Chapter Text
“Hm? Oh, Alan—this one’s for you.”
“What?”
Alan looked up from his morning coffee as the Professor plucked a thick, white envelope out from the rest of the day’s mail and held it out to him across the kitchen table. Alan took the envelope with no small amount of trepidation; he didn’t ordinarily receive mail, and though it had been a while since he had heard anything from the police about Team Flare, and though he didn’t know why they would send him something through the post if it was urgent, he couldn’t imagine who else would send him anything. But when he flipped the envelope around to look at the front and confirm that it was indeed addressed to him, the first thing he noticed was that it was covered in far too many popplio and rockruff stamps to have been sent by the Kalosean police. The second thing he noticed was that the scrawl on the front of the envelope was messy and hasty. And the third thing he noticed was the name and address of the sender. That the address was Alolan made sense given the stamps, but that the sender’s name was Ash Ketchum made the anxiety that had started to take root in Alan’s chest loosen, replaced instead by a smile.
“Good news, I take it?” the Professor asked.
Alan looked up from the letter to see that the Professor was smiling at him—a knowing smile, having no doubt read the name of the sender before he said anything about it at all—and he felt his own smile grow a little in response as he slid his finger under the envelope’s flap.
“Something like that,” he said. The Professor’s smile didn’t fade, even as he started to parse through the rest of the mail, and Alan pulled Ash’s letter free from the envelope.
The letter was, impressively enough, several pages long, and all written out by hand. Alan smoothed the pages out (and tapped the bottom against the table a couple of times to make sure the pages stacked neatly) before he took another sip from his coffee and started to read.
Dear Alan,
How are things in Kalos? You’re still staying at Professor Sycamore’s lab in Lumiose, right? I’m at school in the Alola region! You could probably guess that by the envelope—that I’m at school in Alola, anyway, not that I’m at school, but I am! My mom decided to have me enroll here. Actually I was kinda mad about it at first—not mad, but I didn’t get it, ya know? What do I need school for? I’ve already been to like six different regions and competed in tons of Leagues, and I won the Orange League, and once I got an offer to be a Frontier Brain! Which I almost went back and took to get out of going to school because COME ON, school is fun for like, a day thing in the middle of your journey, but not for an all the time thing! And this just because Mom saw Team Rocket’s news report about everything that happened and saw that I got pinned to th and stuff. She said I wasn’t supposed to save the world too far from home and that I promised I would save the world closer to home next time, and I guess I did but I also just said I would try and that doesn’t mean I’ll succeed, right?
But anyway, Mom talked to Professor Oak, who talked to his cousin, who is the headmaster here at this school in Alola. I actually thought I’d be staying with him since he knows Professor Oak and all, but actually I’m staying with Professor Kukui, who is the regional professor here in Alola. And he’s pretty cool! Actually he reminds me of Professor Sycamore a little, except he likes shirts less than Professor Sycamore does, and also wears sunglasses all the time, and also likes to go surfing. Actually does Professor Sycamore like surfing? I guess I never asked. Oh, also Professor Kukui likes to study pokémon moves by having the pokémon attack him. I don’t know if Professor Sycamore likes that either, but I don’t recommend recommending it to him because Professor Kukui doesn’t tend to fare very well after some of them. There was an incident with a bewear last week that it took me and Mallow and Kiawe to save him from, and that was with Pikachu helping, too! So probably don’t tell Professor Sycamore about that. Oh and do you know what a bewear is? Here, I can show you!
Alan stared at the drawing for a long moment. Having never traveled to Alola, and also having never encountered any trainers from Alola, Alan had never seen a bewear in person. But although he was never one to run away from a challenge, he thought that if real life bewear were anything like Ash’s illustration, then he was perfectly okay with never having met one. Alan tore his eyes away from the drawing long enough to take another drink of his coffee, and then resumed reading the rest of the letter.
