The Furry Team started as a joke. My friend loves pointing out that, since Lucario is one of my favorite pokemon, I must be furry. And so, I decided to lean into it and beat Pokemon Radical Red with furries only. While I couldn't do it 100% without non-furries, this challenge started something much bigger, and I now love this team with all my heart. I have also come to terms with the fact that I find furries extremely adorable.
Before even starting, I had an idea of what pokemon I wanted in my team: Lucario, Zoroark, Hisuian Zoroark, Zeraora, Gallade and my starter. The starter itself, however, I didn't think of. I had two pokemon in mind: Cinderace and Infernape. At first, I was going to choose Infernape, since I heard great things about the mon. However, I realized that, since I don't have a switch, I wouldn't have another chance to play with Cinderace. Meanwhile, I could play the Sinnoh games at anytime! Because of that, once I first opened the game, Scorbunny was my choice. His name? Ace. Not very creative, a trend that follows for the rest of the team. While I didn't choose Ace out of love for the pokemon, little did I know that this little guy would change everything.
On my way to the first gym, not a lot happened. Ace didn't really like me yet, which was understandable. We just met! When I arrived at the gym, however, I was surprised. The game wouldn't let me in. This was my first time playing Radical Red, so I was surprised to know that I had to battle Falkner in the museum before the gym fight. And let me tell you, Ace was destroyed with ease. I wouldn't be able to proceed with Ace only... So, I had to break the rules. Temporary pokemon, a galarian ponyta and a shynx, both with no name as they were temporary. Still, it was a tough battle, but we managed to brute force it. By the time we hit the rock-type gym, Ace had learned double kick and seemed much more pleased around me, which made me happy. Double kick did not make things easier, however, and it took a few tries to get it right. Soon enough, though, we were on our way to Mt. Moon, badge in hand. Most importantly... Ace was no longer a Scorbunny. He evolved, now a Raboot.
Before starting my journey, I researched about my desired members' location. From what I found, I should be able to find a Riolu in Mt. Moon, down in a place I nicknamed "Paras Hole", as that's the place you can find Paras in the original game. We walked side to side in that small enclosure for a bit, and did find a Riolu!... Which escaped after breaking my only pokeball. And so, we left, bought some more and were soon back on our feet. In my mind, we'd find another Riolu just as easily as we did the first. Then 10 minutes passed. 20. 30. Nothing. We were losing hope, when we heard quiet sobbing from under a rock. We approached slowly. The hole was small, but so was Ace, who promptly looking inside. There he was, a Riolu, lonely and bruised. I crouched by the hole and, with Ace's help, convinced the Riolu to let me pick him up. I had a few berries, more importantly, oran berries, so I offered him some. The poor thing agreed, but had to eat slowly as I help his little paws for support. Soon, the berries got him feeling physically better, but still scared and lonely. I offered him a spot on the team, alongside the promise to never let him feel lonely again. Still in my arms, he touched a pokeball. His pokeball. Welcome to the team, Rio.
After leaving Mt. Moon with Ace, Rio and the temporary pokemon, I went north, looking forward to catching a Ralts. I knew, however, that a fight awaited us before hand. Blue, our favorite kanto rival and my favorite rival in general. Like most fights in Radical Red, it was tough, but we managed to get our victory after a few tries. The trainers beyond him weren't that hard, either. Not for Radical Red standarts, at least. And so, we began searching for a Ralts. It wasn't as dramatic as our meeting with Rio, as the Ralts we wanted was merely sitting in the grass. Chilling. In a matter of fact, Ralts never changed, from start to end, he remained calm, chill, almost stoic. It was easy to catch him, and our team now had three legitimate team members! Ralts was named after his last evolution, as most team members were. And so, his name is Gal.
