Margaret's Diamond Nuzlocke: Chapter 2

Chapter 2: As if it Couldn't Get Any Worse...


I watched the pokeball closely as it wriggled back and forth. Once it stopped, I threw my fists up in victory.

"YES! Guess who caught her first pokemon, Cole?" I bragged, putting a hand to my hip. "Not so amateur now, am I?"

"Ah, big deal. Anyone can hurl one of those things at a pokemon. And just for the record, I can handle a journey just fine without a teammate. Besides, I thought you were only training me."

I crossed my arms. "I'm not that stupid, you know. If we're gonna be taking on the league, we'll need a team. So whether you like it or not, you'll be having some company along the trip."

"Alright, fine. What did you catch anyway?"

"Well, see for yourself!"

I grabbed the pokeball up from the ground and sent out the Shinx I caught. She looked at Cole and then up to me.

"So, you're my new trainer... Well, it's nice to meet you! I'm Andrea. You two got names?"

Just as I was about to talk, Cole spoke up loudly. "The name's Cole; Cole the Chimchar! Pleasure to meet ya!"

Before he got a chance to say anything else, I yelled out, "Hey, what happened to your pessimistic 'I-can-handle-a-journey-by-myself'

attitude?" I looked down at him with a smug face. He glared at me in return.

"And this one is our wonderful trainer Margaret." He said in a sarcastic tone.

Andrea stood back a bit awkwardly, "You two sure get along great, don't ya...? Heh... Hey, do you mind if I hitch a ride on your head Margaret?"

"Nah, it's fine!" I picked her up a little weirdly and placed her up top. We kept on walking through the route, with Cole alongside me. Another Shinx came out of the grass, and Cole of course, went after it.

"I got this-" He prepared to attack, but Andrea leapt off of my head, right onto the ground in front of Cole, and proceeded to attack the Shinx.

"I don't think so!"

"Nice, Andrea! . . .Oh right, uh, Tackle again!"

She rammed full-force into the Shinx, knocking it over on its side. It then timidly got to its feet and quickly fled. Cole stood to the side,frozen in place, with his mouth gaping.

"You- how-? Did a brand new member just outshine me?!"

Andrea smirked and walked over to Cole, filled with pride. "First new team member and I'm already stealing the starters spotlight...! I always knew I was strong, but this is better than I imagined!"

Cole furiously got up in her face. "NOW LISTEN HERE, IF YOU THINK-"

I quickly picked him up before he could do or say anything to Andrea. He struggled to break free, but I held him tight.

"Lemme go now!! Put me down!"

"No, you're acting so unreasonable! Just because a new member defeated a wild pokemon on her own doesn't make her any stronger than you! And it certainly doesn't mean you can go ballistic on her!"

"Honestly Cole, someone needs to control themselves," Andrea said with a smug face.

I glared down at her, "And as for you Andrea, there was no reason to rub that win in Cole's face. Either of you could have handled it fine! So stop getting angry over something stupid and leave each other alone!"

"Alright fine, I'm sorry, okay?" Cole still tried freeing himself from my grasp, "Now will you let me go?!"

I let him drop to the ground, watching closely to make sure he didn't start fighting with Andrea again.

As the two passed each other, she angrily mumbled, "Sorry Cole..."

Andrea climbed back onto my head for the rest of the trip through the route, despite the times I would send her out to battle, which I was admittedly still rusty at. Besides that everyone stayed eerily quiet while we walked. It was nice to have a break from them yelling and complaining, but I knew it was because they were still silently mad with each other. It wasn't long before we came upon Jubilife City, where I saw Lucas wandering around. I honestly wasn't in much of a mood to see him, so I avoided eye contact and tried staying out of his general view. But of course he spots me as I'm running to get behind a building.

"Oh hey Margaret! It's me Lucas!"

I tried to pretend I didn't see him, but of course he still came after me. I turned around and tried looking casual.

"Lucas...! Didn't uh... Didn't see ya there."

"Oh that's okay! How many more pokemon have you caught?"

I pointed up to Andrea. "Just this one. Her name's Andrea."

