First Pokèmon?

So when I was a kid, I think 8? 9? I got Pokémon Sapphire for Christmas and a used clear pink GameBoy Advance. Instantly fell in love with the game, and it’s still my favorite GBA era game out there

But back then I knew nothing about it, nor the proper ways to play it. All I knew was that no one could kill my Mudkip, whereas the other three I had kept dying, so I threw them in The Box and stuck with only one Pokémon, tanking it through a good chunk of the game

Until I get to Route 120. Route 120 is important because it’s the only place in the game to find an Absol. And when I found my first one, I fell in love. I was like “Oh that one looks cool. I want it”. So I did! . .. .. or at least I tried. See, I knew that I had to weaken the Pokémon first before capturing it, so I sent out my weakest move, which Swampert just straight up KO’ed the Absol. I was devastated, but not deterred. While the three in my box were still starting level weak, there was a 4th and that was Castform. I remember Castform not being very strong,  but it was better than the worm, hyena, and raccoon I had that were all below like, Level 5. 

Anyways, I took out Castform and went back looking for an Absol. Took quite some time (And it didn’t help that I started on Route 119 because I didn’t want to cross the bridge again, and I didn’t know Absol was only 120) but finally found another one. By this time Castform was a bit stronger, and soon Absol was down in health, with the tinest red nub. So I grabbed a Pokéball, used the last two I had, and both failed ): Throughout the game I didn’t buy a single PokéBall, because why waste my money when I had Swampert? Anyways, I finished off the Absol (very tragic) and went back across the bridge (Really didn’t like the slow bridge) and bought a ricudious amount of UltraBalls. I think it was like 50? IDK I was in the 6 digit of money and that didn’t make a debt from what I remembered. After some time I found another Absol, weakened it, caught it this time (!!!!!!!), and made it my main. Or, I wanted to, but it was like, Level 20 something and was nothing compared to Swampert, so I grabbed the other three out of The Box and worked on leveling up everyone equally. Needless to say, I’m the only one I know of who beat the Elite Four with a Castform and a Beautifly on their team.

Ever since then Absol’s been my favorite. No other Pokémon has resonated with me in the same way