CH. 03 - Starter Dilemma
As I slowly reached the lab, I could see the entrance of the lab crowded with people, cheering on and congratulating the new trainers who received their starter Pokémon and were getting ready to set out on their journey.
I could feel the jitters in my stomach and excitement rising inside me. Once I get my starter Pokémon, I could finally fulfil my dream of capturing and befriending various kinds of Pokémon and participating in Gym battles and Pokémon Leagues.
I just wish not to be entangled with Team Rocket or for that matter any of the evil organisations. But if I can meet Jessie and get her to my side, that will be awesome. Why you may ask? Cuz I think she is hot. *grin* Anyways this is a matter for discussion later.
Now I gotta get through this crowd of people to get inside the lab.
I slowly make my way through the crowd, sometimes stepping over somebody's toes.
"Sorry", "My bad", "Excuse me".
Phew, that was tiring.
I finally climbed the stairs and reached the doorstep. I rang the bell once.
*Click* The door opened and a middle-aged man, with grey hair sporting a light lilac polo shirt underneath his labcoat and beige-coloured pants, welcomed me, "Hey kid, you here for your first Pokémon?"
*Ding*
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[Skill Level Up]
1. Observe (Passive) ~ Lv. 1 -> Lv. 2
• Effect: Provide information on any target. When the level is high enough, more options will be unlocked.
• You can now view the name, age, and profession of a fellow human.
• You can now view the name, level and gender of the Pokémon you encounter.
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*Ding*
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[Name]: Samuel Oak
[Age]: 50
[Profession]: Pokémon Professor
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*Ding*
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[Quest Completed!]
1. Visit a Professor
• Exp. gained +2
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*Ding*
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[New Quest]
1. Receive a Starter Pokémon
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Woah, nice. [Observe] levelled up, and the options offered are great. The option to identify to know the gender of the Pokémon before I catch it would be good to know when I start breeding Pokémon for their eggs. And if these quests appear naturally to the flow of events, then I can gain experience easily. This tutorial system is cool.
"Yes, sir!!", I replied enthusiastically to the Professor.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Come on in.", he said.
We walked through the hallway, him leading me to the stairs at the end of the hallway. There was a living room on the first floor with a television, a lounge sofa and 4 bookshelves filled to the brim with various books on topics that I can't even imagine. There were various other rooms present on the first floor but the door leading to them was closed.
In the living room, there was a young man with light skin, brown eyes, and tall, brown ruffled spiky hair wearing a long purple t-shirt, dark grey pants, a yin-yang necklace and brown boots with black straps encircling them. He was sitting on the lounge sofa there with a disgruntled expression.
*Ding*
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[Name]: Gary Oak
[Age]: 15
[Profession]: Fledgling Trainer
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On seeing us he shouted at Prof. Oak, "Hey gramps, when will you let me leave? I already got the things I needed from you."
"Wait till I give this Trainer who arrived at the moment. After I give him his Pokémon and necessary supplies and let him leave for his journey, I want to finish our talk before you leave for your journey yourself. You know I love you, don't you Gary?", he said to Gary.
"Yea gramps...", He just grumbled, folded his arms and looked away from us.
"Hey kiddo, that's my grandson, Gary. He is also leaving today on his journey to become a Trainer.
I hope you both become good rivals and motivate each other to become great Trainers. He also aspires to become a Professor like me. I can tell..", he said as he introduced Gary to me.
"Gramps..!!", Gary said red-faced.
"Hahaha... Oh good times..", Prof. Oak started laughing and led me further to the stairs. I looked at him sympathetically for getting teased by his grandpa and followed Prof. Oak.
While walking upstairs he introduced himself as Prof. Oak and asked several questions about me. I told him my name and age, and then went on to say that I don't remember anything before today and the old lady at the store around the corner could vouch for me.
We got up to the second floor, which was filled with various machines related to Pokémon Research. He led me to a machine in the middle of the room and then turned to me.
"Hello Alex, I welcome you again to my Research Lab. I am what everyone calls a Pokémon Professor. I research Pokémon and their various mysterious behaviours, pattern and growth. Pokémon are mysterious creatures that we humans have lived codependent with for hundreds of years. Nobody knows from where they have originated, and research regarding that topic is still going underway.
So you know that this world is widely inhabited by these creatures known as Pokémon. We, humans, live alongside Pokémon as friends. At times we play together, and at other times we work together. Some people use their Pokémon to battle and develop closer bonds with them.
Once a year, for a week, all the children at the age of 15 who aspire to become a Pokémon Trainer will get their Trainer's License registered at the Pokémon Centre or by visiting me, or for that matter, any of the Pokemon Professors of their liking. Depending on the area, the starter Pokémon that they receive will greatly vary.
Here, at my lab, I usually give new Trainers an option between the Fire-type Pokémon Charmander, Grass/Poison-type Bulbasaur, and Water-type Squirtle.", he said.
"Wooow~", I exclaimed.
"But....", suddenly he said with a disappointed look on his face.
"But what Professor?", I asked with fear creeping up my spine.
"But since you are 16 and have gone above the age of required criteria, the usual starter Pokémon cannot be given to you."
Nooo!! This can't be happening. I wanted Charmander as my starter. The majestic Charizard. Does this mean I just got trampled at the beginning itself?
"Then, if I can't have any of those three Pokémon as starters, are there any other options that I can receive?", I asked the Professor.
"There is actually", he replied.
With a glimmer of hope back in my eyes I asked him, "What are the starters that I actually can receive Professor?"
He went to the strange machine behind him and started inputting something into it. Suddenly, the machine came to life and started making some noises. Three Pokéballs appeared above the machine in a glass chamber, which opened with a hiss.