"Oh, you only have two...? Well, I suppose it doesn't matter, I'm the one filling the Pokedex, right? Anyway, have you checked out the trainer school nearby? It's a good place to review the basics of pokemon, like status problems and what each one does, typings, natures,-"

"Yeah, yeah, that's great. I already had my fun and passed Trainer's School. Well, sorta... Look my point is, I'm not interested in going back there."

"Right, I shouldn't have bothered asking. I'm sure you already know everything you need to. I mean, you're such a good trainer already, I bet school was such a breeze for you!"

"Y-yeah... Well uh, I gotta get going, bye!" I didn't even bother to wave before I ran off. Andrea looked down at me weird.

"What was that all about? You seemed really nervous when that kid brought up school. I mean... you did get through school didn't you?"

"O-of course! Just... don't worry about it okay?"

I sped up as I walked past the school, but in an instant I was on the floor, knocked over by none other than... "It's me, Trevor! Hi Maggie!"

"Trevor... Would you KINDLY GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!?"

He jumped up quick as a flash, still smiling. "Sorry! I guess I'm just glad to see you!"

"And why is that...?" I groaned, still on the ground rubbing my head.

"I have a special delivery for you from your mom! Ya see, I went back to Twinleaf to tell my mom that I was going on a pokemon journey, and then your mom found out! She told me to give you this package!"

Once I got up off the ground, I curiously opened the taped-up cardboard box. Inside was a town map, a few more Pokeballs, some sort of watch, and a scarf. At the bottom was a crumpled up note that read in big red letters, "THANKS FOR TELLING ME ABOUT THIS BIG, IMPORTANT JOURNEY YOU'RE GOING ON. MEANS A WHOLE LOT. BE SAFE OUT THERE, OKAY?! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MAGGIE. -MOM."

"Heh, mom's always been the worst at being mad. Even when she's furious at me she can't help but send me all this stuff...!"

"Yep! Well, if I'm gonna be the best trainer in the world, I'd better keep on training with Percy!" Trevor patted his Piplup on the head.

"Alright, see ya later then!"

"Byeeee!" He bolted off so quickly I couldn't even see which way he went.

"I've always wondered what's wrong with that kid..." I shrugged and looked around the city a bit, wondering which way to go.

I wasn't in any rush to get to the next gym, but I did want to get Cole's training over as soon as I could. I decided going the route to the West, which led to nothing but a small pier. I walked back to Jubilife and went north instead, which led to some grass. I figured I could catch a new pokemon, there, but instead I walked through a field of Bidoof, eventually to find a cave.

"Dumb Bidoof... Hopefully this leads to another town!"

"Hooray, a dark, damp, creepy cave to go through... How pleasant." Cole crossed his arms.

"No one ever said training would be pleasant."

"Yeah, no kidding... Let's just hope this is quick."

I stepped inside, and of course, a bunch of rocks were blocking the path.

"OH COME ON! ANOTHER STUPID DEAD END!? Arceus Christ, this is ridiculous...!"

"Hey! I heard that!" A Zubat came zooming near me. "I'll have you know this cave is my home, and I don't appreciate you- HEY!"

I threw a pokeball at her as she was nagging, successfully catching her.

"Gotchya!"

Cole looked up at me in shock, "So you refuse to catch a Bidoof, but you want a Zubat?!"

"Oh shush, is it so terrible I'm giving her a chance?"

"YES."

"Don't care! C'mon out Aline!"

She came out of her Pokeball, hovering around my head. She seemed curious as she "looked" at me and the others. "So lemme get this straight... You're a trainer... and you're actually gonna use me as an actual member of the team...?"

"Of course! Well, I'm gonna have to train you first to get caught up with everyone else, but yeah. Welcome aboard! I'm Margaret by the way, this is Cole, and that's Andrea."

"Well, it's nice to meet you guys. I'm still a bit ticked about you insulting my home, but I suppose I shouldn't get too upset with my new trainer."

"Well thanks! If only someone else thought the same way..." I mumbled and looked at Cole.

Aline spoke up, "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing...! Anyway, let's get outta here."

