Chapter 10

AN- Been a while, but here we go. All the gameplay has been done, so just write ups remain. Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! At all!

Last time on You've Been Nuzlocked, Ron bit the bullet but Blake's been recruited by Our Hero to replace him! And now Our Hero ventures into the Dessert to train further. Just what will he find there? Read on to find out!

"I hate sand." Stated Jim. "I have never had to endure so much infernal sand. Its everywhere. Its everything. Its legion, its many, it is one." The trainer declared solemnly. "And the being that embodies the will of the sand clearly dislikes me, so endeavours to keep putting sand just in the bottom of my sock where I literally can't get rid of it."

Nobody responded; nobody really cared. Blake took open joy in his trainers dismay, while Sparky agreed. Simon did care, but his care was unwanted- when Simon had blasted him with water earlier to try and please his Mwaster, Jim had discovered that being covered in mud didn't help at all.

Suffice to say, Jim was in a bad mood. Now that he had trudged through all the damned sand to get to the Dessert Resort to get some EXP, he was hungry for blood to take out some of his frustration.

"Just sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, sand, oooh- Pokemon!" The Greatball Jim had found earlier was thrown, and in a flash the vaguely red form Jim had seen in the sand was whooshed into the ball, shook several times and clicked shut. "Sand, sand, and more sand."

At last, when he saw a nearby trainer, he immediately propositioned him for a battle, only stopping to pick up his new Pokemon, vowing to open it afterwards and find out just what he species he had found.

"Nah." Said the trainer, a psychic. "I predict victory, and don't want to fight another weakling. Already people know not challenge me."

"Pwh." Jim snorted. "Who cares? Bring on your Pokemon! I have EXP to get and more to steal!"

The opponent raised one smug eyebrow. "Very well. Come on out, Solosis!" From the depths of the ball came the psychic type, whom suspended itself in the air via a green type of telekenisis.

"Hmm... its green. Probably grass/psychic, but who cares? I'm above the level here, so I should get some easy EXP."

"Go on then, Roy. Lets melt some stuff." Roy trotted forwards, farting with every step. Looking on with what could be described only as parental pride now that his weak monkey had come into itself to abuse the hell out of its bowel problems, Jim prepared himself for the curbstomp. "Fart-thrower!"

The fire attack blasted out like the breath of a dragon- it should have been over, or at least lowered a bunch of health. Roy was the second highest level in the team now, so he better damn well be able to. Instead the Solosis came out smelling of daisies (And the mornings breakfast), apparently untouched.

"You fool, my Psycic type has huge special stats!"

"But its a grass type isn't it?"

The trainer laughs. "What gave you that idea?"

"Ummm... its covered in green energy?" Jim offered lamely.

"No. Its psychic."

"Even so! Roy, hit it some more!"

Roy bent down, eager to comply.

"Psybeam." The beam of power stuck Roy full on, bringing the monkey past the half way point.

"Okay, that thing is a heavy hitter. Return!" Roy fled the battle, and Simon leapt in instead.

"Lets dwo this! Fwor Mwaster~"

"Psybeam."

"Ouchwies~" Simon said from the floor, having immediately been nailed as soon as he was pulled into the battle.

"Retur-"

"Damn it already!" Sparky cursed, this time in red.

"Screw it." Said Jim. At this rate his entire team was going to be kicked in the shin as soon at they come out. This opponent was pissing him off! "Roy, take over and kick some ass already!"

He would just have to rely on Roy's speed to get out unharmed. Even so, he tossed out a Super Potion for the fire type, which eagerly used it. "Come on Roy! Dodge! Take this thing out!"

"Psybeam!" The beam was fired, and so Roy moved. He attacked, spraying fire and igniting his own gases, blasting the enemy as he moved. Even so, the enemy didn't resist but didn't fall. "Hyper Potion."

"DAMN YOU!"

'All that work... all the depleted health... wasted.'

"Psybeam." Now Roy's luck had failed. The blast of energy brushed against him, shooting through him. His full health should have allowed him to survive but get off one last hit to finish it off, but now Solosis was at full health. And Roy wasn't.

"Damn it." Cursed Jim. He couldn't pull up, couldn't run away. If he pulled out Roy, another would take the hit. His only chance was Blake, the dark type, but he was still weak. If the enemy had even a single other typed attack, Blake was dead, and with him the chances in the upcoming Gym battle.

