Prompt 52: The Only Logical Conclusion

I remember my first time. Like any other day after school, I walked home in the 94 degree fall day and fell flat on the couch at home. I picked up the remote and went straight to UPN 45, we didn't have the luxury of cable. I looked at the rounded screen and thought, what's this? This isn't Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century?! Well, eleven year old version of myself, this is your exciting, almost sad future. Welcome to the world of Pokemon!

I'm sure it was meant to be a phenomenon, just like Pogs and the Dreamcast. Pokemon was not supposed to be the evolving anomaly it has become.

You will come to know it well. You'll watch this first episode of the series, bring yourself to tears over the main character's love of his creature, and you be the first in this subculture. Once the episode is over, you rushed to clock in the living room to make sure you knew the time for tomorrow's show. Three o'clock, that means the show comes on at two thirty. How did they pronounce the name? Pokeymon? Pokemon, that was it! Wait until everybody at school hears about this!

Of course today, not a soul needs an introduction to these little guys, these pocket monsters. They have constituted something like twenty video games, numerous tv series, and of course, one really good movie. Pokemon the First Movie will inevitably stand the test of time. A few months ago I sat with two good friends, in the middle of a party, and watched the entirety of the movie. We laughed, we cried, we hugged, we marveled at the philosophic values of Mewtwo; damn it, we lived.

The next day you practically ran to school, with the desire to greet everyone with the good news, Pokemon was here! You sat on the steps an the edge of the playground, kicking your feet that were dangling under you in anticipation. You need to talk to someone, anyone!

Today, there are two kinds of Pokemon fans. You have the new version, the kind with the three-hundred some odd Pokemon with their "Black" and "Diamond" abominations of games. Then you have people like me, people who live by "Red" version and will swear by Pokemon Stadium. To me, there are only one-hundred fifty Pokemon, as there are only twelve months in the year.

Is that Ryan? It most certainly is. You're going to tell him all about this show you just saw, only to learn that he, too, watched it yesterday. This is called the beginning of a beautiful friendship.