I like Alex's voice in this; realistic, matter-of-fact, but with enough compassion and small glimmers of appreciation for the small things (such as admiration for the environments designed for the game, reminiscing over thee little bonding sessions with Ferra) for us to mourn the 'end' they chose; even if, of course, it leaves them free and Ferra alive.

I like the pragmatic way they reflect on their journey, their reasoning for why their 'team' isn't fleshed out beyond Ferra herself, and those small moments of hope they experiance; that the first trainer they fought survived, that maybe, just maybe, they won;t have to fight the champion and then, almost gratefully, they realise there's an opportunity for Ferra to keep their life that stays within the dreaded rules.

I also liked what we saw of the champion. Stoic, apart from when Alex reveals that it's always been just them and Ferra. Ouch. That one must have hurt, given Sam's starter.

This is really good. I only wish it was longer

Wow. I agree with the previous reviews, this oneshot was touching, creative and very well-written. I love your Hunger Games-ish take on the Pokémon world and Nuzlocke challenges too. Nice work! c:

*cries* Waaaah! That was sad!
...but so well written!
I love it!

This was absolutely brilliant! Thank you

Hey, I remember reading this a while ago and absolutely loving the whole thing, and then not being able to find it again. Still loving it now. A bunch of people already said this, but I think this is a fabulous example of a Pokemon/Hunger Games-ish mashup done really, really well. Also, it's one of the few Nuzlocke fics that I've read where I've left feeling satisfied by the premise of why so many Pokemon are dying/why trainers are still training/so forth.

I think this fic truly shined with the characters. Sam and Alex's dialogue is fantastic, and I like how none of the trainers were villains, and how all of the trainers seem to know that. It makes the whole thing feel more realistic, and it let the ending pack an even heavier punch. Fabulous work.

Wow. This was awesome.

Ingenious take on Nuzlocke challenges. I would read a full-length story about this in a heartbeat. Honestly, I wasn't expecting the trainer to give up Ferra until the very end. Very well-executed.

Dude, that was just: yes.

Wow. That was a very unique read. Great ending in particular - very consistent with the world-building and character interactions that you wrote about. Overall very well-written.

A good friend of mine sent me an e-mail entitled "The Best Oneshot Ever" with a link to this story as the content. I must admit, he was right. I'm sort of at a loss for words here. Everything you've done in this piece, you've done beyond well.
And oh goodness, this story actually gave me an emotional response. That doesn't happen very often.
I'm very much a fan of your work.

-Abby

Very 'Hunger Games.' I never really thought about doing it this way before, but it avoids a lot of the problems and awkwardness generally associated with Nuzlockes.

Wow, this is pretty good.

I was a bit skeptical at first. Usually stories like these fall short of their message, but you've managed to make it work with the narrator and the situation he's placed in. The worldbuilding, or should I say, explorations on the tournament, are brief and leave me hanging a bit for more of how it all came to be, but it wasn't so vague to the point of frustration. The narrator discussing how the tournament happened in relation to himself flows well and doesn't feel forced, nor did it remove me from the story.

The characters were well-developed despite the word count, except for Terra. Not that I don't get to see her, but more like I don't get to see her interact with Alex in any way. So when Alex says all these nice things about her and their friendship, I'm just told its wonderful rather than seeing it for myself.

The horror of the tournament is described very well, and so are the little bits about most of the trainers trying to avoid the inevitable, but are forced into it anyway.

It's really rare to read a character who refuses to play in games like these. Usually the exact opposite occurs, with excuses on the main character's part to appear more noble. Good job!

Damn you; I've been sketching out a Nuzlocke/Hunger Games mashup that's basically identical to this premise for a while, but I never got around to finishing it and now it's been done. :(

Love the writing, the setup and the final choice. My only complaint is that I think you could have done a bit more to show the relationship between Alex and Ferra, which might not really be necessary anyway - you do communicate clearly that Alex cares about it, which is enough for the story itself to make its point. But we don't get much opportunity to see the Aggron as a character, which means it's hard for the reader to be as invested in Ferra's fate as Alex is. It might have added impact if we'd seen more actual interaction and not just Alex talking about their feelings for Ferra.

But either way it's well executed and does work fine as is.

P.S. Spotted a typo - "That were both here now", when it should be "we're".

Long story short, I adore this one-shot.

Let's start off with the fact that it does what Nuzlockes frequently fail to do: cough up a reason behind the death and destruction. All too frequently, you find Nuzlocke fics and comics set in the cutesy canon world, but then Pokémon start dying with no explanation offered as to why that works in a universe that goes on and on about friendship and how battling is important to get closer to your magical pets. Here, you offer up this elaborate universe centered on a gladiatorial tournament. People don't have the choice but to participate (for whatever reason, and I do agree with another reviewer that it would be awesome if we could find out about that), and when they're thrown in the ring and told to go fight each other, it's to the death because it's for the entertainment of an audience. It's treated as a horror to the people we see participating, sure, but on the other hand, it's an explanation that's pretty easy to swallow because, hey, death is fun to watch.

And then you have the main character. They're dead inside, and that is so fantastically clear here. Alex doesn't want to participate, and they most certainly don't want to continue killing off opponents. It gets to the point where they forfeit their life for the sake of bowing out of the game permanently. But even that's rather interesting on its own—that moment where Alex acknowledges that they will be executed—because it not only says a lot about them and their desire to be free of this setting, but also, it says a lot about their relationship with Ferra. Early in the story, we know that Alex says it's dangerous to get close to one's Pokémon, but at the same time, they've spent so much time with her that there's still something there—a respect for Ferra's opinions, a desire to see her in safe hands. In other words, you don't just tell us that Alex accidentally formed a bond with Ferra. You show us in fantastic detail.

So ... yes. You have a fascinating setting here and fantastically built characters. In short, it works, and it works well.