A Brilliant Diamond Story

Chapter 4: Loss, Toss and Cross

So, it was quick journey and a few fights through Route 209 before we ended up in Solaceon Town, which had more than I expected. Throughout the entire game up to this point, you're told, "Oh, it's just a silly old town! Nobody does anything! It's so calm and peaceful!" Even the town slogan is "A Place without Worry!"

Oh, but, by the by, ancient ruins sitting on the outskirts of town. Nothing to worry about!

Being an absolute lore fanatic, a "lore whore" if you will, I was immediately foaming at the mouth to see what these ruins had in store. I'd played the original Diamond, and I didn't remember these ruins at all, so now I was getting excited. I loved a good mystery!

So, we enter the ruins, and the first thing we see is a wall written in Unown letters, giving us directions such as "Upper Right" and "Lower Left." I wrote them all down immediately, my adventure sense gone beyond tingling and now outright vibrating as I started making my way through the ruins. Every room was a mirror of the the last; four staircases in each corner of the room. So, ancient ruins, with a maze, with a clue written in Unown script. If this didn't lead to Giratina or some ancient tablets, I was going to be very upset.

So, we pressed on, not so much walking through the ruins as bouncing with excitement through them, that signature mystical ruin music playing in my ears, whispering sweet nothings and promises of treasure at the end of this maze.

While down there, Zippy evolved into Luxray, so now he was more badass than ever, and we pressed on.

And then, we reached the end of the ruins. Inside was a small room, with 4 items, and a phrase on the wall. Feeling like Indiana Jones now, I deciphered it:

"Friendship. All lives touch other lives, to create something anew, and alive."

Oh, that had terrifying implications. And I loved it.

Each item was unique, I found. First was the Mind Plate, which an engraving said was the leftover shards from when the Universe was created.

Yeah, definitely a safe thing to keep in your bag. But hey, stone tablets!

Next up was an Odd Incense, which the item description said was one of those items that boosts a certain type of move.

After that was a Nugget, so hell yeah, I was gonna be rich.

And finally, we had a Rare Candy. Good for leveling, thankfully.

And then...I was left questioning. This is what I had come for? No greater mystery? No almighty secret, hidden by an ancient people for fear of its power or for reverence of its wisdom?

The items made the trip worth it, at least, but I still felt jipped.

After that whole ordeal, it was a quick trip up Route 210 and across Route 215, where we fought...a pair of Ace Trainers.

And this...this is where things got ugly.

They had interesting Pokemon to say the least; one had Glameow and Kadabra, the other had Monferno and Gyarados. And this Gyarados...dammit, I'm sorry. I couldn't do anything to stop it.

Flock was still on near-full HP, and out-leveled the damn thing by 7 levels. We were fine.

And then Gyarados used Waterfall.

And Flock was killed. In a blink, Flock was just...gone.

Dammit...Dammit!

There was nothing I could've done. Beav steamrolled the Gyarados in retaliation, but that death...that one stung, hard.

We buried him there, beneath the trees.

Goodbye, Flock. We hope you're roosting in the Great Beyond. Put in a good word for us.

The only good news to come from that, was that Leaf evolved into Torterra in the same fight, but this...this was something I hadn't seen coming. Doing so well, and gone the next...

We won't forget you, Flock. Watch over us.

With that heartbreak weighing the team down, we eventually made it to Veilstone City, where we picked up a Ponyta I had just caught back on Route 215 that I named Blitz­ø, and yes, dear readers, that is a Helluva Boss reference, feel free to go nuts down in the comments. But with our team back to full strength, we went through rigorous training to get Blitz­ø up on par with the rest of the team, and eventually challenged Maylene.

Gym #3: Maylene

Type: Fighting

Click laid most of this Gym to waste. He one-shot every Pokemon that came at us with his Air Cutter crits, and got us to Maylene with no trouble. He swept most of her team with ease, and I thought we had this in the bag.

But then came her Lucario.

It got off a Bulk Up and a Screech on Click, since its Steel-typing meant Click couldn't annihilate it with his Flying moves. And then, it dropped a Metal Claw...and almost instantly killed Click.

Now I was sweating. If this thing hit Click again, it was game over. If I healed Click and the Lucario got a crit, it was also game over.

But thankfully, after comparing stats, I figured out what to do. I clean-switched Leaf to predict the Metal Claw, which Leaf's way higher Defense Stat ate up with ease, and when it went to Bulk Up again, Leaf crushed it with an Earthquake, decimating its Steel-typing, and the third Gym Badge was ours. No casualties, thank God.

Moving out of the Gym, I suddenly received a Mystery Gift alert, and got ahold of a Manaphy Egg. So...apparently that's a thing now? I wouldn't have need of Manaphy, given our rules about Mystery Gift Pokemon, but I also got some drip, boooooy! The clothes from the Platinum game were apparently available.

So after changing into my fire new clothes, which looked even more fire in the revamped graphics, I met Dawn in the middle of town, saying Team Galactic had stolen her Pokedex. Why a gang with enough cash to install buildings into cities across the region seemingly overnight was stealing from people was beyond me, but I obviously agreed to help her. We crushed those Grunts with ease, and with that, it was time for me to head down Route 214 towards Pastoria City. Going down the route, the Egg we received finally hatched, and I was surprisingly delighted to see a Happiny emerge! I'd heard nothing but good things about its final evolution, Blissey, people stating it was an absolute tank of a Pokemon, so I decided to take Egg along for the ride.

We passed through Valor Lakefront, meeting two of the game's developers along the way, not kidding, beat up an entire restaurant of people, clobbered a few children, outran the Child Protective Services, got lost in that stupid Valor Lakefront Resort that has the same layout as a Mirror Maze I once went to, and arrived at Pastoria City. I was super excited to be here, because this is where the Safari Zone was, and for those of you don't know, in the Safari Zone is where you can catch Croagunk. And for those of you who still don't know, which is everyone, Toxicroak is one of my favorite Pokemon ever.

Now, the Nuzlocke rules of a Safari Zone are as such: when you enter, you are allowed the one game. While there, catch as many Pokemon as you want, and you may take one with you, and release the rest. So, fingers crossed for what we're here for!

And with that, I set off into the Safari Zone, and hoped for the best.