[Gen 5] Rivvon Plays Pokémon Black—N Style

I need to replay Black (and Black 2, but I'll get to that)! I also like a lot of Pokémon from gen 5—basically all of them. How could I possibly choose which ones to use? What would N, my most favorite Pokémon character of all time, do in a situation like this...?

Wait a second! That's it!

Rules

1. After a battle with a Gym Leader, release all of my Pokémon.
2. After a battle with N, release all of my Pokémon.
3. I cannot have more than 6 Pokémon at once.

And that's it. Releasing my Pokémon after rival battles may make it happen too often so they have been excluded. The third rule is basically to prevent storing away Pokémon that I like from earlier routes to use later. Also, I'm way too sappy and won't actually be releasing my Pokémon—I'm just going to deposit them and not touch them again. The third rule helps prevent confusion: if it's in the box, I know I can't use it. After a release, I'll use a single Pokémon to catch a new one, deposit the old party's Pokémon, then continue on my way.

Now once I bring myself to start over my save file I'll be ready to go!

After what had to be the most painful series of A-presses of my life which led to the deletion of my original save file, I waste no time getting into the action with the best opening sequence in a main-series Pokémon game to date, a short and to-the-point welcome into the world of Pokémon, and I'm already choosing my starter and battling my friends, Cheren and Bianca. Who did I choose? It has to be my favorite, Snivy! In Black I named him Lucifer and in Black 2 I named him Arne, so it seemed fitting to name my new starter Lief.

After witnessing Bianca's father's complete and utter disapproval of her choice to become a Trainer, and having a quick chat with Prof. Juniper, my friends and I took our first steps onto Route 1 together. I went ahead and caught Patrat and Lillipup, both Pokémon I had never used before. But Brighteyes and Creampuff wouldn't be going much further with me on my adventure—Team Plasma's Ghetsis was giving a speech in Accumula Town about "Pokémon liberation," and who was amongst the crowd but a mysterious man named N! After Team Plasma marched away, the quick-tongued N challenged me to a battle.

It was tough, but we pulled through. But in the end, I bid farewell to my team, before encountering even a single generic Trainer...


My next destination is Striaton City, where a Gym Battle and another team departure awaits...

I continued on to Route 2 and caught myself a new Patrat and Lillipup to start building up my team again. I added a Purrloin, which is a Pok?mon I've always loved since I'm a huge cat person. At the end of Route 2, Bianca surprised me with a battle?I hadn't healed because the next town is just up ahead, so I guess Bianca pulled a Blue on me! I remember Cheren does this at certain points, too; it just makes me glad that I chose not to release my team after each rival battle.

Bianca put up a good fight, but we won! A few steps forward, and we were in Striaton City! After a quick heal and chat with some locals, I made my way to the Dreamyard to see what I could find. The Trainers are pretty tough! But I've noticed that Patrat hits really hard?it looks like I'm finally going to start liking the Patrat family thanks to this run!

In the Dreamyard, someone offered me a Panpour. I know that, along with the rest of my team, it won't stay with me long since the Gym battle is ever-approaching, but I accepted him anyways. He's already Level 10! That will be a huge help. Now there's a pesky tree and safety cone preventing my progress, so I guess this diversion has come to an end. Back to Striaton, and time to check out the Trainer's School. Cheren's there, and he too challenges us to battle. Yup, definitely glad I don't have to release my party after each rival battle...

Now it's time to challenge the Gym! The Trainers are tough, and against Chili we are actually underleveled... But thanks to some strategic debuffs and our convenient Panpour, we pulled through and received our first Gym Badge?the Trio Badge!! But sadly this means I have to release my team... but wait, it seems like Juniper's friend Fennel (from college) is here to see me! I wonder what she wants...?

It seems Fennel wanted me to find some Dream Mist from a cute Pok?mon called Munna. Before I was able to release my friends, I had to stop some Team Plasma Grunts who were literally kicking the Dream Mist out of a Munna in the Dreamyard. They revealed that Ghetsis uses his fantastic speech-writing techniques to manipulate others into doing what he wants, and that he's very unforgiving when things don't go his way?could it be that Ghetsis is the bad guy?! What a twist!

Building back up my team, I caught a Purrloin and Munna. On the way to Nacrene City, there was more trouble with Team Plasma. Cheren doesn't seem to want to even try to understand their point of view, but then again, their "we want to liberate Pok?mon and we'll steal yours if we have to" approach is admittedly a bit... two-faced. Regardless, we made quick work of them, and I added a Pidove, Woobat, and Blitzle to my team in preparation for the upcoming Gym battle with Lenora. All three are Pok?mon I really love but never got a chance to use in my original playthrough of Black and Black 2.

In Nacrene City, we got to enjoy some awesome accordion and see just how interconnected Unova is: Nacrene City is home to many artists who have turned the abandoned textile factory buildings into studios. One such artist is Burgh, who is described by an NPC to be Castelia City's Gym Leader. Because he's from Nacrene, he has connections to Lenora, and she, being an archaeologist, has ties to Clay, who is mentioned by another NPC, but we know him as Driftveil's Gym Leader.

Anyways, I checked the outside of Pinwheel Forest very quickly, and as much as I'm looking forward to catching some new Pok?mon for my team, I held off?the battle with Lenora is fast-approaching, after all. I stepped up to the door of the Gym... and backed up as N exited.

He asked me if I wanted to see the future, one where Pok?mon are perfect. That led to a battle which, due to the number of Pok?mon on my team, wasn't too tough. But as he left muttering to himself about obtaining a power that could make anyone agree with his ideas, I slogged to the Pok?mon Center. I know N's doing the same, but it's sad having to release my party.