I come to you once again because I've been tagged to answer some questions. These ones are all Pokémon related, so I hope that you enjoy.

1. What was your first Pokémon game?

The first Pokémon game I wanted to play was the original Red/Blue, but I unfortunately never had the opportunity. As a young kid, I was sort of dependent upon my parents buying it for me, and our family didn't even have a Game boy at that time. We didn't get one until years later, at which time we got the latest and the greatest game available: Leaf Green. As a remake of the original game, it felt awesome to me. My three younger siblings and I all shared it, making separate PC boxes labeled with our names so that we could each have the Pokémon we wanted, as well as a common box for legendaries and our starter. I later bought Fire Red (when I finally had some money of my own from babysitting) so that I could have a save file all to myself, and, as some of you may recall, this was the very game that inspired Getting Out of Fuchsia.

2. What's your favorite region?

This is a question where I don't actually have a clear preference, but I'm going to make an argument for Johto. In terms of the games, it's awesome because it's essentially getting two regions in one. In the anime, it was great because it had all of the old favorite characters (minus certain exceptions... Butterfree! Come back!) plus new ones that my siblings and I loved. In terms of canon, I love the story of the towers with Ho-oh and the legendary dogs. In terms of Pokémon, Ho-oh is my favorite legendary (cool design, cool story, awesome anime foreshadowing) and Chikorita is my favorite Pokémon of all!

3. What gym leader would you be?

I'm not sure if this question is referring to actual characters or whether it's trying to ask what kind of gym leader I would make if I were to become a new one. When I was a kid, I always liked Erica best, but this was because there were only three female gym leaders at that time. Sabrina was too creepy to be relatable, and my little sister had already "called dibs" on Misty, so Erica remained. This may be the reason that grass became my favorite type.

I know there are many more female gym leaders now, but they all kind of blur in my mind. I would probably have to do research in order to make a better choice.

If I were to become a brand new gym leader, I would probably be one of the early ones who aren't as awesome at battling but just love having fun with the Pokémon they love. That pretty much describes my battle style in the games.

4. What's your favorite pseudo legendary?

I'm not sure what a pseudo legendary is... Isn't a Pokémon either legendary or not? If you're talking about a Pokémon that's really rare but not technically a legendary, I might do a toss-up between Dratini and Porygon. As mentioned previously, I watching the anime was my first exposure to Pokémon, so a lot of the nostalgia power is there. The Dratini episode was banned, so I never even got to see one apart from in the theme song. This made it feel very rare and special to me, especially because this seemed to be supported by references to it. I also remember the Dragonite episode at Bill's lighthouse, after which I thought that all Dragonite are as tall as buildings and are so rare that few people have ever even seen one.

Porygon is a more recent favorite, and it's entirely because I've become a computer programmer. I'm fascinated by the idea that a bunch of scientists and programmers in the Pokémon world actually created it. I've been considering writing a story about how that whole process might have worked, but I worry that my references to programming would be boring to those who don't understand and would seem too amateurish to someone who really knows what they're doing when it comes to AI. It's worth mentioning that the Porygon episode of the anime was also banned, so it also feels rare and special, not to mention the fact that you can only obtain it by special methods in the games.

5. What's your favorite evil team?

Not to keep sounding like a first generation junkie, but I'm going to still have to go with Team Rocket. To me, every other villainous team has felt like some measure of a watered-down rip off. I feel like most of them exist just because the games need to have villains, and their motives for existence feel rather comic book-like. For example, teams Aqua and Magma have their huge plans to reshape the earth, which makes a good superhero sort of plot line but isn't very believable to me. Team Rocket feel more like a real-world crime syndicate like the Mafia, which is normally the idea I use when writing them. They're interested in things like money and power, and they use a casino as a front for some of their operations. I heard that later generations got rid of the gambling aspects of the games because it was actually driving up the game's rating in certain parts of the world, which, again, seems like watering down rather than making a true creative decision. I'm pretty sure the company is creating all of its villainous teams to fit to standards for the lowest rating possible to be able to continue marketing to children. I understand, of course, but I'm also mature enough to see the possibilities for more realistic darkness lingering in the backstory and less obvious details surrounding the original Team Rocket.

6. What do you think is the cutest Pokémon?

I would be upset with myself if I didn't say Chikorita. Just look at the adorable little leaf, the dots of flower buds in a necklace pattern, the big eyes, and the little white toenail-like things on the feet. It also gets bonus points for having not just one but two evolutions that I also like the designs of. Far too often, Pokémon evolutions make a great Pokémon suddenly look worse, but that's not the case with this one. Bayleef looks a bit like an adolescent, but that's relatable. A little bulkier, a little wear and tear shown in the half-circle torn from the leaf. Meganium has a beautiful flower. Need I say more?

I also think that Cleffa is one of the most adorable little things in the world, though. So much cuteness in such a tiny package!

7. What do you think is the creepiest Pokémon?

We're finally going to get an Alola reference. It's Mimikyu. I played Pokémon Moon almost blind, not knowing what a large majority of the new Pokémon were going to be until I ran into them in-game. I've got to say that I did not like the appearance of this one at the back of the abandoned store. You look around at all the pictures on the walls of all the happy little Pikachus and the happy little girl in the blue dress, and you just start to get a bad feeling. And then you turn around and see it -- a pale, ghostly Pikachu with a jagged, drawn-on smile and crazy eyes. My immediate thought was that this was the Pikachu from the pictures who had died a tragic death and was driven into a violent insanity, using these memories of innocence to drive his thirst for vengeance upon the world that had ripped it from him.

That's not actually Mimikyu's official backstory. Actually, it's a different creature entirely that is disguising itself as a Pikachu because it thinks that it can make friends that way, but I find that to be more of a stretch than my version. I mention the official story because double bonus creepy points come when the disguise is "broken", and it looks like the Pikachu's neck snaps. I totally picture that as the way imaginary ghost Pikachu died.

8. What game rival would you want to be stuck with?

I actually took quite a liking to Gladion, if he counts as a rival. He has a really deep and interesting backstory, as well as a complex personality, and I think we could have some good talks.

9. What is one Mega Evolution you would like to see?

I would be a traitor if I didn't say Meganium. It must be even more beautiful and powerful enough to hold its own against strong opponents. I wouldn't expect it to have the raw power of a legendary or, say, a Mega-Kangaskhan, but I would like it to have at least the possibility for being built in a clever way with a few tricks that would let a person with dedication (cough, cough, me) use it seriously.

10. Describe a concept that you'd like to see Nintendo incorporate into Pokémon.

Honestly, I think the latest games are a step in the right direction in terms of character and story. I have a few notes about what I would like them to step away from inspired by those games, but that's a different story.

As a person who really enjoys playing the games and going through all of the challenges of filling the Pokédex, I would enjoy seeing more content per game (similar to what I mentioned with Gold/Silver/Heart Gold/Soul Silver incorporating multiple regions) or more ways to link games together. They probably won't do this because I bet that it's better money to make several smaller games that keep people wanting to buy the next one rather than playing the same old favorite for five years, but I can dream. I would love a game where the character can visit every region, catch every Pokémon, and win every league. If it also had a story as great as Sun/Moon, that would be fantastic.

I'm not going to tag people because NaivEevee didn't tell me that I had to! :P