By: Abrena Rowe ~Copy Editor~

Be slow. Be patient. Dating is an especially tricky game for our generation. It seems that if anyone makes a wrong move or takes a step too quickly, or too slowly, the relationship dies faster than it started.

Dating is similar to the end of Pokémon. How? Think back to the end of the game, after you’ve beaten the Elite Four, and your only task is to capture the Legendary Pokémon. The trick is to weaken it, so when you throw your pokéball at it you’ll be able to capture it. The point is to get the Pokémon to where it’s not strong enough to break free. We all remember how this game worked.

I’m not saying when you’re dating someone your goal is to weaken them and break them down. Or that the end goal is to capture the person you like.

What I’m saying is when you’re dating someone, anything you do could make them stay or make them flee. You run around like crazy in tall grass trying to find that right person, coming across other people who just aren’t the right fit, turning away from them until you come across that Legendary Pokémon again.

But once you’ve found them, you’re so cautious with the moves you make. You don’t want to come on too strong, but you don’t want to be too subtle. You need to find the perfect balance, so when you finally build the courage to throw your Pokéball at them, or ask them out, you’re not left alone without the person you’ve been searching for and heard stories about your whole life.

Once you’ve killed Mewtwo, it’s gone forever, and there’s no coming back to it unless you were like me and saved the game right before you approached it. Sadly, that’s not how dating works. There’s no save button right before you approach the person you like.

You can’t turn life off and then right back on again starting over if you’ve killed the relationship. If you want to start over, you have to go back to square one, as a small kid in Pallet Town and work your way back to the Legndary Pokémon.

Dating is tricky. Stock up on your Pokéballs because you “gotta catch ’em all.”