The First Pokemon Book I Made: Starter Mania (Imagine That)

(Knowledge of Pokemon somewhat required)

Hello everyone, and welcome to Imagine That! We’re going back to old stories, but this time, it’s a little different, in multiple aspects.

If you’re unfamiliar, I wrote a LOT when I was younger, including many unhinged short stories. We’ve been through them before, and you can go read them on my blog. But now, we’re heading over to our first long-form journals. I made a ton of these, around 20+ over a little under 10 years. So yeah, a lot gets changed around, and we’re about to embark on a great story.

So, anyway, the first journal is about Pokemon-

I know, this blog gets overtaken by Pokemon a lot of times. But this was what I was thinking about when I was younger. There will be original stories in the future, but this one is exclusively Pokemon mania.

First, a little background: Soon after I made the short stories, a friend taught me how to make stick figures. Not only that, but other small things and comics. I realized I could draw, and not only that, I could make illustrated books. I don’t remember how, but I managed to obtain a notebook, and realized that it was just a book, but unwritten in. Boy, was I going to jump on that. I was about to make my first official book! But, of course, shenanigans happened, because I was still 6. So, let’s see what a Pokemon story looked like to me.

This journal is apparently called “The First Pokemon Book”. I’m so original. It starts with this stick figure girl design with braids. This was the girl design I was taught, so you’ll see it all the time in the future. Anyway, she goes to the Pokemon store to get her first Pokemon. Wow, so much for professors, you can just buy them now. Anyway, there she sees her partner Pokemon. The one, the only. Pika…chou. I didn’t even know how to spell Pikachu. Also, just admire that Pikachu design for a moment. This is peak drawing material.

Our main character ends up throwing money at this guy, and by money, I mean a single drawn line. And just like that, she has now obtained her Pikachou. Soon after, she meets up with a random guy in the middle of nowhere, who is supposed to be her rival. He has a Pokemon with the most fabulous hairdo. I think it’s meant to be a Darkrai, but I just love how happy it is. Anyway, the rival wants our main character to meet him in the forest… Oh, sorry, I meant forst. That makes it seem like this guy is a kidnapper or something but whatever. No stranger danger in this book.

Now, we proceed to our next chapter. “I Meet the Snivy”. Can you guess which Pokemon games were new at the time? Our main character ends up getting lost in the forst. Neither of them seem very upset about it though. Then, she sees a Snivy! I… totally would’ve known what that was if the book hadn’t told me. I have no clue why it has a spike on its head though. The Snivy holds a letter in its literal fork tail, so our main character decides, naturally, to obliverate Snivy with Pikachou’s thunderbolt. Then, our main character catches the Snivy!… Oh, sorry, I meant she ‘cach’ the Snivy. After that, she… moves on. Yeah, so it turns out the letter was completely worthless. I hope you all aren’t too heartbroken about not being able to see the probably masterful content in that letter.

Our main character makes it to the rival’s place, which is apparently a windmill. Our main character ends up announcing that she cach a Snivy. All the while, the windmill is just absolutely covered in scribbles. I don’t even know what’s going on. The next pages is literally nothing but scribbles. You can really tell how young I was making this. The rival ends up being sucked inside some kind of portal in the windmill. This is actually a reference to Pokepark 2, one of my favorite games at the time.

Our main character announces that she’ll ‘fix it’, but the rival doesn’t want her help. In response, she just says that she doesn’t care. Wow, I love the sass. That actually got a chuckle out of me. She lets out Snivy, who is now bald, and yells out “LETS FIX IT”. Oh my goodness, Bob the Builder’s here. All the while, the windmill goes all over the place and has random lines over it. We don’t… actually get to see them ‘fixing’ it. It just skips to the point where they just announce they fixed it. Truly future workers in construction.

The next page is blank. Best page of them all.

Time for the next chapter! This one is called “I Meet Oshawott”. Must’ve taken me a whole two seconds to come up with that one. Our main character is now at the beach. She sees an Oshawott… oh, sorry, I mean… Wait. I spelled it correctly? I spelled Oshawott correctly??? But not Pikachu??? Why do we have another phoenix situation on our hands? Also, it has fins… for some reason.

I have no idea what’s wrong with our character in this photo. She’s going through some things. She battles the Oshawott using Pikachou. I swear I’m not leaving out any details, the journal just says that she battled the Oshawott and caught it. The ba end. Okay, multiple things. First of all, that chapter was pitifully short. Second of all… the ba end? Did a sheep invade my journal, what is going on?

Next chapter. You’ll never guess what the title is. It’s extremely shocking. If you can believe it… the title is… “I Meet Tepig”. Mind blown.

Our main character is on a walk. I must be running out of ideas to get her into new places. Then, she spotted an extremely bald Tepig. It doesn’t have its black underwear, a pig nose, or even ears. Well, at least I included the tail.

Our main character sends out Oshawott against Tepig, and Oshawott looks much better. Plus, our main character even knows her type advantages! She’s already better than Ash! She has Oshawott use water gun, which obliverates Tepig. There isn’t even a sentence where she catches the Tepig, she just chooses violence. And that’s the end of the chapter.

The next chapter is… nothing. Yeah, I just didn’t give this one a title. Our main character decides to head back to her house to show her Pokemon to her parents. That’s more than what most players do. Our main character finally has dialogue this time. Are you ready? She says… “Yay”. My characters have so many insightful thoughts, it’s impressive.

Our main character goes inside and finds her mother, who looks exactly like her. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess. Our main character lets her new Pokemon out, including… Tepig. Okay, so I guess we were supposed to assume that she caught it after she sprayed it with water. Yeah, makes sense. Also, there are some cursed things in this photo. Tepig got a magical neck extension for some reason. The mother is now inside her incredibly broken stairs. I always sucked at drawing stairs. Plus, there have been two bird things flying around for the last few pages. I think they’re two Pidove, and I have no idea why they’re existing right now. The larger one sure does have a manly chin though.

After that, there’s a new problem. Pikachou has disappeared! Oh, sorry, I mean… Pikachau? Why do we need to mess it up again, once was enough! But whatever, our main character heads up the incredibly hazardous staircase to find her friend. At the top, our main character spots Pikachau heading into her room.

Apparently, Pikachau just wanted to exist in her bedroom. The other three Pokemon start to play around in there, and our main character’s dad enters in. Our main character shows him her new Pokemon… the end. After this, they go on many more adventures, but that’ll be something that can wait until next time.

Yep, we’re not doing the entire journal in one day. That would take far too long. This all wasn’t too unhinged, aside from the windmill and Darkrai guy, but it’ll get worse, trust me. This is not the end for our unnamed hero. I’ll see you next time we revisit this journal!

…You want a hint of what’s to come? Oh, I won’t tell you much. Our characters hanging out, catching Pokemon, battling…

And… hm.

Something a little special is being showcased at the Pokemon store. I wonder what it could be?

Update: Part 2 (Medium link) has been released! Go check it out!

This article and more seen on my blog site, Violet Pages.