There is a new option in the main screen, named Student Path, I decide to check it out.

“1. Begin Journey Mode.”

“2. Catch 5 different species.”

“3. Build a team of 3 pokemon.”

“4. Complete a Gym Challenge.”

“5. Evolve 1 pokemon.”

And the suggestions keep going until number 100.

Apparently, the system wants me to improve my basic knowledge by completing objectives through Journey Mode, which I have to agree with after the evaluation. There is a lot for me to learn about individual species and moves.

Once inside the Journey Mode, a small avatar appears in a room. There is a game controller attached to the computer, I use it to move around and explore.

Going out the door I find myself in Newbark Town, as the name appears on the screen. I recognize that town, there is a Pokemon Laboratory, some trainers are sponsored by the Professor.

The controls works just like in any other videogame, it doesn’t take long to get used to it, pressing the Start button in the control opens up the basic menu, with options such as Pokedex, Pokemon, Bag, Map, Profile, but most of them are grayed out.

I walk around town, it’s a lot smaller than the original with only six or seven buildings, I walk into the Laboratory. There are some NPCs there, one of them the Professor is standing with some pokeballs over a table by his side. I talk to him, he introduces himself as Professor Elm, and hands me one of the pokeballs.

“You have received Totodile.”

I can now access the Pokemon option in the menu, finding Totodile information in there. He is level 5 and only knows the moves Scratch and Leer. No water moves? That’s a bummer.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Talking to the other lab assistants, one of them hands me ten pokeballs and the other three potions, I’m guessing enough items to get me started.

Leaving the town, I find myself on route 29, a NPC is there, talking to him prompts the question, “Do you want me to shoe you how to catch pokemon? Yes/No”, let’s see what happens. He moves into the grass and a pokemon encounter starts, transitioning out of the map view into a battle view, the NPC brings out a level 5 Growlithe, facing against a level 3 Sentret. In the battle view there are four choices: Fight, Pokemon, Bag, Run.

As I have no control over this particular battle, the NPC chooses Fight and uses Ember, dealing some damage to Sentret, who uses Scratch dealing some damage back, “To catch a pokemon, deal some damage to improve your chances”, then he chooses Bag and in there picks a Pokeball and uses it, the animation is shown and Sentret is caught, seems easy enough.

To battle wild pokemon you have to walk through the grass around the map, I do so and find myself facing a level 4 Pidgey. The battles are simple enough, the system is turn based and doesn’t allow for much control other than choosing which move to use each turn, having a small move pool makes it easy to go for Scratch until I defeat the Pidgey, who uses Tackle and deals a small amount of damage to my Totodile. There is an experience bar below my pokemon Health’s Bar, showing the amount left to level up.

It's a very intuitive system, so I keep going for another battle and Totodile gets to level 6, “Totodile has learned Water Gun”, finally.

After that I spend some time traveling through route 29, defeating the wild pokemon appearing in the grass. So far it seems there are only Sentret, Pidgey, Rattata and Hoothoot in the area. I end up catching one of each species, just so I can test them out in battle.

When my pokemon seems about to faint, Totodile is already level 7 and I turn back to Newbark, in the lab Professor Elm heals my team.

This is surprisingly fun, the egg in my lap seems to agree with me, as I feel it move a lot. Looking next to me, both Flavio and Melody seem concentrated on their screens, I wonder how they did in their evaluation, but I decide to ask them later.

I keep playing for another hour until class time is over and teacher Jordan stands up from his desk.

“Okay students, I hope you all had a good time today”, he smirks, “now before you leave, I have two assignments for you, as you al know weekends are free of classes, meaning free time, right? Well, tonight you will be able to receive your companion pokemon from your parents, and one of your assignments is to battle at least three of your peers, the arenas will be open and you will be betting at least one point per battle.”

“The second assignment most of you are going to like, the computer room will be open throughout the weekend so you are free to come here and keep playing or studying, I will ask of you to at least complete the first gym challenge, remember that completing the system objectives will also award you points, this is very important because your class ranking will be determined Sunday at 18:00.”

“And with that said, let me congratulate you all for reaching Grade-1 with the evaluation, but I have to award one of you for reaching Grade-2, clap for miss Irene Redstone who has proven to be the most prepared amongst you, she gets two extra points from me today.”

That little redhead is proving to be full of surprises, and a very good rival for me to beat.