My Pokémon Story: “Paras! Pokémon ka pala.”

“Paras! Pokémon ka pala.“

These words confused me as hell when I arrived one morning at school. This was the first time I heard about Pokémon. Initially, I had a hard time pronouncing it. I forgot what grade I was in, maybe fourth or fifth, but regardless, a grade-schooler would not dare say a word that’s sounds like the word pertaining to the pechay. 

Though I can’t remember which came first, the card or the Game Boy video game (Wikipedia confirms it’s the latter), fads were all the craze in the 90’s. For some unknown and bizarre reason, even in the absence of the internet, fads easily spread like wildfire. Elephant pants, spray-painted shirts, teks and many, many more were all the rage. Just like any other “cool” fad of the time, I caught (pun intended 😉) the Pokémon bug a little too late. My mom only bought me and my brother our first and only big yellow Game Boys when everyone already had the colored version and those awful magnifying lens.

My last name is “Paras” and I soon learned that there’s a Pokémon with the same name: the crab-like Paras. It amused me to find out something was named after me (even though it wasn’t really). My amusement was short-lived though when I realized it’s short for parasite. I made sure then that I had my own pad paper and crayons so I won’t be a Paras(ite). 😂😭

I know, that’s sad, but Paras’ Pokédex entry was unexpectedly even sadder. Paras is a bug host that has mushrooms on his back called tochukaso, which could grow larger as they gain energy from the bug host. When a Paras evolves into Parasect, it means that the mushroom had already taken over the bug host. 😢

The only Pokémon game I got to play was Pokémon Red. And I didn’t even finish it. My brother, who was 4 years old then, played with my Game Boy and overwrote my data. I knew I had a save file before I arrived at the 8th and last gym in Viridian City (led by Giovanni). But I turned my Game Boy on, and found myself back in Pallet Town. My profile name even became “AAAAAA.” I  did not reach Mewtwo! Wahhh 😭 I tried to play the game all over again, but I never got to finish. The Pokémon fad faded and I had to deal with puberty. 😝

But now Pokémon fever is back via Pokémon Go. It makes me so glad that now I get to start my journey as a real-life (almost) Pokémon trainer all over again. I even bought a new 20,000mAh power bank to support my journey to being the very best.

Here’s hoping I can go all the way to the top this time around without any more overwrites. Bye for now. I have to fire up my Pokémon Go and catch ’em all. Paras included. 😃

How about you? Did you finish any of the old Pokémon games? What’s your Pokémon story? How’s your Pokémon Go journey so far?