The Fires of War: Tales of a Trainer (Let's Play Pokemon Fire Red!)

[The Shoveler]

Yes, another Pokemon LP. We've had enough of these already, haven't we? No, says I! We've only just touched the surface of the wonders that these games can bring out in the hands of a good writer. I don't personally count myself as a good writer, mind you, but I do say that this could be the stepping stone to a new age in Pokemon Let's Plays.

So strap in tight and put on your 'chutes, because you're about to get dropped into enemy territory in the land of adventure: Pokemon!
AN: This may seem like a fanfic at first, but it is only to give the game a plot and provide some kind of character to the mute you play in the games.

Chapter 00: 0-Hundred Hours

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I'm on a grassy hill, laden with flowers with a nice breeze rolling through. Although it is sort of cloudy outside, there's no threat of rain. I'm laying down, watching the clouds blow by as the bug Pokemon play in the forest next to me. However, the Pokemon stop moving and it gets eerily quite. It remains this way for several seconds before I stand up. Then suddenly, a loud sound, much like that of a Selfdestruct, rang out from beyond the plains. The ground rumbled beneath my feet as I shakily moved up to the top of the hill. A mile away I could see an army of Pokemon in blue armor battling an army in red. Red seemed to dominate over Blue through sheer power. Aggron used Hyper Beam, Golem used Explosion, Arcanine used Fire Blast, etc.
Then the impossible happened. A third army, clad in yellow, came from opposite me, joining in the fray. Lightning cackled through the opponents, further weakening Blue and wreaking Red. Red and Blue then realized the real threat and teamed up to destroy Yellow. And in the sky, birds of matching color fought each other, raining down death and destruction that took out troops on all sides. All this wanton destruction, this meaningless violence. What was it for? Before I could realize an answer, Red sabotaged Blue as Yellow Bird was being finished off in the sky. Red rained victorious over all. I was satisfied with the battle, but couldn't look away as a lone figure in black robes approached me with an indescribable Pokemon that seemed to tower over me. I tried to run, but was knocked down by a blast from the Pokemon.
The figure loomed over me as I lay on the ground, stunned. It grinned down at me and uttered the phrase that would later become stuck in my head forever: "Wake up. The future awaits."

My bedsheets fly out from under me as my mom stands over me.
"Wake up! The future awaits! It's time to select your Pokemon, dear!"
"Fine mom. Let me wash up first."
I walk to the bathroom and look in the mirror.

What do I see?

As I finish up my morning routine, I head out the door.
"Be careful, dear!"
"Fine, mom..."
As I walked out, I saw HIM. My long time rival was waiting for me.


He informs me that Prof. Oak is out at the moment and should be back momentarily to give HIM the Pokemon. The nerve of this kid infuriates me to no end!

However, what Pokemon DO I want? There's always Charmander, the fire type... but then there's Squirtle, the water type... however, Bulbasaur is always an option. What should I pick... and while I'm at it, what should it's nickname be? So many options...

So the questions:
Boy or Girl and what's my name?
What's my Rival's name?
What starter do I pick and what's the little bugger's name gonna be? Give me a male and a female name just in case, ok?

[John Cribati]

You are Cornel. Rival is Admral. You get a Squirtle named Tank.

[Deme]

Let's go with a squirtle.

A boy should be Tide, a girl should be Dew.

As for your character... Let's go with a boy.

[The Shoveler]

Ok, two votes for Squirtle.

@Deme: What would my character's name be?

@Herpestidae: Sorry, I should give some background here to show why those names won't work (besides, you didn't specify my characters gender or give leeway for Squirtle's gender)

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The date is 2011, a time of peace after a long, one-hundred year war that occurred so long ago that no one cares to remember it. Small factions yearning for war have risen up to try to start something, but the Elite Four has destroyed them all, except for one: Team Rocket. Due to the secrecy behind their operations, the Elite Four can't do anything to stop them. Couple this with Giovanni's influence over Kanto by inserting agents into the Elite Four as well as being the highest ranking gym leader himself and you have yourself a sticky situation. Lance, however, has two aces up his sleeves...

Also of note: Squirtle is the hardest one to work with. Charmander is the easiest and Bulbasaur is in the middle.

[psilontech]

Sex: Male
Trainer Name: Reginald - One dapper son of a bitch. Top Hat / Monocle, the works.
Rival Name: Uh... Not being original in the least, but I'm going to go ahead and say Gary.
Starting Pokemon: Bulbasaur. If this is close to the original, he is going to be instrumental to the defeat of the first two gyms: Rock and Water, respectively.
If this is terribly different and the first two gyms aren't rock and water, then I'm going to change my vote to Charmander.

[Deme]

Ok, two votes for Squirtle.

@Deme: What would my character's name be?

I've always liked Andre as a name.

Also of note: Squirtle is the hardest one to work with. Charmander is the easiest and Bulbasaur is in the middle.

