>>55980577>2001>Watch the episode where Ash catches a shiny Noctowl>Think Noctowl looks so fucking cool>Older brother tells me that he's pretty sure he found a shiny Hoothoot when the games were new, but ran away because he thought it was a glitch>"Heh, I want to get a shiny Noctowl to prove I'm better than him!">Spend hours looking for one in the National Park at night (Hoothoot is the only encounter)>Staying up late and watching Cartoon Network while running away from Hoothoot after Hoothoot>Hear a "pling pling pling" sound>Holy shit, it's really a shiny Hoothoot!>Catch it>Wait a second, it's a GIRL! I'm a BOY so I want boy Pokemon!>Screw that, I'm getting a boy Noctowl!>Hunt the next night while watching cartoons again>It's so fucking late, I'm so sleepy>"Pling pling pling!">HELL yes!>This one is a male!>Little kid me is literally jumping for joy>Now I'm just like Ash! And I can rub this in my brother's face!>Train that Noctowl up to level 100>Find a few more shinies on this file because I play so damn much, but none are as special as my Noctowl >Years pass>Boot up the game every now and then, just to look at my old file>Eventually the day I dread comes, my copy of Gold's battery died>RIP my precious NoctowlIf you don't believe this I don't blame you. The only detail I'm hazy on is if it really was the very next night I hunted the second time. I am sure it was only 2 nights total, I vividly remember that.
For years I thought that there was some sort of shiny odds bonus for encountering the same Pokemon over and over. (I was quite amused when my misconception became canon in G4's PokeRadar) When I eventually learned that no such thing was in G/S and about the 1 in 8,192 odds I couldn't believe what an absurdly lucky little bastard I was.
I remember that I never evolved the female Hoothoot because I thought it was cooler to have a shiny evolved and unevolved form.
I still have and treasure that Gold cart, even if it doesn't have any data.