So school is actually pretty cool and I’m liking it a lot! I thought it’d just be a lot of boring homework and junk but we actually do really cool things like learn how to ride sharpedo and also tauros and also how to call tauros to us, too. It was funny because they were going to have us all borrow tauros, but I didn’t really need to since I have thirty of them and so I was able to just have Professor Oak send one of mine over. You should have seen the looks on everyone’s faces when I told them I have thirty tauros! Actually, I’m imagining you’re pretty surprised right now too, huh? Did I ever tell you I have thirty tauros? Well, I have thirty tauros because I kept accidentally catching them in Kanto’s Safari Zone when I was trying to catch other pokémon. They just kept stampeding by! I’ll tell you that story sometime if you’re interested. It also involves a dratini and a bomb and also a lot of people getting shot at.
Either way, once I graduate I’ll get to do the island challenge, which sounds a lot like what I did in the Orange Islands and so it sounds exciting! And I have a lot of cool classmates here, too. Mallow is probably my best friend so far (outside of Pikachu). She likes to cook and is really fun and goes exploring with me. Sophocles is kind of like Clemont in that he makes things, but his inventions don’t explode on him and he’s also kind of stuck up if you don’t get something right away. Like he looks at you like you drooled on your shirt or something. Lana is really nice and goes out of her way to help everyone and is also a really great fisher (we go fishing on the weekends!) and great with the sharpedo. And Kiawe seems pretty intimidating at first, but he’s actually a pretty cool guy once you fight with him a couple times! (Like actually fight, not battle. He picked me up with one hand and threw me across the beach.) He also has a charizard! I’m thinking if you ever come visit with Lizardon then I can call Charizard (my charizard—did I tell you I have a charizard?) from the Charicific Valley and then we can form a team or a club or something. Bet we’d give Team Rocket a scare! (Pikachu does that already and I actually think James made the mistake of catching a bewear, but if he can survive his victreebell I’m pretty sure he can survive this.)
Anyway, this letter is pretty long so I should probably wrap it up, especially since I’m pretty sure dinner is in a half hour and I haven’t even started the reading we have to do (that’s the worst part of school—there’s SO MUCH READING!!!!), and even though I know Lana and Mallow will help me with it I KNOW Lillie (that’s another one of my classmates) will have something to say about it if I haven’t at least started it, so I better at least try for that. I hope things are going well with you and I hope to hear back from you soon! Pikachu also says hi.
Okay, bye!
—Ash
Beneath Ash’s signature were two tiny pawprints drawn in ink that Alan could tell straightaway belonged to Pikachu, and while Ash’s letter alone (the bewear drawing aside) was enough to make him smile, seeing Pikachu’s signature cemented it. Alan carefully folded the letter up and slipped it back into the envelope, and after he drained the rest of his coffee, stood up from the table.
“I’m going to go out to the yard for a bit to write a reply to this before we get started with work for the day, if that’s all right,” he said.
“Of course,” the Professor said, and though he had been scanning what Alan knew to be their ever-fearsome electricity bill, his expression was warm when he looked up. “Take all the time you need.”
Alan smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Professor.”
After a quick trip up to his room to retrieve a hardbound, spiral journal and one of his better quality pens, Alan made his way out into the yard where Lizardon was dozing in the early morning sun. Lizardon sat up as Alan approached, and crooned happily in greeting. The sound alone sent warmth through Alan, and he transferred Ash’s letter to the hand that held the journal so that he could scratch Lizardon gently along his jaw.
“Good morning, Lizardon,” Alan said, as Lizardon nuzzled against his palm. “Guess what? Ash wrote us a letter.”
This caused Lizardon to pull back in interest, staring curiously at the items that Alan held in his other hand, and in response, Alan held up the envelope for Lizardon to see.
“See? It’s right here. Want me to read it to you?”
Lizardon gave a small, excited roar, and Alan chuckled as he sat down on the grass, leaning back against Lizardon’s stomach.
“All right, then. Here it is,” he said, as he slipped the letter out from the envelope again. “After this you have to help me figure out a response, though. Deal?” Lizardon rumbled an agreement low in his throat as he bumped his snout against Alan’s head, his hot breath tickling against Alan’s ear, and Alan laughed a little again. “Okay, deal. Here’s the letter, then. ‘Dear Alan . . .’”
- - -
“Yo, Asher!”
