>>27736850Slowpoke has been my go-to guy since 1998. I remember my cousins had started Pokémon then, and I had just moved to the states from Germany, so I had never heard of this Pokémon stuff. They were hooked up to each others Gameboys via link cables, trading things back and forth, when the younger one mentions "that dumb one." Neither wanted it, and they wound up releasing it and all the other ones like it from their games.
I opened their guide book, turned through the pages, and saw what they were talking about: Pokémon #079 Slowpoke
This half-smiling, pink hippo-bear-thing with a distant, vacant expression. I read the Pokedex entry printed in the guide: Incredibly slow and dopey. It takes 5 seconds to feel pain when under attack. For some unknown reason, the idea of not feeling pain for 5 seconds after getting attacked seemed so cool to me. I could imagine a Slowpoke getting hit by some ungodly attack during a big fight and still defeating the other Pokémon, unaware that it had no health left. It was like a Pokémon who didn't understand the idea of limits and didn't try to live with them. It was somehow slower than death, and that was pretty cool.
When I played Silver for the first time, finding the Slowpoke Well was so exciting! A whole area, filled with my favorite Pokémon? GETTING my favorite Pokémon so early in the game? SCORE!
Then came Team Rocket and their business of cutting off the Slowpokes' tails. My autism kicked in full-force, and I took Team Rocket's actions personally.
As soon as I caught my Slowpoke, I spent the week grinding its level around the starting area.
After getting him up to about lvl 35, we re-entered the Slowpoke Well and brought a world of pain down on all the Team Rocket fools who dared stand before us! The other Slowpokes were avenged, we were hailed as heroes of the town.
I never evolved my Slowpoke, who was lvl 85 by the time we hit the Elite 4. He'll always be my buddy, even if he doesn't know it.