I gotta be honest, now. There was no gym that troubled me more than Misty. Maybe choosing a fire-type starter influenced this, and having a fighting-type against Staryu and Starmie didn't help either. Our main hope was one of our temporary pokemon, Shinx, that had already evolved to Luxio by now. Because of that, we had some training to do since, up til now, I only focused on Ace and Rio. We trained for a while, a tedious process of fighting Hoppips and Bellsprouts and Starlys and a bunch of other pokemon. Eventually, however, we finally managed to beat Misty.
From then up to Lavender, nothing important happened. It was a break from hardships, things were going smoothly. The main event was Gal's evolution, now a Kirlia. Except that, things kept calm, it was a moment of bonding between the team members. It became clear at that moment that Ace and Rio would become great friends. Rio was quite distant, he seemed to deem Ace too childish and Gal too patient. Still, Ace never let it get to him. He kept approaching Rio everytime he could, trying to be friendly and leaving when he felt Rio really wanted to be alone. Rio slowly but surely allowed Ace to stay longer and longer, even smiling around him from time to time. In relation to myself, I could feel I was getting closer to them as well. After the first gym, Ace went from indifferent to my presence to surprisingly clingy. I would constantly carry him around, and maybe I spoiled him too much, as there were times he wouldn't want to walk by himself. Rio always seemed to somewhat enjoy my presence. Perhaps having a trainer made him feel safe. He didn't like being picked up as much as Ace, but would allow me to gently pet him, even hug him sometimes. And Gal was, as he still is towards most things, indifferent. He didn't dislike nor like affection. Rarely, he'd walk towards me and lean against my leg, but that's where it ended. At least he didn't hate me, hahah...
Once we arrived at Lavender, things got interesting. Another fight with Blue awaited. Most importantly, we had access to Celadon, meaning we could now evolve Gal to his final form. Not only that, but after we defeated Blue, the level cap would allow Ace to evolve as well. And Rio, of course, could always evolve. So, after a quick trip to the pokecenter, we decided to face Blue as our first thing. And... We didn't manage. Eh. In that case, I decided to take my boys to Celadon to evolve Gal. In Celadon, we bought a Dawn Stone and made it happen, Gal was officially a Gallade! Excitedly, we started making our way back to Lavender. We stopped at the town's entrance and sat down for a moment. I had accumulated some rare candies, and decided to give them to Gal as he was still under leveled compared to Rio and Ace. Once I finished, I started collecting the remaining ones. Without me noticing, however, Rio got himself one of the rare candies. He was at the level cap, so it wouldn't change much... When I looked towards my team, Rio was now a Lucario. That's when I learned that rare candies increase friendship.
Rio's evolution was prompty celebrated. I was touched, really, as now I could know for certain that Rio liked me. He seemed delighted by his evolution. Ace was hopping with excitement around him. The two had become used to teasing remarks in between them, so Ace wasn't surprised when Rio made sure to show he was taller than Ace now. Ace would pout and squeak in protest, but wasn't really hurt. The sight was one of the few things that could make Rio chuckled in amusement. "Idiot." Rio would whisper under his breath, and was soon met with shocked stares. And he soon realized why. He talked. Suddenly, he looked as shocked as everyone else. Needless to say, our celebration lasted longer after this discovery.
With two new evolutions since our last attempt, we headed to the Pokemon Tower to fight Blue once more. Smug as always, he was ready to fight. And fight we did. Pokemon after pokemon, we were both down to the our last. Him with his Pidgeotto. Me with Rio. At that moment, I was grateful that Rio was both a fighting-type and steel-type. If he were to be a pure fighting-type, that battle would be another doomed attempt. And so... The last match began. Rio was quick, quicker than I expected, and attacked first. Aura Sphere, despite being ineffective, managed to take half Pidgeotto's health... who then proceed to attack himself... Rio's healthbar went down half... another quarter... down to 11 hp. He barely resisted. Relieved, Rio used Aura Sphere once more, granting us the victory. "Lucky game", Blue would say, trying to justify his loss. He went to leave, so did I, both of us headed to the pokemon center. As we finished healing our teams, Blue smirk one final time. "Good game." And then, we parted ways.