As I stare into the screen, I think this is going to take some time, so I decide to bring out Totodile’s egg into my lap, might as well take the test together.

I choose Evaluation Mode, the screen goes blank for a second, then the following instructions appear in front of me:

“Answer every question to best of your knowledge, if you don’t know the answer feel free to skip the question. Evaluation will stop when you answer all the questions, skip 3 questions or provide 2 wrong answers in a row. Click OK to begin”.

“Question #1: Name three basic starter pokemon from any region.”

That’s easy, Chikorita, Totodile and Cyndaquil. Next!

“Question #2: What is the role of a Pokemon Center?”

Taking care of both pokemon and trainers, providing a place to properly rest during their journey.

“Question #3: What is the purpose of Gym Battles?”

I think Gym Battles are used to evaluate a trainer and their pokemon, assessing their capabilities, or something like that, I know there is more to it but I don’t have the proper words to explain it, so I move ahead to the next question.

“Question #4: How many Gym Badges are required to challenge the Pokemon League?”

Eight.

Some questions are easier to answer than others and the overall difficulty seems okay, I end up answering twenty questions in a row before finding a challenging one.

“Question #21: How does a Pokemon learn new moves as it levels up?”

I have never questioned myself about this subject, maybe due to Teddy being low level and having a small amount of moves to choose from. If I have to guess, it must be due to the increase in the type energy inside their bodies, allowing a pokemon to develop new and more powerful moves. I hope I’m right.

“Question #22: How can a trainer make a wild Pokemon more likely to be caught?”

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That’s complex, I’ve heard status effects such as sleep or paralysis might help increasing the chances of a wild pokemon being caught, but I don’t properly understand how it works.

The following questions remain in a similar level of difficulty until I answer another set of twenty, apparently difficulty increases every twenty questions.

“Question #41: Name four different methods of evolution that Pokemon can undergo.”

The obvious answer is most pokemon evolve by leveling up, that’s one. There are elemental rocks used to evolve pokemon such as Eevee, that’s two. Uhm… I don’t know any other ones, my mother said Ursaring has a very specific ritual required to evolve into Ursaluna, that’s three? A couple of minutes go by and I can’t think of a fourth one, I know there are some very specific requirements for some pokemon to evolve but I don’t know which ones exactly.

“Question #42: Explain the concept of weather conditions in battles and how they can affect Pokemon and moves.”

I know that one, my mom’s Meganium uses Sunny Day to increase the speed she charges up Solar Beam, plus adding some other effects to the battlefield. So I could say, weather conditions have an effect over the strength and charging speed of pokemon moves, plus adding some additional effects to the battlefield.

“Question #43: What is the significance of a Pokemon's Nature, and how does it affect its stats?”

Crap, I don’t know how to answer that. I know nature is a thing but I have zero idea of what it means. Skip.

I keep going, failing to answer sometimes, but I can answer most until question sixty-one.

“Question #61: How does the move Transform work, and what limitations does it have in terms of copying the opponent's Pokemon?”

I have no idea. Skip.

“Question #62: What is the purpose of the move Wish and how can it be effectively utilized in battles?”

Questions have started to become way more specific, if you don’t know the move it’s asking about you are done. Wish has something to do with healing, but that’s everything I know about it.

“Question #63: Name three different moves that can bypass Substitute and directly damage the opponent.”

Once again, no idea. Skip.

“Question #64: What is the purpose of the move Destiny Bond and how can it be employed tactically to turn the tide of a battle?”

Skip.

“Question #65: Name five different status conditions that a Pokemon can be afflicted with and explain their effects.”

Finally, this one I can answer, I think… Sleep I believe is self-explanatory, Paralysis makes it harder for a pokemon to use its moves properly sometimes making them completely fail, Poison deals constant damage, Confusion makes it so the affected pokemon doesn’t respond properly, lastly, Burns are a thing, right? Similar to Poison they deal constant damage to the pokemon as it moves.

Somehow, there are some questions I can answer up until question eighty-one.

“Question #81: Explain the mechanics of the move Hidden Power and how its type and power are determined for each individual Pokemon.”

Skip.

“Question #82: What is the concept of "stalling" in competitive Pokemon battles, and what strategies and moves are commonly used in stall teams?”

No idea, skip.

“Question #83: Name five different entry hazards that can be set up in battles and explain their effects on opposing Pokemon.”

And I’m done.

“Congratulations! You have reached Grade-1. You can see the questions and their answers, with an in-depth explanation, allowing the trainer to review for the future.”

Checking into my answers I realize how poorly I did, the system has very detailed answers for even the most basic of questions and the harder questions I can’t even understand the answers. Besides, it only provides an explanation of questions I answered something, the ones I skipped provide no information.

After I’m done reviewing the answers, I go back to the main screen, a little message appears when leaving Evaluation Mode.

“Remember, questions change every time you access Evaluation Mode”.

Isn’t that great? Ha.