Perfect, then. People gave me the starter I was least prepared to work with, writing-wise, and it worked out well enough for me... so it's time I return the favor!

[The Shoveler]

Sex: Male
Trainer Name: Reginald - One dapper son of a bitch. Top Hat / Monocle, the works.
Rival Name: Uh... Not being original in the least, but I'm going to go ahead and say Gary.
Starting Pokemon: Bulbasaur. If this is close to the original, he is going to be instrumental to the defeat of the first two gyms: Rock and Water, respectively.
If this is terribly different and the first two gyms aren't rock and water, then I'm going to change my vote to Charmander.

Chamander learns Metal Claw at Lv. 13 in this game, so BrokeBrock is going to be easy. I'll have a Charizard by the time I fight Misty, so that's easy.

Alright, my character is going to be a male definitively (named Andre because I also like that name). I've got a tally going on pokemon choice:
Charmander: 0
Squirtle: 2
Bulbasaur: 1

Remember, add names for the starter. Give both a male and female name in case it comes out the opposite gender.

[Penguinator]

Vote for Squirtle, and stick with Deme's names for it, as I like them.

[Gruffard]

I vote for Charmander! Cause its dragon... Sort of.

Ember. Unisex name. Can go either. Blaze for a male name... I suck at names.

[John Cribati]

I still go for Squirtle (everyone tends to gravitate to the Fire Starter in pokemon LPs *coughmetoocough* and Water types need love. Also, go with Deme's names.

... GrumblegrumbleneedtorestartmyLetsPlaygrumblegrumbl e.

[The Shoveler]

I'm out of energy for today (hurrah for yard work /sarcasm) so I'll post the update tomorrow when I can. I'm going with Squirtle and I named my rival Max after Max Fightmaster.

[FantasyFoxMan]

I always look forward to seeing (and reading) Pokemon LP's.

As such, I'll be looking forward to this one as well.

[The Shoveler]

Ok, first update time!

Chapter 01: The Start of a Loving Friendship

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Max had told me to go find Oak. Why that was my job and not his since he's the man's grandson I have no idea. I ended up searching all over town for the geezer until I decided to search outside of Pallet.

"Wait!"

"It's too dangerous to go in tall grass alone. Come with me to my lab."
"Where the hell were you, Oak?"
"Oh, I was swimming in the ocean!"
I promptly smacked him. He rubbed his cheek as he led me back to his lab.

"I mean, swimming in the ocean is fun and all, but I need my friggin' Pokemon!"
"Wait, you KNEW that he was swimming and you didn't tell me?"
"Hehe, sucker!"
I promptly smacked him as well.
"Now don't fight. I have Pokemon here for you to select, Andre!"

"What about me?!"

I walked over to the table and considered my options. For one, there was a lizard with a flaming tail that seemed to really want me to pick it for some reason. Then there was a plant-dinosaur-thing that seemed to keep to itself. However, the one that caught my eye was a blue turtle that just sat there staring at Max.
"Hey, that Pokemon sucks!"
It promptly spat water into his face, sending him sprawling back. I made up my mind and picked up the little water beast. I decided to give it a fitting nickname: "Tide"


Max got the Bulbasaur after pulling himself off the ground. He said something about "type advantage" or something like that. I merely shrugged and headed out to start my grand adventure!

"Oh sunuva-"
He sent out Bulbasaur and Tide popped out of my pokeball. This was going to happen whether or not I wanted it to.



"...Wow."
Tide was ruthless in battle, not hesitating to destroy Bulbasaur in battle. Bulbasaur managed to get a few hits in between beatings, but it couldn't keep up with Tide's ferocity.
Max's jaw was understandably low.

"What about that 'Type Advantage' crap you spewed earlier, huh?"
"Gck... Screw you, man!"
He then ran away like a wuss. This was going to be the start of a beautiful rivalry in which I destroy whatever he throws my way.
I decided to head out to the grass again. Oak can't stop me NOW!

However, a child seems to have blocked my path.

"What in the heck are you talking about?"
Not just any child. An insane one. I fled into the wilderness to escape her. She kept murmuring something about "EXP" and "Saving the game." Scary stuff, I tell you.

Unfortunately, Tide doesn't know the meaning of "Mercy" and it slaughtered the Pidgey. I took it with me and roasted it later for lunch. It tasted pretty good, actually.

I ran into a representative of the PokeMart in the next town. He apparently saw Tide kill the Pidgey.

He tried to stay professional the entire time. Tide kept staring at him and I think it made him uncomfortable. Kudos to him.
He threw a potion at me and ran away. I guess Tide nibbling on his leg was a bit overboard...

Tide was saddened by the fact that it lost a victim. So it lept into the grass and murdered a rat. I'm starting to get a tad scared of it...

