Red
A Nuzlocke of Pokemon FireRed Version

Chapter 1: Out of the Void

"Welcome to the world of Pokémon!"

I could hear the voice, but I couldn't tell what it was saying exactly. Everything sounded gargled and muted. The only thing I knew was that I was laying down on a smooth surface, and my heart was keeping me alive with a metronomic pounding.

"My name is Professor Oak!" I could hear the voice continuing.

It sounded male, and an older male at that. I didn't want to open my eyes to identify the speaker. The glaring light from the other side of my eyelids would certainly blind me if I tried. Then again, laying here and listening to him without any idea of where I was and who was talking to me wasn't a very exciting prospect either.

I slowly opened my eyes. The brightness stunned me for a few seconds, and everything around me was painful to look at. Once I adjusted, I observed my surroundings…but there was nothing to observe. Gray, as far as the eye can see. There was no sense of distance or direction. As far as I could tell, the only things that existed were myself, the surface I was standing on, and the voice.

The voice. Where was it coming from?

"…So tell me about yourself! Are you a boy or a girl?"

The voice, or Professor Oak, as it called itself, was talking incoherently as I was waking up. Eventually, my hearing returned and I could process his question. I looked around once more, searching for the voice's source so I could respond, but there was none.

"Boy", I grunted, my voice hoarse from lack of use. As I tried clearing my throat a few times, Oak responded:

"Let's start with your name. What is it?"

I thought for a second. Should I really be giving my name to a faceless voice calling itself a professor in an endless gray void?

Sure. Why not.

"Mike", I grunted again. My sight, hearing and voice were all coming back to me now.

"Of course! Mike!" Even without a face, the professor was clearly way too excited about my answer. With nothing else to do in this…place…I decided I could listen to what he had to say.

"This is my grandson! You've been rivals since you were babies" the professor explained, and in that instant, an image of a boy appeared in front of me. He looked about my height, with a black shirt, purple pants, dark sneakers and golden brown hair. His face wore a disgruntled sneer, frozen in time.

Did he say 'rivals'? I've never seen this kid before in my life. Who the hell is he? As if on cue to the question I posed in my mind, the professor began to speak again.

"Oh dear…I can't remember his name. You wouldn't happen to know his name, would you?"

The professor sounded rather embarrassed, but as he spoke, letters appeared out of thin air (or whatever it is that was filling the space here) and began to form words.

No, not words.

Names.

I saw several names, dozens, orbiting around the image of the boy in front of me. Was I supposed to...pick one? Why? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!

Without thinking, I thrust my arm into the jumble of floating names and grabbed one. My fingers closed around something cold and metallic, and when I pulled my hand out of the cloud of letters, I looked at what I had grasped. "Gary", I read off my palm.

"Ah yes! Gary, my grandson!" The professor seemed to be having a wonderful time again. The letters in my hand vanished, along with the others, and then the image of the boy began to distort. The colors of his clothes and body were fading to white, and his frame was shrinking. The transformation lasted only a couple of seconds, but in the end, the figure I had accidentally christened as Gary was only a foot in height. His figure seemed the same, just dramatically smaller.

And then I saw my hand turn white. My whole body began to glow, as if I had floodlights under my skin. I can only assume that I shrank just like Gary had, but I couldn't feel it. All I could feel was warmth. The professor's voice rang out again:

"A brand new adventure awaits!"

And then the void of gray disappeared…

The ground beneath me felt soft and warm. Again, I had to force my eyes to adjust to the sudden change in lighting. At least this time there was something to look at…

I was in a room. A bedroom. The ground beneath me was a green carpet with yellow dots, covering about a third of a perfectly polished wooden floor. I spotted a bed (why wasn't I in THAT…), a TV with a game station, a computer atop a wooden desk and a bookshelf. It all looked rather cozy, actually.

Then I looked down at myself: black shirt under a light red and white jacket, and blue jeans. I wiggled my toes inside of their new comfortable black and red sneakers. There was a hat on my head though I don't remember it being there earlier. It was a plain red hat with a white visor and a white semicircle on the front.

I don't know where these clothes came from, but they sure were nice.

Getting myself off the floor, I approached the computer. It looked simple enough, so I figured it couldn't hurt to figure out where I was exactly. Booting up the computer didn't help with that mystery at all; the only two options on the screen were "Item Storage" and "Mailbox". Hoping for some kind of clue, I checked the mailbox first. It was empty.

"So much for that…" I grumbled. Going the only next logical step, I looked in the Item Storage. The computer prompted me as to whether I wanted to withdraw or deposit. It was at that moment I realized that I had nothing on me; no wallet, no keys, no ID. My pockets were bare.

Starting to feel frightened at the prospect of being stuck who-knows-where without any proof of who I am, I selected the withdraw option. A small purple spray-bottle appeared on screen and began to slowly revolve. Underneath it appeared some small black letters: "Potion x1". After a few seconds, I realized this must be the item that was being stored, so I selected it.

There was a low hum from the machine, and the same bottle appeared right next to my hand.

"WHAT THE" I fell back off my chair before I could finish my expletive. There it was. The image that was just now on the computer screen was now physically in front of me. After making sure it wasn't a hologram of some sort, I picked it up and examined it.

Sleek, shiny, smooth. I squeezed the trigger, and a fine mist came out of the nozzle and drifted through the air. It smelled like air freshener, but not any kind I had ever seen before. As the mist settled around me, my spirits lifted. I was no longer afraid of being identity-less in an unknown place with unknown objects or clothing of unknown origins. Everything was just…just GREAT.

I pocketed the potion and looked up. For the first time, I noticed the stairs leading into the floor. There was no door in the room, so I figured there must be a ground floor.

Then I heard it.

Footsteps. Rustling. The light clinking of glass and metal against each other. The unmistakable sounds of human movement.

I wasn't alone.

Hi everyone.

This is my first attempt at FanFiction. I love Pokemon and I love Nuzlocke. I've seen a lot of other people documenting their Nuzlockes as stories, comics or even videos, so I'm doing the same.

My story will follow the general plot of Pokemon FireRed version, with my own ideas put in, such as the history and relevance of the Gym Challenge, Silph Co. and just the general workings of the Pokemon world as we would perceive them.
The story will still be largely dictated by events that are actually happening to me in-game, including battles, captured Pokemon, casualties and so on. I have a pretty good idea of where this story will go, whether or not the Nuzlocke succeeds, but I'm writing the story as I play, so I'm just in as much suspense as you are.

Well, hopefully I write well enough that you're in MORE suspense. But we'll see.

For those of you who don't know, a Nuzlocke is a Pokemon playthrough that revolves around a set of player-imposed rules designed to make the game more challenging and emotionally significant. The rules are:

1. If a Pokemon is defeated in battle or faints, it is considered dead and cannot be used again. It must be either released or permanently boxed.

2. Only the first Pokemon encountered in a new area can be captured. Exceptions are if the Pokemon is a duplicate of one you have already caught (you can still choose to catch it, but you don't have to).

3. You must nickname every Pokemon so as to form a tighter emotional bond to them. This makes the game more engrossing and more traumatic when a team member falls.

Those are the basic Nuzlocke rules. I've added one of my own, mostly for the sake of a more interesting narrative:

4. A Pokemon may be revived with the use of a Revive or a Max Revive that was found in-game. Revives may not be purchased.

That's all I have to say at this point.

Enjoy!