A Bold Adventurer!

That's right! Yet ANOTHER topic specific blog. I kind of like these. :) This one is dedicated to one of my favorite hobbies - my life as a gamer. There will be posts about World of Warcraft, posts about random DS and Wii games, the occasional old school Playstation or (even) Sega Genesis game, and, of course, what prompted me to make this blog - Pokemon.

Yes. I'm 28 and I still play Pokemon. And love it.

Which brings me to the reason for this post today. I'm taking my time playing through my copy of Pokemon Black, enjoying all the new features and functionality, as well as the level of immersion in the game. Coming off of playing WoW, Pokemon might seem a bit old school, but the longer I play, the more I find myself sinking back into that old school of thought.

The real reason I'm making this post today, see, is because, quite simply, my Herdier is awesome.

You heard me.

His name is Davie, and he's now level 21. However, as we traveled Route 4 (amid a seriously annoying sandstorm) moving between the 3rd and 4th towns (sorry, I'm a Johto native - don't know all the new town names yet), he was the only one of all six of my Pokemon (no need to elaborate on them now - I'm sure they'll get their own bragging posts later), to survive the trip.

I admit, I was being stingy with the potions, saving up for our next Gym or Team Plasma battle. I train my pokemon hard, and if I ever get the feeling that they don't like it, I go easier on them or I release them. I'm a firebrand of a trainer, literally and figuratively (with my preferred type specialty being fire), and by the time we reach the Elite Four, my pokemon and I are always a well honed team. I know each of them and they know what I expect from them. In fact, the only person I've never been able to beat is my fiancee, but that's another story. :P

Anyway, we reach the gate to the next city and I'm congratulating Davie. He's paralyzed, but still has most of his HP, despite being the only survivor of the trip. I toy for a moment with saving before entering the city proper, but nothing's ever attacked me right off the bat in a city before - usually I have enough time to get to a Pokemon Center and heal up, first. So I walk through the gate with Davie at my side (not literally... I wish they'd kept that functionality from Soul Silver!)... and walk right into a Team Plasma battle.

I had no revives. I had no paralyze heals. I had five unconscious Pokemon and one that was paralyzed and at half health. And the worst part? The last time I'd saved was before I'd left the previous town. If I just shut down and reset, I'd have lost all the pokemon I caught, all the levels my team had gained, and three of my team had EVOLVED along that road. I tell myself now that it was those reasons why I didn't reset, but the truth is - my head was too far in the game.

There I was, a bag mostly empty of anything but Super Potions, my hand resting atop my faithful, paralyzed Herdier's head as he stood growling by my side. The Team Plasma grunt wore a self confident smirk as he tossed out his first and only pokemon - Watchog, the evolved form of Patrat. A normal type that could have any tricks up it's slim little striped sleeves.

I patted Davie on the head, told him to do his best, and sent him forward. His normal bound into battle was arrested by his paralyzation, and he more dragged himself than leaped in front of me. Thanks to his being paralyzed, he was too slow to take the first move. The Grunt called for his Watchog to use Crunch. I winced as Davie took the damage, ears laid back and eyes gritted against the pain as the weasel pokemon bit down on his shoulder. He lost a few hitpoints, but not very many.

Normally, Davie would be who I'd call out against a normal type opponent, for the sole reason that I try to make sure that each of my Pokemon are capable of using at least one move that would be super effective against themselves. In this case, Davie, being a normal type, carried Rock Smash, a fighting type move, which I'd given him the moment I came into possession of the TM. But with him paralyzed, it was a 70/30 chance that he wouldn't be able to move enough to actually utilize this move. The same went for two of his other moves - Take Down (a last ditch effort move in which the user is also damaged), and Tackle. The only move he had a better than 70/30 chance of using was Bite. So I called for that to be his first attack.

Davie strained to get his legs under him enough to launch forward in a Bite attack, but all he could manage was a tiny jerk toward the opposing Pokemon. Both the Grunt and his Watchog snickered at the feeble attempt. "Don't tell me that's all you've got!" sneered the Grunt. I could tell - in his mind, he'd already won.

"Come on, Davie. You can do it. Bide your time." I kept my head and kept talking to my loyal Herdier. Two more failed attacks and a Super Potion later, his first bite landed. A critical hit, it took the surprised Watchog for nearly half of it's hit points. Not to mention that the Quick Claw that Davie wore, dangling from his collar, had done it's magic and allowed his attack to be launched first despite the speed loss he was suffering from the paralysis. The shocked Watchog flinched away from the canine pokemon's bite and lost it's chance to attack while it tried to rally itself, amid angry shouts from the Grunt.

