Tear Jerker / A Petty Nuzlocke Challenge

"This'll be the day that I die..."

All spoilers are unmarked!

The LeafGreen Run:

• Janice was the first Pokémon that died under Locke's possession. It's officially the moment where the series undergoes Cerebus Syndrome.
• Lavender Tower◊:
  • James the Kadabra's spine gets broken by a Thrash from Gary's Gyarados. He manages to hold on just long enough to tell Locke to not go after Gary out of vengeance and to wish her luck.
  • In the aftermath of the battle, Lulu the Butterfree questions why Gary was even at Lavender Tower in the first place, wondering if he was just there to pick fights grieving trainers. Her calling him heartless is juxtaposed with a panel of a memorial to his Raticate.
• Part 25◊ cements Gary as a Jerkass Woobie with extra emphasis on the Jerkass, as you can see from the results to the right. More painfully-well applied music follows.
• The battle against Lorelei has a wham moment that hits hard. A mere one episode after joining, Vinny the Magneton- already shaping up to be a fan favorite- is killed by Lapras' critical Surf. Good night, sweet prince.
• Petty's formspring makes an earlier event much harsher. Remember when James tossed Gary out of the S.S.Anne? spoiler: His Raticate died saving him.
• The final battle with Gary◊. Nadine going down after a stray Future Sight gave Gary's Charizard enough of an edge to finish her off. Made worse in the comments for the page, where Petty describes how she simply didn't have any choice but to let Nadine die due to Charizard's speed outclassing anything else on her team.
  • On top of this, immediately following the battle, Oak arrives and coldly shuts down Gary's protests, driving home the very same favoritism towards Locke that messed up Gary so badly in the first place.
    Gary: But Gramps! I WON! I was Champion! I was actually SOMETHING until she—
    Oak: GARY. Go home. (He then proudly embraces Locke, ignoring and turning his back on his grandson) Come with me, Locke. We'll enter you into the Hall of Champions.
• Mewtwo may be sort of evil, but his furious reaction to learning that Locke is going to take him back to Blaine, followed by him effectively committing suicide is pretty sad.
  Mewtwo: YOU INTEND TO TAKE ME BACK TO HIM! TO THAT HELL I ENDURED!
• The grand finale.

The HeartGold Run:

• Locke's relationship with her mother undergoes a Cerebus Retcon. Initially, her being a deadbeat and making Locke leave was just played for laughs, but here it's shown that their relationship is very strained.