Welcome to the first episode of what I’m going to call “The Theory Files”. Hopefully you will all enjoy these as much as I enjoy researching them. But anyway that’s enough of that, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of this Pokémon theory.
Now, I imagine you have all heard of Pokémon, and I suspect that many of you have played at least one of the games from the last 15 years or so. Think back to the days before Wi-Fi battles, rechargeable batteries and EV training, back to the very first of the Pokémon games, Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow in particular. The struggle of who you should choose: Charmander, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle. Personally, I had Pokémon Yellow, so don’t talk to me about uphill battles until you have defeated Brock with nothing more than a level 14 Pikachu and a Pidgey. But what if I told you that both you and your rival were not only gifted when it came to the world of Pokémon, but child prodigies! Sounds crazy, right? Stick with it though. This theory came from dukeofearlsweatshirt on Reddit.
Let’s start off with your Pokémon; your starter Pokémon is always chosen by you, more often than not because you like that Pokémon more than the others or because you feel more of a certain affinity towards a certain type of Pokémon. For example, you may like the ferocity of the fire types such as Magmar and Arcanine and therefore you would choose Charmander as a starter. Or you may prefer the power of water types such as Lapras and Gyardos and choose Squirtle as your starter. However, once you have chosen this starter you are not simply locked into only training that type. So what? I hear you cry, but stop for a moment and take a look at every other trainer in the games, from bug cater Jim to Brock, Misty, and Lt. Surge and even right up to the Elite Four, the one thing they have in common: They all use just one type of Pokémon. The reason why is simple. The time and effort it takes to train and level up each Pokémon. Every Pokémon you have to train is like a workout for your body. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the number of Pokémon each trainer around the world carries.
You have probably never given it much thought but it’s something that proves the affinity you have with Pokémon
You start off your game with just a handful of Pokémon and encounter the physically weaker trainers such as youngsters and bug catchers who specialize in bug type Pokémon and are always depicted as young children. Both of these trainer types only have 2-3 Pokémon AT MOST. It’s not until you start to encounter fully grown adults such as the blackbelt, hiker, and cue ball (based on rough biker gangs for those of you who don’t remember) that your enemies start to carry 4 Pokémon. Even the elite four, the strongest Pokémon trainers in all of Kanto, only carry 5 Pokémon. Only one other character in the whole game is able to carry 6 Pokémon with them at any one time and that’s someone who is there just ahead of you every step of the way, someone who is also able to use Pokémon freely regardless of types and attributes, and that person is Blue Oak, better known as your rival. So how is it that 2 children are able to withstand the toll of training a number of different Pokémon with varying types and abilities when, looking at the evidence, it seems a struggle for fully grown adult men and women? Well, because you are gifted.
The final point is possibly the most convincing of them all. You have probably never given it much thought but it’s something that proves the affinity you have with Pokémon and in particular, battles.
“Trainer X is about to use….”
After your first Pokémon you and your opponent send out, you not only focus in on the battle and are able to instinctively tell what your opponent is about to send out next but also be able to react faster and plan and execute your plan of attack before the other trainer even knows themselves. This can only mean one of three things:
- Your opponent has his head so far in the clouds he/she is yelling out their Pokémon before they have thrown their pokeballs.
- You have Daredevil-like superhuman hearing and can hear the Pokémon inside the pokeballs.
- You are amazingly gifted at what you do to the point you have a 6th sense about these things.
Out of the three, I would go with the third one. Why? Because you are a child Einstein!