Life: The Everlasting Adventure

Instantly I opened the box of the game and discarded the wrappings onto to the floor of the limousine. Finally I had what I always wanted at the age of eight, my very own edition of Pokemon Red Version and a gameboy color. A gift from my parents as to give us something to do while we were on the plane going to Florida for an adventure at Disney World. Making sure that the batteries were securely fastened into the rear compartment of the device, I inserted the game into it’s slot and turned it on, the red glow on the upper right hand side of the game boy, indicating it was on with full power. Repeatedly tapping the ‘A’ button to get through the credits that I never appreciated when I was younger, I was brought to the menu screen where I was given two options, “New Game” and “Options.” Tapping the ‘A’ button once, I selected “New Game” and was greeted by the Pokemon Professor Samuel Oak, who introduced me to the world of Pokemon. He told me that in this world, I will be going on an adventure with my Pokemon, meet friends and rivals along the way, and have my Pokemon pals with me along for my adventure. Of course, I had played this game many times though on my cousin Bradley’s gameboy, so I paid little attention to the introduction of the game, except when he asked me for my name.

Finally my adventure was about to begin, I was brought to the hardest decision of my and many other people my age’s childhood; which of the three starter Pokemon would I choose to start off with on my journey. On the game screen you are looking at yourself as the trainer sprite in front of a table with three different Pokeballs each with a different Pokemon inside; Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle. This decision was the most difficult too because it determined how hard the journey was going to be for the rest of the game. With Bulbasaur you had more of an advantage through the game; you were stronger against more types of Pokemon you would encounter and your opponents Pokemon were weak against grass types, which was Bulbasaur’s primary attribute. If you wanted more of a challenge, Squirtle was the one to go with; he was a water type and he was strong against the first leader, but many of the other leaders you had to face he was weak against. The hardest Pokemon to play with was Charmander, who didn’t have many super effective type advantages, but once he was leveled up and gained a lot of experience, he was a tough challenger to anyone. I saw the most logical choice when I was younger and I chose Bulbasaur, for I wanted to go through the journey with as little trouble possible.

In the spring of 2002, I was in my fathers blue Dodge Charger with my brother Wesley in the back seat with me. I had my Charmander shirt on and my backpack in my lap, super excited to get home and play Pokemon Stadium 2. We pulled into the drive way of our house on Jarena drive in Modesto, California and my dad put the car in park. I put my hand on the door handle to open the car door to exit it when my mom told me to wait.

“Austen, Wesley, your father and I have some important news to tell you.”

I removed my hand from the handle and sat in attention, Wesley was still trying to understand what was going on.

“Well, Wesley, Austen, we may be moving to Minnesota in the summer.”

With that news I had no idea how much was going to change, I did not know what was going to happen, who I was going to be leaving, who I was going to be meeting. All that I had in my head from that moment was the fact that moving meant a new house and that sounded fun and exciting, so naturally, as the 10 year old that I was I responded, “That sounds fun!”

My brother asked,“where is Minnesota?”

As the days, weeks, and eventually months passed by until our departure from the Golden State, I began to finally realize what moving meant. We had a yard sale on the side lot of our house where we had a variety of items that were for sale as to lighten our load in our travel. Naturally, I saw an opportunity! I had set up a table and sold my Pokemon cards; of course my father had a rule in which I could only sell cards that I had multiples of and I had to keep at least one of each. I had collected well over 2000 Pokemon cards and I had several rare ones, including the much sought after Charizard card, which was the final evolution of Charmander and the most expensive single Pokemon card in the game. My cousin had one gifted to him from his father and stepmother as a birthday gift, and I was jealous that he was simply handed the most prized card of Pokemon. Whenever my dad took my cousin and I to the card shop, I would eye the Charizard card behind the glass display panel where all the other single holo-foil Pokemon cards were on exhibit for purchase. However, my father would always make a remark at how expensive a single piece of cardboard was and he would never pay a ridiculous amount like that. Ironically, he bought an Exodia playset in 2003 for brothers golden birthday. lthough he did get Wesley’s golden birthday he bought five cards for a total of $180).

Two weeks away from moving was all that was left and our house had become bare on the inside except for the necessities; bedding, cooking accessories, my gameboy and my Pokemon video games. We were planning a going away party for ourselves, a fun way to see our dearest friends and family and a way to say goodbye before we left. It took place on the side lot of our house, we bought it for originally having my brothers and I play, now it was a place for my parents to say farewell to their friends for a long time before they began a new journey of their lives. The asphalt was covered with chairs and tables full of food and cans of soda and bottles of beer, all of which was being enjoyed by one person or another, sometimes even shared. The reality of moving was still not into the grasp of my young mind but I did understand that some of these people I may very well never see again, which did not register in the actuality of its meaning to me still.

While on the way to the airport that would take us to Disney World, my father asked me who I started with. He knew a bit about the world of Pokemon that I loved, he would even sometimes watch the show with my brother and I or play the card game with us if we begged really hard.

“Bulbasaur.” I showed my dad to emphasize the fact that I had chosen my companion Pokemon. I already had made it a to the first gym leader in the game and beaten him with ease; Rock-type Pokemon are no match against Grass-types.

“Why did you choose that one?”

“It’s the most strategic choice.”

