After some careful deliberation, I chose to take Marisa, the ordinary magician Touhoumon. After all, you can't go wrong with more firepower.
My good friend Renko decided to go with Sakuya, the elegant maid Touhoumon. I really don't know why; I mean, it's not like my girl's evolved form won't be able to hit Sakuya's quadruple weakness with a STAB'd attack. Wait, what did I just say?
When prompted for a nickname, I just had to go with "Magical Mary". Unfortunately, whoever designed the Touhoumon registration form only gave enough scantron spaces for a 10-letter name, which is just ludicrous. What if someone like, oh, I don't know, Keine, needed to fill in their last name? How ridiculous; at least to me, she'll always be called Magical Mary. Isn't she cute? She's bold enough to take on any comers!
Speaking of comers, Renko offered to be my very first dueling partner. All right! I'm so excited to start battling like a-
What. Is. This? A tutorial? OK, I can be a little understanding if this were to give me some more useful information, but...Professor Oak? Did you really think a college student would not be able to figure out that I should try to inflict damage? What's next? Teaching me that leveling up is considered a good thing?
Regardless of the inane tutorial, what followed next was an exciting battle of epic proportions! First came chibi Sakuya with her Leer, which Magical Mary canceled out with Growl. Then a Tackle, followed by a Scratch, then a Tackle, then a Scratch, then a Tackle, then a Scratch, then a...Ok, you know what? I take that back. This is the most boring fight I've ever been in. And the fact that this is the only fight I've been in doesn't diminish that statement one bit.
I think that fight could have gone either way. Renko was a really good sport about it.
Even the irritation caused by another piece of Oak's useless tutorial did not negate my joy from my first victory, boring battle or not. Renko bid me farewell in a very cordial manner. It pleases me to talk with polite people. One of my greatest fears is for the phrase "smell you later" to replace "good-bye" in the future. Could you imagine what that would be like?
Fresh from my victory, I left town and headed north through the only land route from Pallet Town. Route 1 (how conveniently named!) was a quaint grassy road up a mild hill. Along the way, I met a few other fellow travelers. One was handing out free items on behalf of the Kirisame Mart chain of stores. I love free samples! I mean, who doesn't? It's been ages since I've been willing to accept things being passed out by random strangers. Back at my university, the only things people handed out were fliers protesting budget cuts and denouncing current world leaders.
As I walked up the hill, I got a chance to see some new Touhoumon. They were the usual common fare one would expect to see in the wild, but they made good fodder for Magical Mary to practice on. She quickly picked up a new trick, which of course involved blasting her foe with indiscriminate firepower. Isn't that the solution to everything? Well, except those pesky ground-types. But it was certainly useful for making some grilled chicken along the way.
After the short and pleasant walk, I came to the neighboring town of Viridian City. Unfortunately, my attempt to go further north was blocked by a cranky old man who desperately needed his morning cup of coffee. Old people in this world sure are strange. They're either teaching you how to breathe, or using their bodies as human roadblocks. Weird.
With nowhere else to go, I went to check out the local Eirin Center, a hospital dedicated to the treatment of Touhoumon. The free healthcare here is great, but it always makes me wonder about the quality of care being offered. That, and the nurse always says she hopes to see me again. Does she really want my Touhoumon to get injured more often? I think they ought to re-examine their hiring policy.
My last stop was the Kirisame Mart, where I hoped to stock up on supplies for the upcoming journey. However, the clerk was very rude, absolutely refusing to sell me anything. He just kept going on and on about making a delivery to Professor Oak, and forced me into doing his job for him. Look, unpaid internships are one thing, but college students are NOT suppose to be a free source of manual labor. Still, I took the package just to shut him up.
By the time I made it back to the senile professor, Renko had also returned from who-knows-where. Apparently our timing was good, because in his old age Professor Oak had forgotten to give us something else when we were there earlier. At least he didn't take the time to explain to us how to open the item menu.
Professor Oak handed Renko and I these nifty devices called the Ayanote, which somehow manages to write down information on every Touhoumon we come across. Which just begs the question: who's writing this down? I mean, I don't know a thing about the creatures I'm coming into contact with. Either Professor Oak had already known all this about Touhoumon, and had programmed the Ayanote to say these things, or...the Ayanote itself is intelligent and is coming up with all of this on its own! Wait, he wants to send us on a journey alone with a high-tech AI that could become sentient and turn on us at any moment? As if I needed another reason to be creeped out by him...
...but at least he gives us free stuff. That's always welcome.
And now he's forcing his own dream upon us. Great. Doesn't he know that's a huge parenting mistake? Makes me wonder just how messed-up his children and grandchildren are. Now I just hope he doesn't tell us he made a blood oath to complete this quest too.
Ah, Renko. My one and only ally on this quest. You're the best friendly rival one could ask for. I can only imagine how hard this would be if you were a total jerk.
Well, with all that done, now I can finally have some fun on this vacation. As I walked up Route 1 again, I saw the same common Touhoumon from before, as well as some new rare ones.
Hmm...might as well take these Toho Orbs out for a spin, and start catching a few of these critters. Perhaps Magical Mary could use a partner?