Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Part 2: I Actually Begin

With the immediate gain of our pokemon, the Professor leaves us with an invitation to see him at his lab in Sandgem town. Dawn leaves with him, and not two minutes later, Tim gives me a wild grin.

"Let's battle together with our Pokemon!"

I am unsure, wanting to bond a bit better with the little Piplup, but I seem to have no choice in the matter.

We both take our Pokemon out, and I see he's chosen the Turtwig. Now, even though I'm new to Pokemon, I know that Water is not the best against grass, and that grass types are somewhat strong against water. It is not a good match. But I continue onward, hoping a first win would grow a stronger bond between me and the Piplup.

It is a very hard battle, Tim constantly using Withdraw against my attacks. I use Piplup's Growl attack a few times, then continue with Pound. I only take off a very tiny amount each time, and do not get lucky with any critical hits. Finally, after a while and only 5 HP left, I win against Tim.

Tim seems to take it well, but starts off back home, claiming he and his Pokemon need some rest. I agree and go back to the house to rest up. Later that day, my mother expresses her concern that we might have been attacked by wild Pokemon, and that it was a good thing that Rowan was there to stop us. She says that I should thank him properly and gives me a pair of Running Shoes. With instructions.

Thanks mom, I know how to run.

She means well, I know. So I head out the door to go towards Sandgem Town.

And once again, Tim is waiting on the road and stops me. He's had a great idea.

Last time his idea got me grounded for two weeks and my neighbor refuses to let me and Tim near his flower garden ever again.

But Tim continues talking about the lake nearbye and how people say there's a legendary Pokemon that lives there. He says that we should catch it and give it to Prof. Rowan.

I just stare at him. He must be an idiot. We have a Turtwig and a Piplup, and once again, even though I'm new to Pokemon, I can work out the basic math that perhaps a level 5 Piplup would not stand well against a very rarely-seen legendary Pokemon.

But before I can protest, he pushes me towards the lake. I finally concede, hoping that maybe I can talk him out of his hair-brained idea.

When we walk into the lake area, I am once again struck by the music and atmosphere of the place. The water is a deep blue, with fantasic ripple animations on the top of it.

There is a man named Cyrus at the lake, and he has blue hair. Need I say more about him? He leaves rather suddenly, passing by us with hardly a word.

Just as we were about to get closer to the lake, a weird cry echoes over everything. We stop in our tracks, wide-eyed. Tim is convinced it must be the cry of the legendary Pokemon.

And then, suddenly, he smacks his forehead and points out we don't have any Pokeballs.

Oh...yeah...that might be kinda helpful in capturing Pokemon. Perhaps Prof. Rowan would give us some.

With a spastic run, Tim leaves the lake front, causing me to lag behind. Maybe now I can walk in peace.

I head out to the main road to Route 201, and come across the first batch of tall grass. I give a deep breath and plunge in. It's not long before I encounter my first pokemon!

The rustling of the pokemon catches my eye, and the little Piplup and I are on guard. And I stare at the pokemon that just appeared with disbelief.

It's...a mouse (Bidoof). The terrible creatures that I was told would rip us apart is a plump mouse. I blink, keeping back the laughter.

The battles go well from that point on, and I meet a few more people on the way, and they give me tips on Pokemon in general. I finally reach town having fought my way through birds (Starly) and mice to get there, risking life and limb and...

...okay, I'm exaggerating slightly. But seriously. Birds and mice were our biggest threats.

I see Dawn at the outskirts of town and she leads me to the Pokemon Research Lab. As we reach the door, Tim bursts out, almost colliding with me. With a quick hello and goodbye, he dissapears into town.

Dawn and I ignore Tim and head into the lab to speak with Rowan. He takes a look at my Piplup and says it appears to be rather happy.

Odd considering I just fought through birds and mice to get here.

Will never shut up about that.

Rowan asks me if I want to give a nickname to the little Piplup. As I usually remember the names I give them better than their species name, I say sure.

After much agonizing, with Josh throwing in the suggestion I should name it "Smoosh" because it is cute and smooshy-looking, I finally end up naming it Sheldon, after my dad's middle name.

After the naming ceremony, Rowan gives me my first Pokedex. This device will record data of every Pokemon I encounter.

He's clearly using me to do his job, but I don't mind.

Rowan gives me one last thing before leaving the lab, a TM27. TM stands for Technical Machine, and this one contains the move Return. These can be used to teach a move instantly to a Pokemon, but that this is a single-use only.

And with that, Rowan slams the door in my face and leaves me to my journey. Dawn shows me around town, introducing me to the Pokemon Center and the Shop. Finally, she has to go, but leaves me with the advice that I should tell my mother I'm being used as slave labor--er...volunteering to help out Rowan with the Pokedex.

With that, she heads north and leaves me to heal my Pokemon. The last thing I want to do is have it be killed by a Bidoof.

And with that, I end my first playing session with Pokemon Platinum. Tomorrow I will continue on with my journey.

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