Ash froze as he stepped across the threshold to Professor Kukui’s house, his hand still gripping the door handle, and only one foot actually inside the house. He was torn between two actions. One part of his brain screamed at him to quickly shut the door before anyone else in Alola heard what his full name actually was, while the other part of him screamed that he should shut the door on his way back out, because while he didn’t know what he could possibly be in trouble for when he hadn’t even been back for two seconds, ten years of his mother only ever using his full name when he had committed the most dire of offenses taught him that nothing good ever followed it.
But when Professor Kukui walked out from the living room, he was wearing a bright smile and holding an envelope up over his head.
“You’ve got mail,” Professor Kukui said.
“Mail? That’s it?” The tension melted from Ash’s shoulders as Pikachu heaved a similarly relieved sigh from his head. But even as relief washed through him, Ash frowned as he entered the house the rest of the way and shut the door behind him. “Then why did you call me ‘Asher’ like that? Professor, my name is Ash.”
“Technically your name is Asher according to your birth certificate,” Professor Kukui said, and Ash scowled. “And I think Asher is a great name. Sounds unique! Sounds fierce!”
“Sounds stupid,” Ash said flatly. “And it sounds like I’m in the worst trouble possible whenever it’s used, so—”
Professor Kukui laughed. “All right, all right! Lighten up. Here, like I said, you’ve got mail. This should put a smile on that grumpy face if nothing else does.”
As much as Ash didn’t want to prove Professor Kukui correct, the moment he took the envelope and saw the neat print and Prism Tower stamps on front, he beamed.
“Pikachu, look! Alan wrote us back!” he said, and as Pikachu excitedly took the envelope from him to get a better look at it, Ash looked back at Professor Kukui. “Thanks for letting me know, Professor. Need anything from me before I go read this?”
“Nope. Knock yourself out, Asher,” Professor Kukui said, and he flashed Ash a cheeky grin before he turned to head back into the living room. Ash rolled his eyes, but even Professor Kukui’s teasing couldn’t dim his mood as he charged up the stairs toward his room, Pikachu bounding off his head once they reached the second floor, the envelope held tightly between his teeth. Without meaning to, Ash slammed his bedroom door behind him before he leaped onto his bed, landing on his stomach as Pikachu jumped onto the pillows.
“Thanks, buddy,” Ash said, as he took the envelope from between Pikachu’s teeth.
“Pi-kachu,” Pikachu said, and he hopped around so that he could cuddle against Ash’s side as Ash ripped the envelope open, tugging Alan’s letter free from it. Joy swelled within him as he saw that Alan had written a lengthy response, and after making sure he had the pages in order, he started reading it aloud to Pikachu.
“‘Ash,
“‘It’s great to hear from you. Thanks for the letter. Yes, I’m still staying with the Professor here at the lab. We’re still studying mega evolution, though we’ve begun to probe deeper into the existence of mega evolution in regions outside of Kalos as well. For a while we believed that only pokémon in the Kalos region could mega evolve, but we know now that isn’t true since pokémon in Hoenn can mega evolve as well. This means that a few of the working theories the Professor had no longer hold water, but it also means that there’s still a lot for us to research and learn. It’s actually pretty exciting.
“‘Speaking of exciting, no, you didn’t ever tell me that you train a charizard, too. (And by the way, Lizardon is a bit miffed at you for that.) I looked up the Charicific Valley and it sounds like an amazing place—I actually might go visit it at some point in the future. Maybe we could meet up? We could also have a battle then—Lizardon vs. your charizard. We’re both down for it if you and your charizard are. (You can also tell me the story about the thirty tauros, the dratini, and the bomb at that point. Somehow I think that’s a story that needs to be told in person rather than through a letter.)
“‘I have to admit, I was a bit surprised to hear that you’ve started attending school full time, but at the same time I think it’s a great opportunity and sounds like it would be a lot of fun, even if you didn’t have sharpedo riding lessons (though those are a definite bonus). I never went to a formal school myself—the Professor homeschooled me in addition to the work I helped out with around the lab—but I think the chance to learn with a bunch of classmates is definitely a worthwhile experience. Just try not to get flung across the beach too many more times, all right? (Also try to keep Professor Kukui alive if you can manage it. I did a bit of reading on bewear and it doesn’t sound like being attacked by one could have ended very well at all.)
