Hello everybody! I just started playing this yesterday and figured as I have some down time I might as well check out the forums.
I've been playing Pokemon since I was 6 or 7 after I stumbled across an episode of the show (it was the one during the first season where Ash tries to teach Pikachu how to fight Hitmonchan, but they fail.) I got Pokemon Blue shortly thereafter. I stopped playing as much in high school not because I didn't still enjoy it, Diamond/Pearl had just come out and they are actually a couple of my favorites, but because I was telling myself "You're too old for Pokemon, blah, blah, blah." But like most people, by the time I started college I'd grown out of the "I must fit in" mentality, and with Black/White coming out that year I decided "Screw it. If I want to play Pokemon, I'm going to play Pokemon."
My top 5 favorite Pokemon (disregarding whether they're actually good in a competitive setting):
1) Zapdos - It was my first favorite because I got me through the Elite 4 for the first time in Blue and was the first Pokemon I trained to level 100
2) Leafeon
3) Piplup - Mainly because I remember Piplup in the show being really funny. And it's a penguin. Penguins are cool.
4) Fennekin
5) Electivire
I've done some competitive battling in Pokemon Showdown, but grinding by myself in the actually game for hours was never the most fun. At least here I'll be able to raise my own competitive team without being bored to death. I'll accept battles if it's going to be a fair fight for both sides, but they'll just be casual battles for now as I'm not going to bother with EV training and breeding until I'm finished with the story, even though it seems like I've probably played both FR and Emerald a million times each.
Feel free to say hi or anything (though preferably something nice) if you see me running around Kanto or Hoenn. I started in Kanto, but got on the wrong boat in Vermilion City and ended up in Hoenn, at least until I get to Slateport... I assume.