"Well, these are the Pokémon that you can choose from. A Pidgey, who is a {Flying} type Pokémon. Next is Rattata, a {Normal} type Pokémon. And finally, Poliwag, a {Water} type Pokémon.", said Prof. Oak.
"What the..", I stared at him dumbfounded.
After a few seconds of staring blankly at the Professor and the Pokéballs that he presented, I asked him without showing my building-up frustration, "Professor, aren't these usually available to easily capture in the wild? Pidgeys can even be caught on Route 1 just past Pallet Town. How can these Pokémon fulfil the criteria of a starter Pokémon which are usually found to be rare in the region?"
To my remark, Prof. Oak calmly replied, "Even though these Pokémon could be caught easily in the wild, the Pokémon presented to you here were bred from high-levelled Pokémons of superior quality which I had caught during my training days and have enhanced potential suitable to help a Trainer along his/her journey."
(A/N: How could he ever doubt the Professor, right?)
He continued, "All the Pokémon that exist in this world have the potential to become one's best partner, but it depends on the ability, care and respect of its Trainer for it to be able to master its true potential."
After hearing out the Professor, I fell into a deep thought process.
Shit.
This is not how I imagined my adventure begins. I was looking forward to training my own Charizard and flying on it across the different regions. Now, I just wanna go somewhere, lay down and cry out curling, clutching at my legs. Forget it. Let's deal with the hand that's been dealt to me now.
Pidgey, Rattata and a Poliwag.
Out of these three, Rattata's out. Even though it has an early evolution Raticate which has some strong moves such as Hyper Fang, Super Fang and Crunch, and can help in the early run, it's still only a {Normal} type Pokémon, has a common move-set and has low HP, Attack and Defense compared to other Pokémon of its type. Sorry, Rattata.
Speaking of move-sets does the "four move choice and forgetting an old move" battle system apply in this world too? Also, do the battles here take turns? If it is, that would be boring... Bleh... Hmm... I should look up the information regarding these and also watch a recording of a battle as soon as I can to be familiar with it.
Well then.
The hard choice is to choose between Pidgey and Poliwag.
Pidgey on the first outlook may seem like a bad choice from amongst the three since it's easily found in the wild. But, since he has specifically mentioned that these Pokémon have been bred from high-quality breeds of their species, therefore I can expect them to have a hidden ability or a breeding-specific move which will act as a trump card.
Although this applies to all three Pokémon, Pidgey's later evolution stages, that is, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot can also act as a mount which helps traverse across the region more easily which the other two can't provide. Hope I wouldn't have to buy a TM/HM Fly to use to 'fly'.
What bird would need a TM/HM to learn to fly? Who was such a crack case in the Pokémon company that they thought a bird-type Pokémon would need a TM/HM to learn to fly? Sheesh. Seriously.
*sigh* Anyways, back to the topic.
Pidgeot can also Mega Evolve to Mega Pidgeot giving itself a boost during battles. Though I would kinda have to go to Kalos to find the Key Stone and a Mega Stone for Pidgeot. That could take some time but time is what I have.
Pidgey and its evolutions being pure {Flying} types are super-effective against {Bug}, {Grass} and {Fighting} types. But they are weak against {Electric}, {Ice} and {Rock}.
Considering this, even though Pidgey may not play a crucial role in the first Gym Battle against Brock who is a {Rock} type Pokémon Trainer, this could be easily handled by catching a {Grass} / {Water} type Pokémon in the Viridian Forest on the way to Pewter City.
As for Poliwag, compared to Pidgey, it is comparatively a better Pokémon in stats if I remember correctly from the game. It was even ahead in Speed stat to Pidgey. And these were before Poliwag evolved to Poliwhirl. As a Poliwhirl, there is not much change in its stats, rather than a slight increase in Attack and Defense.
Once evolved to Poliwrath, it becomes a {Water/Fighting} dual-type Pokémon giving it an edge over {Fire}, {Ground}, {Rock}, {Normal}, {Dark}, {Ice} and {Steel} type Pokémons while being weak to {Flying}, {Fairy}, {Psychic}, {Grass} and {Electric} types.
Also, its Attack stat fairly increases in value while the Speed stat dips down sharply.
Speed is the biggest factor in favour of Pidgey, since as it evolves into Pidgeotto and then to Pidgeot, on each successive evolution, the Special Attack and Speed attack increase tremendously while the rest of its stats rises slightly. Not to mention, if we add in the factor that a Pidgeot can Mega Evolve, this also results in a nice boost to its stats during battle, especially its Speed. You might think why I focus mainly on the Speed of a Pokémon, even though its Attack Power is of equal importance. This is because easy manoeuvrability allows the Pokémon to dodge the strongest of attacks quite easily except those targetted in nature. And the attack power of those Pokémon that excel in Speed can be trained up to an optimal degree.
Aaaand, another major reason that makes Pidgey could be chosen would be that Pidgeot looks so COOL!
*cough* *cough* Not offence to Poliwrath or Politoed for that matter, Pidgeot is one of coolest looking Pokémon, ever. I'm such a fanboy.
Even major characters like Ash, Gary and Bruno each had one Pidgeot in their team. Though Ash later left his Pidgeot with a flock of Pidgey promising him he will return to take him back, never fulfilling it. Idiot. *sniffle*
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As I stood staring so intensely at the three Pokéballs set on the machine for almost ten minutes straight with varying emotions displaying over my face, Prof. Oak interrupted my train of thought, "Ahem, Alex. Have you decided on which Pokémon among these three you would take with you to embark on your adventure?"
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, calming my mind, I faced the Professor and said to him, "Professor, I choose Pidgey to be my partner."
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