Welcome to Pokemon!

Welcome to the world of Pokemon!
A post-apocalyptic world full of radioactive monsters... or so the fan theories say.

There are no animals like you or I know. In their place are creatures known as Pokemon.
(Pokemon is both the singular and plural form of the word.)
You will find many similarities between animals and Pokemon, but you will also find that they are very different.

Wild Pokemon are generally hostile and will attack people or other Pokemon if provoked, but they are much easier to train than regular animals.

They can be taught different moves to attack other Pokemon and they can generally remember 4 at a time.

The story begins in a quaint village called New Bark Town.

Scenic lakeside New Bark Town consists of 3 small houses and a state-of-the-art Pokemon research laboratory.

By proximity, my mother and I have become close friends with Professor Elm, one of the leading experts in Pokemon.

One day, he calls upon me for a very important mission. 

The fate of the world and all the people and Pokemon in it lays on the shoulders of one eleven-year-old boy.

Yes... I named myself Spock.

Professor Elm offers me one of his three treasured rare Pokemon and sends me on my way to meet a friend of his, Mr. Pokemon, and receive further instruction.

Mr. Pokemon?

Either his name is an unfortunate coincidence, a nickname given due to his extensive work in the field of Pokemon research, or maybe an ancestor of his was the first to discover/create Pokemon and named the creatures/species after himself.

Either way, he must be very important, because someone went out of their way to place a sign in the middle of the road telling us where his house is.

Along the way, I meet strange men, with terrible pickup lines;

On my journey to Mr. Pokemon's house and throughout the game, I begin facing the two scenarios that will plague me throughout the entire game:

1. While walking through grass, I will inadvertently provoke a wild Pokemon, initiating a battle.
   These battles result in either my Pokemon fainting, that Pokemon fainting, or me catching that Pokemon with a device called a Pokeball, after which, I may train it as my own.
2. I step into the line of sight of a triggerhappy child and begin a Pokemon Battle.
   A Pokemon Battle consists of my Pokemon fighting the enemy's Pokemon.
   We bet money on the fight. If I win, I send some of my money home to Mom for safekeeping.

When I finally get to Mr. Pokemon, I meet a colleague of his, Professor Oak. 

Professor Oak, basically plays Professor Elm's part in the first generation.

Professor Oak isn't the most competent person around... in fact, at the beginning of Pokemon Red and Blue he admits that he can't even remember his grandson's name.

So, they give me an egg. He says the discovery of an egg is unprecedented. 

So, I guess they've never seen an egg before? 

Maybe they didn't know that Pokemon lay eggs? 

Have they gone all this time not knowing how Pokemon reproduce? 

Nobody ever thought to observe? Well... it is a kids game. Maybe they felt uncomfortable.

Or maybe the nuclear radiation killed off all of earth's natural creatures, and these Pokemon are a genetically engineered replacement. The discovery of an egg may have similar prominence to the discovery of hatched eggs in Jurassic Park in that they thought the creatures couldn't reproduce, but it has now been proven that they can!

Whatever the reason, because these weirdos have never seen an egg, I  have to walk around with this thing in my pocket, taking up all sorts of space until it hatches.

And so I begin my great Pokemon journey... as a babysitter.