. I only imagine how frightening it is to be haunted by the ghost of a Steelix for example. Three such trainers experienced this problem. I caught Kum the Muk as I reached the top.
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 13
Before I could reach the final floor I was attacked by a Marowak Ghost. Despite all the other chaotic changes, this had remained the same from my last adventure. Also staying the same, Team Rocket had invaded the top floor. While their teams were better than in my last adventure, they were still Team Rocket Grunts. After saving some old man, I got a Pokeflute as a reward.
Next I cleared some Sleeping Pokemon out of the way. The first didn’t strike me as remarkable to even remember. The second turned out to be Erik the Mr Mime. I have a friend who hates Mimes. I always name mine after him. So I hope he reads this and groans.
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 14:
On Route 12, I found the Super Rod. Curious to know what I would fish up with this better item, I tried. Somehow I fished up GIF the Porygon. I didn’t know raw data lived in the water. Next I continued to Route 13 and caught Mari the Chikorita.
Route 14 came next, but I didn’t have the Cut move taught to any of my Pokemon and couldn’t reach where wild Pokemon lived. Next I went to Route 15 and caught Spiny the Sandslash.
I reached Fuchsia City and its vast Safari Zone. Excited to see what the Entropy God had in store for me there, I entered. I caught JamesBaxtr the Rapidash, Naruto the Scyther, Its a Trap the Wynaut, and Dark Claw the Corphish. But more importantly I got the Surf HM alongside the means to get the Strength HM. Armed with these two powerful attacks, I ventured away from Fuchsia City, wanting to explore more before taking on Gym Leader Koga.
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 15:
Next, I entered Route 18 where something extremely powerful lurked. Neptune the Kyogre appeared in the grass and summoned powerful storms as a grand entrance. Laughing maniacally as I realized the seas were mine to command, I set off back to Route 14. Opening the way to the area I missed, I was rewarded with Blown Away the Skiploom for my trouble.
Returning back to the area where wild Kyogre roamed, I traveled up the massive hill that was Cycling Road and caught Spiral2 the Fearow in what actually was its natural habitat in the non chaotic Kanto. Now that I had explored basically everywhere else that I could, I went to the final place left open to me.
Saffron City sat in the middle of Kanto just like it had before. I no longer needed to use tunnels to skip it. I walked in and challenged the fighting Dojo nearby. At the end, I was rewarded with Artic Boom the Articuno. Just where had they found such a Pokemon?
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 16:
I also saw Team Rocket wandering the streets and commanded the 10 year old girl I controlled to confront them once again. Thus I climbed the Silph Co skyscraper and mugged all the Team Rocket Grunts. I few Scientists made the mistake of fighting me too.
Speaking of mistakes, JYB had apparently tailed me. I was forced to battle him again. He didn’t stand a chance against me. After all, I had Neptune and Frieza. What could he possibly do against that? A nearby Silph Co Employee gave me Dimurge the Slaking. Why did they do this? I have no idea honestly.
Speaking of hopelessness, Giovanni was at the top of the tower and armed with a new team. But new does not always mean better. This time around he used Pinser, Rattata, Aggron, and Piloswine. I questioned his use of the rat since his grunts were not even using such a weak Pokemon. Oh well. This time I got a Master Ball for saving the day. Apparently saving rich Capitalists means I get free stuff. But wait, isn’t that Communism?
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 17:
I needed to train a bit after this misadventure. I had two gym leaders to take on and I wanted to be ready. This didn’t take long, and soon I was smashing my way through Sabrina’s Gym.
When I faced her she claimed to be a Psychic Pokemon Master. I laughed at her claim and sent out Freiza, the worlds strongest Psychic Type Pokemon. Instead of telepaths, she had a Smeargle, Crobat, Seviper, and Kingler. Well well well, it seems I finally fought a Gym Leader with no pre evolved Pokemon. It was going to happen eventually.
I went for a double hit and took on Koga in Fuchsia City next. He used Nosepas, Primape, Lapras, and Weepinbell. While his team was not as strong as Sabrina’s, his Lapras tried to use Perish Song on me. Koga impressed me by knowing to switch his own Pokemon out before it died to its own attack. Still, I prevailed and claimed my sixth badge.
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 18:
Finally I could use Surf. And a whole lot of places opened up to check out. Also my Menace finally evolved into Salamence. I could not contain my glee. All the hard work finally paid off.
Before I went exploring though, I returned to Celedon City and went fishing. I was rewarded with Igneal the Dragonair for my trouble. Nice to know that I have a backup Dragon.
Next, I ventured to the power plant. I couldn’t reach this place without Surf earlier. While exploring, I caught Swallow the Taillow. But the strangeness intensified when I examined a Poke ball on the floor and a Raiku appeared. Unfortunately, the Pokemon used roar and scared my team away before I could catch it. A pity really. At the end, I found a Zapdos. Strange since this was one of the few things that was the same as in the original Kanto. I did not catch it though. There was no way I could replace Thor2.
There were more places to see with Surf. I returned to Cerulean City to check out one such spot. This time, I caught GinjaNinja the Haunter in the water. I guess ghosts live in water?
Leafgreen Randomizer Part 19:
Speaking of water, south of Fuchsia City sat an actual ocean. I went there next. Apparently dangerous exploding things lived in the water here. On Route 19, I encountered DieMiltank the Graveler while on Route 20, I caught ?BooM? the Weezing.
Before I could make it to Cinnabar Island, I trekked through Seafoam Islands. I caught Smol Wish the Togepi and solved some boulder puzzles. After encountering Zapdos in his rightful place, I assumed I would meet an Articuno at the bottom. But I didn’t. And the universe became so strange when a Butterfree appeared instead that I ran away out of fright. I might return and catch it later if I feel bold.
Leafgreen Randmizer Part 20:
Free of the Seafoam Islands, Cinnabar Island was only a short swim away. Once on the island, I finally had my Helix Fossil revived. But the Lord of Anarchy disappointed me when it transformed into Clone the Taillow. What did not disappoint was a friendly NPC that wanted a Scyther. And what he was willing to give in exchange was too powerful to ignore.
I traded him Naruto and in exchange, gained ESPHERE The Metang. A team armed with two Psudo-legendaries? Count me in. I better train it up. It will soon be an extremely powerful teammate.
Closing Thoughts:
Well, that post ended up longer than I thought it would be. I guess that is a good thing. I am very worried that July is gonna be another tough month for me. Can I please catch a break?