My first actual Pokemon game was Pokemon Blue, with Pokemon Yellow following after.

Charmander was my first choice, since I was big into dragons, and I knew what they evolved into. Pokemon Blue didnt have a gender system, aside from the Nidoran line, so I mis-remembered from my previous Pokemon image. I think I just imagined my Charmander being female and my over-active imagination filled in the rest of the blanks.

I didnt have many friends growing up. I was bullied and treated horribly, so I treasured what few friends I did have before my Sophomore year in High School. What I lacked in friends, I made up for with my imagination. Pokemon, Digimon, His Dark Materials, Animorphs, so many of these series I grew up watching, playing, reading, and interacting with, I would create an imaginary friend for. Pikachu technically was the first imaginary friend, but Charmander was the first game in which it came to life. An original Game Boy Color that I had brought Charmander into my arms for the first time. I would imagine playing hide and seek, and other child's games.

As I played through Blue, which I didnt get very far, mind you... Just far enough to evolve Charizard, my view on her changed and shifted. It taught me strategy, patience, and companionship with animals. I had a LOT of trouble with Misty, due to type disadvantages of Charmeleon with Staryu/Starmie. After a few unsuccessful fights, my mind kind of pieced together that my Charmeleon was taking quite a beating, which resulted in me taking good care of her after a bit of a battering to her face resulted in a deep scratch on her brow and cheek. Poor baby... :<

Still, what little I remember past Lt Surge, outside of the game itself, I used to run out in the rain, imagining my Pokemon following happily behind. After I'd gotten wet enough that I was starting to get cold, I imagined, while sitting in front of the heat vent in my room (my room was the warmest in the house), that I was sitting against Charizard's side, umbrella'd under her wing, and being given her fiery tail to warm myself up with.

It might sound kinda strange, but I've been feeling, as I turned 30 in October, that I've been making up for an underwhelming childhood... Almost like I'm having a second childhood as I go through my 30s. I'm playing a LOT of older games on older consoles, and have been taking a break from the games I normally play, like Apex and Minecraft. I feel a LOT happier with myself and I will likely be doing more images of myself with old childhood imaginings.

One on my mind is that I used to have a full crew and even a main enemy in a Star Trek parody comic that I would draw on sheets of paper. I'm pretty sure my mother still has those in storage. Might go grab them and redraw them with my current artistic skill.