Tide seemed to actually get hurt on our short trip to Viridian City, so I decided to stop in here to heal it up.
I attempted to leave it at the Pokemon Center, but Nurse Joy stopped me saying something about abandoning Pokemon being "wrong" and "immoral." I sighed and took back Tide. I then remembered the representative and decided to stop by the PokeMart.

"Yeah... Why do you ask?"

"So instead of doing the errand he knew he had, he decided to go swimming. Fan-tucking-fastic. Fine, I'll take his stupid *grumble grumble grumble*"
So I grabbed the package and stormed out of the PokeMart. Tide stayed in his pokeball the whole time, so I assumed he was sleeping.
Unfortunately I was wrong as he busted out of the pokeball to murder more Pokemon on the way back to Pallet. Seriously, this little turtle is an evil little bugger.

So I finally made it back to Prof. Oak's lab. Tide was beside me, grinning like a madman. However, as soon as I stepped in the lab, he went back to looking like an innocent little Squirtle.

"It's an abomination and has murdered 3 Pidgey and 5 Ratata. It's putting up a front right now to gain your trust before slaughtering you as well."
"Aww, Andre's got a little imagination. But it does look stronger!"

"I haven't been doing anything, though..."
He ignored me as he noticed what I was carrying.

"Yeah, it's the package you were supposed to pick up today. Instead you went swimming you lazy-"

"God I hate you old man."

"I hate you too, Max. Why must your family suck so much?"
"Hey! I take offense to that!... My sister is cool!"

"*sigh* What is it?"

"Ok. So you want me to take this Poke-whatever and record the data of every Pokemon I come across, wasting my money on pokeballs and wasting my time searching out the especially rare ones. What's in it for me?"
"My loving affection!"
"I hate yo-"
"And five pokeballs, an invite to the Pokemon League which awards great riches, fame and fortune, and hot babes."
"Sign me up!"

I might be gullible, but I like to think that the hot babes are a guarantee.

"The babes will be all mine! Now I'm gonna get a Town Map from my sister and tell her not to give you one!"
He then stuck his tongue out, pulled down his eyelid and said "Nyah-Nyah!" before running off. Am I the only sane person around here?


"Finally someone realizes it!"
"Yeah, sometimes I think I'm the only sane person in our family. Without me, nothing would get done!"
We both laughed as she handed me the Town Map and I headed out.
"See you later!"
"Have fun on your journey!"

I went out into the wild again and we encountered another Pidgey. Hoping for a meal, since it was getting dark out, I rooted Tide on. However, this Pidgey was different. It almost beat Tide, so I decided to catch it. We could always use some more Pokemon on our journey, after all!

Success!

In Viridian City, I saw an old man just itching to talk to me. So I went the long way around, trying to escape him. I found a Potion, but I couldn't get past a hedge in my way, so I turned around and headed a different way.

For some reason I have a feeling that Max is going to pop up somewhere over here and challenge me...

"It's a pig-monkey-thing! Tide, weaken it so that we may assimilate the cute little bundle of anger and aggression!"

Success! Now it's time to train up Tide!

DESTROY!!!

DESTROY!!!

And now to heal. I need to get some food, so I'll go find another Spearow for Tide to kill. Wait, why are you dragging me out here, Tide? Is it... Dammit, Max!!! My intuition proved me right...

I finally figured out how to record with VBA!

[Gruffard]

Oh... No Charmander. But looking forward to this one, liked your last one.

[The Shoveler]

Oh... No Charmander. But looking forward to this one, liked your last one.

I did charmander on my real game. I got it up to level 70 by the time I got to Koga with 5 badges. By the time I was at the Elite Four, I was at level 80-90. It was a walk in the park.

[Gruffard]

The video in the link didn't run for me on this compy... (couldn't check youtube until I got home, since I was at work.) Don't know why.

What is the video?

[The Shoveler]

The video in the link didn't run for me on this compy... (couldn't check youtube until I got home, since I was at work.) Don't know why.

What is the video?

The most epic close-call in history. It was my fight with GaryMax when you try to go towards the Victory Road guard post thing.

[Penguinator]

The most epic close-call in history. It was my fight with GaryMax when you try to go towards the Victory Road guard post thing.

Speaking of which, it probably would have been more effective damage-wise to use Bubble (that was the water move, right?) against the Pidgey. Pidgey has a slightly lower Sp. Defense than Defense, and Squirtle has a very slightly higher Sp. Atk, as well as STAB. (Generally speaking, I don't know about Tide's actual stats) But we're past that now, anyway.

[Lemonus]

Hurray! Another LP!

[The Shoveler]

No, I'm not dead. I'm just currently working on scholarships, Letters of Interest, and all that glorious stuff on top of major projects and a mass amount of tests.

EDIT: OK, so maybe not a week, but still I'm not dead yet! I have finals for the next two weeks and a standardized test on May 7th, so I might not be able to post soon, but I WILL return to this! I've backed up the data four-fold and have plans for this adventure!I might also be running a Free Form game. Sue me.