I exited from the cave and once again trekked through the Bidoof field. Getting back to Jublife, I thought for a moment. "Let's see... The only direction I haven't gone yet is... East! That's gotta be the way to the next town. Maybe there'll be another pokemon beside Bidoof on the next route!"

Cautiously optimistic, I dove right into the route, when lo and behold, Trevor was there, still training. Strangely, he didn't tackle me once he got sight of me. Instead Trevor waved me over.

"Hi Maggie!"

"Hey Trevor! What's up?"

"Just training up my new teammate! C'mere little guy!" A small grey and black bird flew up to his shoulder. He looked at me curiously, without saying a word.

"He's a shy Starly I guess. Anyway, I wanna show you how strong I've gotten since we left Littleroot! Can we battle?"

"A battle? With you...? I-I'm not too sure..."

"Aw come on, pleeeease?" He begged with pleading eyes, "I really wanna show you what I've learned with my pokemon!"

"Alright, fine. But don't expect me to win or anything..."

"Alright! Steven, you're up first!" The Starly jumped off his shoulder and fluttered to the ground.

"Okay um... Aline! You need some training, try it out!" She flew down and confronted the Starly a bit hesitantly.

"Steven, Quick Attack!"

At a speed so fast I could hardly see it move, he collided with Aline, sending her backwards.

"Arceus that looks like it did like a lot of damage... Uh- Leech Life!"

Aline sunk her teeth into the Starly's wing, but I could tell it didn't take a lot of damage. I slapped myself in the head.

"Ahg, Flying types resist Bug...! Cole, get out here!"

"I thought you'd never ask...!"

Steven launched himself at high speed again and hit Cole, but he shoved him off and used Ember, nearly singeing the Starly's feathers. Steven prepared for another attack, but Cole used Ember again to finish him off. He looked down at the unconscious bird with pride. A worried Trevor got to his knees and returned Steven to his Pokeball.

"Rest up buddy, you were great...! Looks like I'm in a bit of trouble though... Time to bring out Percy!"

The tiny blue penguin emerged from his Pokeball, ready to fight. I knew this wasn't a fight for Cole, so I sent out Andrea instead. For some reason he started growling at her, so while it was busy I had Andrea tackle him. But for some reason it seemed a little less effective... Andrea attacked Percy again, and this time he fought back, using Pound. At this rate I was losing, and being out of Potions, I wasn't sure how to turn things around. I had never tried out using Leer before, but I didn't think staring down my opponent would help me win much...

"C'mon Maggie, let's keep this battle going!"

"Andrea Leer!"

Oh god what did I just do... I slapped myself in the forehead repeatedly, knowing this wouldn't end well... Andrea used Leer a few times while the Piplup still attacked, and by the looks of it one more hit would bring her down.

"C'mon Andrea, use Tackle now!" I impulsively shouted at her, and she obeyed, slamming Percy hard to the ground. He was down. I stared in shock, my mouth gaping. "I... did I win...?"

Trevor looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah...! Congrats, I'm impressed! I might have lost, but that was a fun battle Maggie! I'm gonna get going to train even harder now, bye!" He dashed off while I was still confused as all hell.

"Yeah... bye." I shook my head, "This doesn't make sense... Before you were hardly doing anything to hurt Percy, then out of nowhere you just KO him!"

Andrea rolled her eyes, "I used Leer, remember? Doing that will allow your opponent to take more damage from attacks."

"R-right, I knew that... Let's keep moving." I didn't walk for long before I heard a voice coming from the grass.

"Hey miss, wait up!"

I stopped and knelt down, finding a Starly calling for me. "Oh, hi there...! Was it me you wanted?"

"Yes indeed! Ya see, I saw you and your little team there battling that kid, and I've got to say you were pretty good out there! Would you mind if I joined you?"

"Uh, sure! The more the merrier I suppose...!" I looked through my bag for a Pokeball, "By the way, do you have a name?"

"No, most of us wild Pokemon don't have names actually."

I found the Pokeball, tossed it at the Starly, and he willingly let himself be captured. I picked it up, sending him out. "Well then welcome to the team Zach!"