So he had two choices. Sacrifice Roy and take the chance to fully heal another person, relying on them to survive a single hit before taking out Solosis, or relying on Blake. Either way, it was risky. Again Jim was reminded of just how death seemed to follow him; in a typical trainer battle like this, there should have been no risk, but this Solosis was too tough. He hated it, but he had to make a choice- one he didn't want to make. So what should he do?

The indecision showed. The next Psybeam nailed Roy full on, dropping him.

"ROY!" Screamed Jim, tearing his throat apart in the fear. He'd been with Roy so long, since the first Gym! Don't let him be dead!

Roy rose. Like a zombie, on the verge of death, but he rose. Then he turned and smiled at Jim. It was the most emotional he had ever looked, the only sign of intelligence or interaction he had given apart from his farts or vacant look. So he smiled, then he said the first and only words that Jim would ever hear. "Bye. Friend."

Then Roy took the choice from Jim's hands- whether to sacrifice the fire monkey or not. Roy charged at Solosis, a futile act of determination. The floating Pokemon didn't see Roy as a threat, it didn't dodge as Roy leapt- able to take literally anything Roy had already thrown out so far. This was a new skill though. "Fart-splosion."

The self destruction move detonated like a bomb, and then only a crater was left behind where the two used to be.

"No. NO!" Shouted out Jim. "Why Roy!? Why him!? Why so soon! DAMN IT ALL!"

"Wow, you actually won." Said the owner of Solosis in surprise. "Sorry about the Pansear, but easy come easy go."

"EASY COME? EASY GO!?"

"Yup." He shrugged. "Give me a moment. I'll get your money!"

"THIS ISN'T ABOUT THE MONEY!" Bellowed Jim in anger. "This... it isn't." He looked to where Roy had once been, and the scorched ground and glazed glass where sand once stood. Victory tasted bitter, and still seemed like a defeat.

"Not even a body to bury." Said Prim in shock. She had known Roy for so much longer than she had Ron- this death had an impact. It had meaning. She shed a silent tear, while Simon looked on and blubbered.

Kamina instead seemed angry. "Why the hell didn't you send me in!? I could have taken it! Nobody had to die!"

"No you couldn't." Snapped the distraught trainer. "You're a fighting type! If you so much as set foot on that battlefield I would have been letting you die!"

"Better to die as a man than live as a Mincinno!" Kamina stormed away from the group. Sparky watched with Blake as Kamina rushed away. Then reluctantly, he followed after him. Kamina was a loud voiced, arrogant, egoistic muscle headed moron, but Sparky had known him for a while now. Sparky had to get rid of the guilty feeling in his gut somehow.

But they all got over it, and the adventure continued.

Eventually Jim, tired of being angry and shouting at the skies, picked up his stuff and moved on. He had to fight on, to not give in. He couldn't. This Nuzlocke... he would complete it! Even if it killed him! Pup had been first, followed by poor Bruce, then Ron, and now Roy. Four had already died to get this far, to get three gym badges. To turn back now would be to spit on their efforts and invalidate their deaths. So he'd remember them, but carry on.

Kamina returned, rage quelled. His talk with Sparky would remain unknown, but a bond of mutual respect now hung between them. Kamina and Jim said nothing, but nodded. It was time to get serious- to get training. No more deaths. No more.

XXXXXXXXXX

Through the sandstorm and raging winds, Jim could spot the crumbled remains of ruins- a path deep underground. Many trainers had been neaten in these conditions to get here, but Jim had reached Relic Castle. Stumbling through to get to the stone steps leading deep into the ground, he was happy to be out of the sandstorm.

"Well, might as well find out who the new addition to the team is." Jim threw his Greatball, watching the small figure appear. Small and red and round, with three yellow marks on its stomach and little limbs, Jim recognised it from his first Pokemon Black playthrough. "A Darumaka eh?"

"Huh? Wh-where am I?" The identified fire type asked in confusion. "I-is this the Relic Castle?"

"Yeah, it is." Sparky trotted forwards. "And as for why you're here, this idiot's decided to catch you and add to his Pokemon team."

