Gotta Catch ‘em All: The Pokémon that Defined my Childhood - Part 2.

Welcome back!

So, did you take a guess? Who’s your favorite? My favorite …

It’s Sylveon.

That’s the quick answer, at least. Seriously, I love Sylveon. I think it was a Pokémon made purely for me. It’s a pretty, pink, ribbon fairy-dog. Or fairy-cat? Who knows. What kind of animal it’s supposed to be doesn’t matter. What matters is that I love it and think it’s actually the perfect Pokémon. Not only is it adorable and I want one in real life, it’s also arguably the most competitively viable Eeveelution because fairy types are insanely broken. I love Sylveon, and it’s definitely my favorite.

But, I don’t just love Sylveon because it’s cute. It also has a special place in my heart. Sylveon was my ace during my play through of Pokémon Sun and Moon, and the hours spent fighting alongside the little bugger set in stone a love for the creature that would last years. To this day, I will find literally any way to put Sylveon on my team in any game, even if I have no need for a mono-fairy type on my team.

When I was reflecting on this history with Sylveon recently, it made me realize that all of my favorite Pokémon are my favorites because of their impacts on my life. So, I decided to put together a list.

This is a selection from that list of Pokémon who I love not only because of their cool designs or battle prowess, but because at various points in my life, they made major impacts. They’re the Pokémon who have defined my Pokémon journey and encouraged me to keep my love for the franchise strong.

Emboar

Emboar is, by all means, not a very popular Pokémon. Over the years, it hasn’t been very well-received from the community. It was the third fire-fighting starter in a row, following Blaziken and Infernape. Through the years, people have hated on Emboar online quite a bit. Yet, I’ve found no such hate for this big ol’ fire pig exists in my heart.

I love Emboar because he was one of my first actual partner Pokémon. Back in the days of the 2010s, I loved fire starters. After a few failed attempts to run through Soul Silver with Chikorita by my side, I finally turned to Cyndaquil, which started my preference for the fire starters. So, when I got Pokémon Black during Christmas of 2011, I immediately picked Tepig, the “Fire Pig Pokémon”. 

Keep in mind, this was before my days on the internet, and so I had no clue what Tepig would evolve into. It was all a surprise in those days.

Armed with my Tepig whom I aptly named Flare (my naming skills were off the charts), I set off on another Pokémon journey. This one, I finished. Flare and I did it all together. We struggled against Lenora and her stupid Watchog, and later celebrated Ash Ketchum-style after we beat her, we fought Team Plasma together, and eventually fought Ghetsis together as well. He was by my side through it all. I kept Flare and continued to train him for years, transferring him between my copy of Black and my copy of White 2 over and over whenever I wanted to restart the games. Every new iteration of myself in those games, he was always there. Usually, he was snuggled away in the box, but I loved him either way.

It is said that within the Pokémon games, you never forget the first Pokémon you train to level 100. It’s a momentous occasion, and it sticks with you. That’s especially true for me and Flare.

I remember when Flare reached that magical number, many years after my first journey with him. I was on a plane and had to stop myself from shouting out in joy because I finally, finally did it. I got a Pokémon to Level 100 all by myself. I trained Flare up 95 levels. He has over 2,000,000 experience points. That’s a lot of time spent in battle with one Pokémon.

Flare is truly my Pokémon partner. I love all the Pokémon I’ve traversed through these games with, but I don’t think there will ever be another Pokémon who I’m as proud of or that I cherish as much as I cherish Flare. Even now, he sits back where he belongs: the front of my team on my original copy of Pokémon Black.

Here’s to Flare, my very best Pokémon who made me a Champion for the first time.

Virizion

I know what many of you may be thinking. Another Gen 5 Pokémon? And to that I say: yes. Unironically, I think Generation 5 is one of my favorite Pokémon generations, and I’ve loved it for years even when people hated on it for having “stupidly designed Pokémon”.

Now, of course, everyone loves Gen 5. In fact, they love it so much that it’s now impossible to find a copy of any of the Gen 5 games for under $100. This is immensely frustrating because 1. I was here first, and I loved these games long before anyone else decided they were cool and 2. The current prices are stopping me from completing my Gen 5 game collection because I refuse to pay almost $150 for Pokemon Black 2.

Back to the point, though.

From Generation 5 came the Swords of Justice: 4 legendary Pokémon (one is actually mythical but details, details) originally based on the three musketeers. The Swords of Justice consist of Cobalion (the leader), Terrakion (the muscle), Virizion (the girl one), and Keldeo (the annoying one). I like the Swords of Justice, they’re one of my favorite legendary groups and I think their concept is super cool. One really sticks out to me, though: Virizion.

Virizion has a special place in my heart not because of her place in my original Black and White games, but rather because of her place in my Ultra Moon game.

