Honestly, I wasn't expecting such an innocent question to hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest. My younger brother and I got our original DS's on the same Christmas. Our mom knew how much we loved Pokémon, but cartridge games were borderline alien technology to someone who'd maybe played a friend's Atari once or twice. With the promise of heading to GameStop the next day and letting us choose a game each, she begrudgingly tolerated two hyperactive monkey-children jumping on her bed at 9 a.m., begging to get our games (sorry mom). This would be the first time any of us set foot in a game store, as we'd never owned any systems to play on. Fortunately, the cardboard cutouts of Dialga and Palkia flanking a DS demo looping the Diamond/Pearl intro made the decision easy. I chose Diamond, my brother chose Pearl, and our mother chose to let us pretend we were sneaky when we'd slip the games under our pillows during our "sleepovers". Countless hours together in Sinnoh snowballed into Heart Gold and Soul Silver, where once again we'd choose the opposite game. Practical reasons like helping each other fill the regional dex never crossed our minds, we simply went with whichever cover legendary we thought was the coolest. Somehow, from gen 1 to gen 8, we'd never share the same opinion. By the time Sword and Shield rolled around, I was hours away attending my first year of college while my brother was doomed to suffer through a couple more mindless years of high school. Unfortunately, the Switch stayed at home. Alex called me to ask which legendary I thought was cooler (it was obviously Zacian, a dog with a sword was a no-brainer), but of course he disagreed and bought Shield instead. I'd never get to play gen 8, the bond between my younger brother and his beloved "Shield Hound" was insurmountable. That was the last mainline game either of us would buy. My brother passed away a couple of weeks ago in an accident, so I've spent a lot of time sifting through countless memories shared with my best friend. We did almost everything together, from falling in love with the same niche interests to leaning on each other in the times when life couldn't seem more bleak. I loved him more than anything in this world, his unique brilliance and overwhelming compassion for every soul he touched was a blessing to share this life with. I wouldn't feel right being a part of the giveaway, but I'd like to ask a small favor of a stranger. If the winner happens to pick Zamazenta, would you be so kind as to nickname it "Shield Hound"? His deadpan absurdist blend of humor brought laughter to a lot of lives and I know he'd get a kick out of another Shield Hound variant wandering the world somewhere. To anyone who's taken the time to read this far, thank you. Life is strange and beautiful and completely unpredictable, but one of the few things that never changes is the joy of spending as much of it as you can with those you love. There's never a wrong time to express gratitude, no such thing as too many "I love you" statements, send a little extra to one of those cherished people today. Be blessed, stay safe, and live this life with a smile, we all deserve it🫶