We stayed in a hotel the first month of being in Minnesota since the house we were buying still had a family living in it at the time. It was weird buying a house someone else had lived in, this was the first time that I could remember where I lived in a house that someone else had lived in before me. I was going to be living in a room that was previously the dwelling of a girl. It kind of felt odd to me that it was not my own room, it had belonged to someone already, like how you buy a used game and you go to the loading screen and it says “Start New Game” and “Continue” and you automatically hit “New Game” because the continued game on there is not your own. Once we finally moved in, it began to look a lot more like our own piece of property. My mom’s Coca-Cola collection found its place in the kitchen and my dad’s desk and chair found its spot in the only room in the basement. The previous inhabitants presence of the dwelling was fading as more of ours found its way from California.

School began quickly and I was surrounded by unfamiliar faces. Everyone was a stranger and I did not know how to approach these odd people, using different words as I did and thought that their way of life was so much more superior to everyone else’s. I tried to bring up Pokemon in conversations, but people had seem to grow up faster than they did in California, thinking that it wasn’t cool or interesting and that sports and drugs were more interesting to talk about. What girl was hot was a more interesting topic than who their favorite gym leader was, I knew I was kind of a geek, but I didn’t understand why in fifth grade they were already worrying about all this stuff. None of it took my interest, the only thing that mattered to me was what was going to happen on the next episode of Pokemon.

Middle school sucked, I was picked on and bullied and only had a few friends, hardly any of them close. I was betrayed too many times for already knowing myself, I knew were I was going on my adventure and other kids didn’t like that because they were scared of the fact that I knew what I wanted to do. I had an idea of where I was going.

As we approached the airport, my mom told me to put away the gameboy and make sure that I had everything picked up and put into the Target bag so we did not leave anything behind. I opened the “Options” menu and scrolled down to “Save Game.” I had finally done it, I had saved my own adventure in the world of Pokemon instead of turning it off when it was time for me to leave from my cousin’s house and losing all my hard work that I had spent hours on building.

“Wesley, how is your game?”

“It’s great, I really like it mom!” Wesley had gotten Pokemon Yellow version, which was different from Red version in the fact that you started with the infamous Pikachu as your starter, an Electric type, which had a huge disadvantage at the beginning of the game due to the fact that you went up against a Rock-type gym, and Electric type Pokemon attacks had no effect upon them (This was not true, Rock-type Pokemon took normal damage but most of the Rock-type Pokemon in the first generation were also Ground-type Pokemon which had an immunity to Electric-type moves).

“Austen, why didn’t you want Yellow version? The Red version doesn’t have color like the Yellow version does.”

“Because I didn’t want to use Pikachu, you can’t get past the first Gym Leader then” my voice in a matter-o-fact like tone towards my mom who’s face looked as though she just was spoken to in another language.

“He’s right, I just can’t get past Brock, his Geodude doesn’t take damage from Pikachu.”

“Keep trying Wesley, sometimes the harder choice is the most worthwhile one,” My dad responded. He opened the limo car door as we pulled up to the drop off area and unloaded our bags, thanked the driver, and began our journey to Florida.

As the end of my middle school career approached, everyone began to try to figure out what they were doing about classes at the high school. My friends were super excited because rumor had it that you could swear in school and the teachers didn’t care, which I knew was nothing but simple minded foolishness.

After my last day of eighth grade came and went, I spent the next day in my family’s shop where we did U-Haul truck rentals and wallpaper installation. I was alone at the shop tending to sales while my parents returned from their lunch breaks. I began getting ready to go with my mom back home to start my summer vacation right with a game of Pokemon with my brothers when my father asked me to hang on for a moment. “Austen, have a seat please,” he asked, and I complied. He began telling me about this person he met named Mrs. Charles and how she was the principle of this performing arts high school. I wasn’t quite understanding where he was going with his speech until the very end, “Austen, does that sound like a place where you would like to go?”

I wasn’t understanding what he meant. Go? You could choose where to go for high school? You didn’t have to simply follow what other people told you to do? You had a choice? “What do you mean?”

“I mean do you want to go to this school, Main Street it’s called. Your mother and I know how much you love theater and acting and all that, and you won’t have to deal with those bullies and what not in high school.”

Again, this choosing, it was a difficult decision, looking back on it, it was just as hard as choosing what Pokemon to start with. I could choose to stay with my friends and try to endure the dread of being poked and picked on by those people I considered humanoid looking vultures, or I could try a little more of a challenge, to leave behind everyone that I knew and embark on a new quest.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure? Remember, you won’t know anyone there.”

“I have already done it once moving here from Modesto and I will have to do it again once I go to college, may as well have a bit of practice under my belt.”

My father and mother both smiled, my mother having a bit of a tear in her eye as she always does when anything important is happening in one of her babies lives. It was an adventure that was quite difficult, full of tests, books, plays, essays, friends, rivals, lovers, and family. Most of all, it was a journey, a journey that was new and one that I learned from and learned more about myself.

After our trip, Christmas was hastily approaching and my mom wanted me to make a Christmas list to give out to the family. I gave her the list and she made a puzzled face of not understanding it.

“Austen, you got Pokemon Red version already, why do you need Pokemon Blue?”

“I want to start the game over.”

“Why don’t you just start over on the game you already have; is there any difference between the two games?”

There are differences: in Blue version you are able to capture Vulpix and Bellsprout, which you are unable to capture in the Red version of Pokemon. However, the main reason was that I did not want to delete a game that I had beaten and had Pokemon on there that were so hard to level. I had many memories on that journey, even though it was easy because I started with Bulbasaur, but I wanted to remember that journey, deleting it makes it seem like it simply never happened. Additionally, I was a 90s kid and I just wanted more Pokemon. Now, with looking back, I realize I wanted more adventures.