"Of course." Jim noted grandly. It was rather lucky that he had found a fire type just before Roy... died... but he wasn't one to refuse good luck. "Darumaka's are pretty damn cool, and when they evolve they become real tanks! Seriously, their attack stat is unreal! Thus, you shall be a strong addition to the team, and will no doubt fight with great strength!"

"Ummm... excuse m-me but-"

"So I will give you a strong name. You will now be called Lee, after a certain spandex wearing badass." Say what you will about Naruto, Rock Lee was pretty awesome.

"But I'm a g-girl." Stuttered the Pokemon.

"Oh... well I guess you will be Li, after Chun Li, a great warrior."

"Excellent! You may be a girl, but clearly you will be an excellent addition to this team!" Kamina declared loudly, readjusting his glasses. "We will train and train and train, and then we'll pierce even the heavens, Li! You'll stoke your flames until even the gods die, and if you don't then you'll do a thousand push ups!"

"B-but, I don't want to train." Li said demurely, twiddling her small fists cutely.

"Ahhh~" Prim cooed. "Aren't you adorable?" The grass type rounded on Kamina. "And you! Stop trying to give your ridiculous training habits to Li!"

"D-do I have to train?" Li seemed really against the idea of getting stronger.

"Look, pretty much half of us here are being forced on this adventure against our will." Sparky said. "Like, I think Simon is the only one who likes tagging along. So I guess you'd better get used to being forced to fight against your will."

"When you put it like that, I sound quite nefarious..." Jim pondered. "I prepare to think of it as 'helping others get stronger whether they want to or not', or perhaps N has converted me to the 'Nanoha friendship creator' style of recruitment."

"Ahh still hate ya, sooo much, boss." Blake reminded, then turned to Li and gestured for her to join himself and Sparky. "Now how'd ya like ta help plan ah murder?"

"I d-don't like fighting. Sorry." Li said sadly. "S-so murder sounds really harsh."

Jim sighed. "I must be the only trainer in Unova who has half of his team actively trying to plot his murder."

"Th-there Mr Trainer." Li patted his leg sympathetically. "I m-might not want to be here, but you n-need me, right?"

"Yeah, a fire type would be wonderful on my team."

"T-then since you need me, I'll help you." Li decided. "I don't know if I'll be any g-good, but I'll try."

"Thank you." Jim said honestly. "We're going through a rough patch because two of our friends recently died in this dessert, so I'm grateful that you are willing to help. And besides which, you can call me Jim."

"JJJIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMM!" The unnatural roar resounded through the ruins, and Jim blinked in confusion, looking round. He was only in the opening foyer of the ruins and he and his team was alone, so who was calling him?

"YOOOOOUUU!" The voice bellowed, an odd echo following every syllable. Then, a form burst through the nearest wall of the ruin. The figure didn't crash through or leave any indentation on the wall, rushing straight through as if it wasn't even there.

Then Jim had no more time to think, because the small form was aiming straight for him, red eyes glaring at him hatefully.

"Back off!" Sparky growled, coat sparking with electricity. He charged, smacking into the spectral existence with a Spark attack. "If anyone's going to murder my damned trainer, its going to be! So wait your turn!"

"SHUUUTTT UUPPPP!" It cried, lashing out with its small limbs.

Jim stood back, watching as the black Pokemon shrugged off the electricity and began flying towards him.

"Go away, you baka!" Prim threw out some Stun Spore's to stop its movement.

"HOW DAAAREEE YOU!" The now paralysed ghost bellowed. "SCREW! YOU! JIM!"

"No, screw you!" The human had no idea what he had done to piss off that masked ghost, but he didn't want to deal with it. Instead, he went for his bag and threw a Pokeball at the severely weakened Pokemon.

"NOOOT AGAAA-" The ghost was cut off, being sucked in before he could finish. Clearly it struggled, but the ball stayed shut, stopping its rocking with a satisfying click.

"Wooh." Jim breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wow. Even th' dead hate ya guts, Boss." The ground type noted.

"You could have helped."

"True, but ah hoped he'd main ya first." Trust Blake to hope his trained got brutally injured.

Looking down at the Pokeball in some level of fear, he wondered just what he had done to make it so hateful. He had never met it before, but it knew his name...

"Okay guys. I'm going to open it up now, so you guys better get ready to hit him if he pulls something."