When I first encountered Virizion in Black and White, I liked her. I caught her, jazzed to have a new legendary Pokémon in my grasp, and mostly moved on. I never really thought about her much and actually used Cobalion more than I used her.

That changed, though, when the Ultra Wind Space came about in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. At some point I decided I wanted to do something I never had before: shiny hunting.

The Ultra Winds gave way to a new form of shiny hunting for various legendary Pokémon. You could find a wormhole with whatever Pokémon you want, save right before the encounter spot, and spend an eternity encountering the Pokémon, resetting, and encountering the Pokémon again and again until you find a shiny one. It was a way more accessible format of shiny hunting that appealed to me.

So, I tried my hand at it. I flew around the Ultra Wormholes, encountering random legendaries and looking up their shiny forms to figure out if I wanted to shiny hunt that Pokemon or not. The one I eventually decided on was, as you can probably guess, Virizion.

Virizion’s shiny was pretty and pink, and I loved it. I decided then and there that I needed it. So, thus began a very, very long journey as I took my first steps into the lucrative world of shiny hunting. I was about 12 or 13 at the time. Rather than tracking the number of encounters I had during this soirée, I kept a running stopwatch every time I’d sit down to shiny hunt. It was a tedious process, but in the end it was worth it.

It took around 13 hours (from what I can remember), but eventually that bright pink deer appeared on my 3DS screen. It was beautiful.

Much like you never forget your first level 100 Pokemon, you never forget your first shiny Pokemon (not including the red Gyarados from Silver and Gold).

I never really used Virizion much, especially since it was caught in post game with not much to do. I also never shiny hunted again after that except one failed attempt to shiny hunt Altaria. Still, Virizion became one of my most beloved Pokemon, only the shiny version though.

Shiny hunting may not be for me, but for over 13 hours it was my only pastime and it got me one of my favorite shiny Pokemon secured in my game file.

Infernape

I think this one can be expected on any Pokemon mega-fans list of favorite Pokemon. Infernape is legendary, and stands to be the best fire type in all of Generation 4.

Generation 4 is my favorite generation. It may not have been my first set of games, but it definitely was the most present anime series from my early childhood. Before I even started playing the games, that was the series I watched the most. If you’re familiar with the Diamond and Pearl series at all, you’ll know that one of Ash’s most iconic Pokemon comes from that series: his Infernape.

Ash’s Infernape is on a whole other level of power. Even now, grown as I am, I have to admit I still get goosebumps watching Ash’s Infernape’s Blaze ability kick in right as you thought it was over for him. Seeing Infernape be the Pokémon to finish off Paul’s team after he abandoned it early in the series was sweet, sweet justice. So, of course, when I finally received a copy of Pearl off of Amazon, I knew who I wanted to choose.

Armed with my trusty Chimchar, I set off on my first Sinnoh journey of many. Much like Flare the Emboar, my Chimchar was always by my side. In those days I never actually trained any other Pokemon in my party, so when I say that Chimchar was my best Pokemon, it’s not a lie.

Eventually, Chimchar evolved into Monferno, and then into Infernape. We took on the Elite 4 together, and somehow managed to beat one of the hardest Champion fights in the franchise. This was especially shocking considering my team consisted of Infernape, the Palkia I had caught just before the Elite 4 fights, a Staravia I never bothered evolving into a Staraptor, a level 36 Luxray, a random Mantine my brother traded me, and the egg Happiny I hatched earlier in the game.

It’s safe to assume that my over-leveled Infernape was the only thing that got me through that fight. It’s especially ironic considering that over 10 years later while playing the remake with a much better, actually balanced team, still led with an Infernape, it took me eight tries to beat the same fight.

Definitely not my proudest moment.

What I am proud of however, is that original Infernape from my first copy of Pearl. Pearl is one of the few games I have that still contains the original game file. I’ve never restarted the game, instead just playing Platinum and Diamond when I got copies. It’s definitely the oldest save file I have, and has over 80 hours of playtime on it.

I love that Infernape, and even now I still love to battle with it at the Battle Frontier. He may have one of the worst move sets I’ve ever seen, but it’s all inconsequential compared to the love I bear for that silly little monkey.

In Conclusion…

Lord knows that these aren’t the only Pokemon that defined my childhood. This article could be miles longer, but then no one would read it. Still, though, I feel I am barely scratching the surface of my adventures over the years with Pokemon.

Pokemon is my favorite franchise, and I don’t think that will ever change. While some may scoff or judge, I can’t force myself to stop filling my life with Pokemon just because many believe I am “too old” to partake. Pokemon was my childhood, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be my adulthood too.

The 2010s were the greatest time to grow up, but they’re gone now. That magical time will never come back despite how much I wish it would. That doesn’t mean I have to give up the pieces of the 2010s that made it so wonderful. Infernape, Virizion, and Flare. These Pokemon stuck by me throughout my adolescent years, and I will always hold them and the adventures we went on (digital as they may be) close to my heart.