Blue IV

A lot of things have happened, and I didn't want to include an update until things turned around so that I could end on a happy note.

Unfortunately, it appears that happy note will have to be with my child, as I no longer have a tale to tell.

I traveled through Mt. Moon with my team of powerhouses, wiping Team Rocket, largely through a combination of Mortimer (who managed to evolve into Ivysaur), and Uve. Until the final Team Rocket mook who was guarding the exit. He only had a single Raticate, and he was more than willing to sacrifice that Raticate to cripple the terror of organized crime: Siege.

So I sent out Mortimer, who was most qualified to deal with the threat. And a single critical hit Hyper Fang destroyed my oldest friend.

Through the tears, I sent out Petrokolos, my dedicated glass cannon, which destroyed his evolved form while he reveled in his victory. The entire affair was dry, though - I didn't even feel like getting back at the individual mook who took Mortimer away from me. This organization needed to fall, and I would be the one to make them.

Leaving the ruins of a hastily-crafted cave system behind, I made my way to Cerulean City, where Misty was waiting for me. I found Clarice - a second Pidgey - and she died to another member of the hated organization at the end of a racket known as Nugget Bridge. I made my way to Bill's and found some strange science fiction experiment was ongoing, but I cared naught.

Instead, I went to all the locales I could to find more of a team to help me on my quest. The only ones willing to answer the call, however, were Pidgeys. Npheara joined the team proper, while Scout, Bermuda, and Nother waited in the - excuse the pun - wings. I hoped that I'd never have to call on them. That their well-meaning sacrifice would never have to be used.

But I needed to defeat the next gym leader. Not for any particular hatred for the tomboy mermaid - or even the gym system as a whole - but because I needed to become stronger. I needed my team to become beef muffins to take on the Rocket.

And that was where I made my mistake. I was too eager.

I made my way to Misty and took care of her Staryu without much of an issue. But then her Starmie, with it's disgusing Bubble Beam, destroyed my team.

Amanda, the first to evolve into a Pigeotto, had the best chance at taking it head-on, but she failed. Uve's trump card - Confusion - did nothing to the psychic mon, but he thought a bit out the box and managed to throw a poison on the beast before he fell as well. The only other members of my team to do anything worthwhile were Npheara, who put enough Sand Attack on the overwhelming force that accuracy became an issue, and Petrokolos who whittled her strength down to, but not quite all the way, null.

And that is how I died.

Not literally, of course. But my time as a trainer is over. My team has lost, and even if I could find the motivation to return to the Storage System and grab the plethora of Pidgeys I have waiting, I know that they would just die in my unskilled hands.

Also, I'm sure I have PTSD. Watching 8 of your friends die on your orders kinda has an effect on a guy.