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It wasn't my literal first Pokemon, but it's a pretty interesting story.
Around the time Platinum was releasing, I decided to get back into Pokemon and read up on the ins and outs of competitive play, EV training, and the like(keep in mind, I missed out on Diamond/Pearl). I decided I'd dig up my old copy of Sapphire, hook it into my Gamecube Gameboy Player, and try my hand at EV training.
A Pokemon I decided I wanted early on was Sandslash, so I caught a Sandshrew on Route 113 (the one with the falling ashes). I was going to either breed or catch til I got one with good stats, but as luck would have it, this one had just what I needed - an attack-boosting nature. So I EV'd its stats (I later found out that he also had perfect IVs where I needed them) and couldn't decide on a nickname. A let's player I recently started following at the time was LPing Pokemon Ruby, and I asked him to hold a poll for his viewers to vote on what to name it, and the winning name was "DIGGZ".
After playing through Platinum, I gained access to the Pal Park, where I transferred him along with the other Pokemon I'd EV'd on Sapphire, Latias. Both of them became staple members of my competitive team at the time, earning me many a win. Diggz remained a veteran of my team throughout 4th gen and probably would've gone onto 5th if the competitive scene there didn't kinda suck.
However, when I got my hands on X, I also managed to obtain a second DS, and through the advent of Pokebank, was able to transfer him all the way to 6th generation, where he remains a staple of my main competitive team to this day.
Say what you want about Sandslash. Say he's low-tier. Say he's outclassed by this-and-that. But so help you if my Diggz gets up Sandstorm, Swords Dance, or Heaven forbid a combination of the two. He soaks up even supereffective physical hits, and has had a pretty good amount of sweeps in his time, even against powerhouses like Tyranitar, Garchomp, and the plethora of water-types that threaten it. This guy is the true OG of my Pokemon career.
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The man destined to be king!
The ultimate low-tier hero!
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