"Fine." Sparky rolled his eyes. Blake stood next to him reluctantly, though the others in the party readily prepared themselves more.

"Gh-ghosts are scary." Noted Li.

"Hah! Like hell!" Kamina shouted. "Who cares if I can't physically hit them? Who cares if Fighting Types can't make contact? I'LL KEEP PUNCHING THEM UNTIL REALITY ITSELF GIVES UP AND JUST LETS ME STRIKE THEM!"

"And the sad thing for that baka, is that it isn't totally implausible." Said Prim grudgingly.

"I knew you'd come to appreciate my charms eventually!"

"Humph!" The grass type didn't even justify that with an answer.

"I'm letting it out now." Jim warned, tossing the ball to the floor and carefully analysing the sparking form of the caught Pokemon.

The ghost looked around hatefully, realising it was surrounded and hurt. "Here again, eh Jim?" He growled- it was definitely a male voice now that it wasn't booming.

"How do you know me?" He replied.

"Look closer- go on." The Yamask, as its species was known, sneered back.

Jim took out the Pokedex in his bag and saw what it had to say, noting how it said that a Yamask's mask resembled that of the dead human it once was.

"Did I once know you?"

"Look. Closer!"

And Jim did. He really did, and then he saw. It wasn't a human mask. No. It was a golden form of a face he had seen fairly recently- the metal face of a Patrat wearing a bandanna.

"RON!? You're alive!?" Jim said in wonder and happiness, wondering if it was really him.

"Of course it is, you asshole!" Ron growled. "NOOO! It wasn't enough to catch me, then leave me alone at That Place, but then you had to get me killed! And then I wasn't allowed to rest, oh no. Somehow I became a YAMASK of all things!"

"How did wou anyway~?" Asked Simon, eyes wide with curiosity. "Pwoffesor said Yamask's were humwans."

"Well how Should I KNOW!?" Ron said indignantly. "I have no damn idea! It makes no sense! But it happened anyway! And so here I am, unable to even Tackle, stuck with all these stupid Ghost powers I can't properly use, and then I SENSED you!"

"You sensed me?"

"Yeah- I could feel your wretched presence a mile off!" The Ex-Patrat hissed. "You couldn't even LEAVE me alone! You came here, and then you CAUGHT ME AGAIN! EVEN IN DEATH I CAN'T ESCAPE YOU!"

"In my defence, you attacked me."

"And now I can't even SMOKE ANYMORE!" Ron was on a roll now, his rant picking up momentum. "You are such a selfish, arrogant PRICK! I hope you die, and that you-"

"Okay, that's enough of that. Return." Jim picked up the Pokeball, and activated it to return the ghost type. "If you're going to be such a prick about it, I'm sending you to the Box... Ronnie." Jim finished, settling on a new nickname for the Yamask. Yes, he was a different species now after all. "Regardless of what happened, I'm amazed you're alive, but if you're just going to be a prick then you can rot in the box for all I care. Well, got anything to say?"

The Pokeball sat there unresponsively.

"Have you ever thought of not sending the volatile psychopathic Pokemon to an isolated location that you know he will hate and will inevitably take out on you later?" Sarcastically suggested Sparky.

"Oh no! Our team already had six party members!" Declared Jim in mock shock, changing topics. "Looks like we literally can't carry any more pokemon."

"You're an asshole, you know that?" The electric type shook his head.

"True- but better than as Asswipe."

So the team is filled once more, and Ronnie emerges triumphantly from the grave! But what now? With a full team and an upcoming gym battle, we all know what this mean... TRAINING MONTAGE! Tune in next time as we look at whether Our Hero will ever NOT overlevel his team before a gym battle, whether he actually becomes a decent human being and whether Ronnie and Our Hero will be like they once were, back when Ronnie was the HM slave. So look forwards to the next chapter of You've Been Nuzlocked!

AN- I have nothing to say- I hate that dessert. Two Pokemon lost, but two gained. Li is cool, and so is Ronnie. In game I called him that without realising he sounded similar to Ron, then an idea came together... one that is canonically impossible due to Yamask's being HUMAN spirits not Pokemon... but still... a plan... just blame the narrator.

So did you enjoy? Liking the humour and the characters? Got any feedback? Anyway, off to revise for my A Levels. Undying Soul out.