The tide of the battle had turned in our favor, but it wouldn't last. The next five bites in a row failed to land, and now, finally, Davie was out of power points for his only statistically usable move. The foe was down to nearly half health, and my Herdier was going down faster than I could heal him. I could tell he was exhausted and I could see his resolve failing. More super potions, and a few attempts at using Tackle, or even Take Down, all of which failed, later, there we stood.

We were faced off against the Team Plasma Grunt, triumph in his eyes, scorn in those of his Watchog. I was drenched in sweat, but my exhaustion was nothing compared to Davie's. My loyal, brave Herdier, with barely 15 hit points left, paralyzed and weakened, stood on four shaking legs, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, ears pinned back and eyes still fixed on his opponent.

It was literally now or never. If I healed him with a Super Potion and the Watchog got a critical hit (as was happening more and more often since it had started using moves such as Focus Energy and Work Up between Crunches and Tackles - I got the feeling that the Grunt was getting fed up with my constant use of potions and was trying to one hit KO my pokemon to just get it over with), Davie would faint. If I called for him to use an attack and he missed, went second, or didn't critical hit, he would faint on Watchog's next attack. We had one shot at this - and only one chance left for it to work.

I knelt down behind my friend, rested my hand on his back, and whispered to him, "We have one shot at this, boy. I know you know that. No matter what happens.... I believe in you." He gave a low bark and tore his eyes from his opponent's for one moment, long enough to look me in the eye with an achingly slow turn of his head, even as I stood up again.

"Get on with it already! Call your attack!" The Grunt taunted from a few feet away, his Watchog standing triumphantly on it's hind legs, already preparing. Then, his impatience getting the best of him, he pointed straight at Davie and shouted, "Watchog! CRUNCH!"

I gritted my teeth for a moment, then shouted, putting all of my faith in my loyal pokemon behind these few words, "Davie! Use ROCK SMASH!"

Time seemed to slow down. I felt like I was caught in molasses. Then, achingly slowly, I saw the first part of our wild gamble snap into place - the Quick Claw around Davie's neck glowed gold. His eyes seemed to light up with an inner fire that I usually attribute only to Fire Type pokemon, but I have no doubt what I saw there. He braced all four of his legs, bared his teeth... And for one small moment, I thought our luck had run out - that even with the blessing of the Quick Claw, he still wouldn't get there in time... And then, as I watched in awe, my Herdier flung himself into the air.

Using certain moves, especially off-type moves, look different on each Pokemon. I actually hadn't seen Davie perfectly perform a Rock Smash since before he evolved from Lillipup, and then his technique had simply been to ram his head into the rock or enemy, with enough force to shatter it. Herdier's technique was a bit more showy. And, given the circumstances, the graceful leap into the air and the moment of impact when he slammed his entire weight down on top of the enemy Watchog was possibly the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

Critical hit! It's Super-Effective!

And Watchog collapsed to the ground, fainted. The Grunt recalled his fainted pokemon quickly and beat a hasty retreat out of the town square. I didn't follow. I had no doubts that I'd run into them again, but now, getting my heroic pokemon to the nearest Center was all that mattered to me. I gathered my Herdier into my arms, not bothering with his pokeball, (honestly, a little worried that he wouldn't have had the strength to survive the transmat into it without fainting), and ran to the town Pokemon Center.

At this point, I'm going to back OUT of the game and go back to the "real me" that was sitting playing my DS. The moment I got my Pokemon healed up, I saved and shut the game down. I was vibrating with excitement over that victory. I've pulled off crunchy moves like that in a pinch before, but it's usually when I'm expecting it  - in a gym battle, or even during the Elite Four or Champion battles. To have been as utterly caught off guard by this fight as I was, and have had it come down in my favor felt amazing. I was insanely proud of my pokemon, and I wanted to share it.

Now, the issue is - no one else in my house is playing Black or White right now. I don't know anyone really well online who's playing it, and the only other person I DO know who's playing it, I talk to insanely irregularly.

And hence starting this gaming blog. I have so many awesome stories like this that I want to share with people, but I don't want to be annoying or pushy, AND I don't want to forget them. The awesome, skin-of-my-teeth win I had the first time I played through FireRed? Gone. Anything other than short twitters to remind me of specific, important moments in Azeroth? Lost to my school-bogged-down brain.

This blog is going to be a way to keep track of these things, these stories... just for my own entertainment and memory. And, of course, for anyone who wants to follow along.

And, of course, to tout the amazingness of my Pokemon.

Let's hear it for Davie the Herdier!