“‘I’d love to come visit you in Alola sometime, but we’re pretty busy here at the moment, and I’m still trying to figure out what to do. I do want to keep working here at the lab, of course, but I’ve also been thinking about taking the Champion challenge. I don’t know if I will or not yet; Steven Stone thinks that I should, and the Professor will support whatever decision I make, and Lizardon wants to, but I’m not really sure if I really would be a if I deserve if I should. So on top of the work that I’m still doing here, I have to decide whether or not I want to take the challenge, and if I do, then I could be even busier for a while yet depending on whether or not I win. I might not be able to come visit and form Team Charizard with you and Kiawe for a while yet. I’m sorry.
“‘But I’m glad that things are going well for you in school, and good luck with your assigned reading and other assignments. I’m not sure what exactly you’re studying, but if you ever want help with anything let me know. Tell Pikachu I said hi and give him a scratch behind the ears from me. Lizardon is still miffed at you for not telling us about your charizard, but he sends his greetings as well.
“‘Sincerely,
Alan’”
Beneath Alan’s signature was a very large scribble that, if Ash squinted and tilted his head, looked a bit like Lizardon. He jabbed at the signature with one finger as he turned to Pikachu.
“See, look, Lizardon can use a pen,” he said. “You can do it, too.”
Pikachu gave him a flat look. “Chuu, Pikapi.”
Ash grinned, but as he looked back toward the letter—and, in particular, the second to last paragraph—his smile became a bit more rueful. “He’s still feeling bad for a lot of stuff, huh, Pikachu?” he said.
“Chaaa,” Pikachu said, and his ears drooped.
“Well,” Ash said, and he sat up and leaned across the end of his bed to grab his backpack strap, hoisting it toward him. He yanked open the zipper so he could tug his notebook and a pencil free from it before he flopped back down in his original position. “I think we can help with that.”
- - -
And so the letters between them became regular correspondence.
- - -
Dear Alan,
Okay, you can tell Lizardon that we had a lot of things going on and I’m really sorry for not talking about Charizard, but there were THINGS HAPPENING and there just wasn’t time!!! And also we were always battling with Greninja so it didn’t really seem relevant? Even though you have a charizard too, I know, but there were THINGS HAPPENING!!! I’ll introduce you all someday though, I think you’d really like each other! Charizard’s always wanting to battle strong opponents so I think he’d really love battling Lizardon. We’ll definitely have to have them battle someday! And you did promise me that you’d battle me one day anyway, so yeah, that can be the one, so long as it happens someday.
That mega evolution research sounds cool! There’s actually some mega evolution here in Alola, I hear, but I haven’t actually seen anyone mega evolve their pokémon yet. They just talk about it a lot. We actually were given these cool bracelets here at school called Z-Rings that let us use Z-Moves with our pokémon. Z-Moves are these really powerful attacks that just go KA-BLAM whenever we use them and they’re stronger depending on how close you are with your pokémon. Me and Pikachu were gonna use this one called Gigavolt Havoc, but then Team Rocket attacked us and tried to steal Pikachu in the middle of the lesson (at least it wasn’t during my presentation this time) and so I threw Pikachu up at their balloon (THIS HAS WORKED IN THE PAST) and at the same time the Z-Crystal and my Z-Ring activated and Pikachu used the attack only it wasn’t actually Gigavolt Havoc, but something else. Long story short Team Rocket went blasting off again and I think they might have been blasted into actual space this time (it’s okay, they’ve survived worse), and also part of the island was seriously destroyed, but it was an attack like no one has seen before and Professor Kukui said that it was because of the strength of my bond with Pikachu. He also asked me not to ever do it again, and I said I’d try, but it was an accident to begin with so I dunno how well I’m gonna be able to keep that promise. Anyway, it was an attack no one has seen before so I think I should get to name it and I’m calling it Catastropika right now. Get it? Like catastrophe??? Kiawe left the room when I suggested that, and Mallow groaned and put her head in her arms and Lillie said that she was really impressed I knew that word (which is one of the nicest things she’s said to me yet so I think that’s good!) and Professor Kukui said “we’ll see.” I dunno what he’s going to see about considering the fact that it’s my move and so I should get to name it, but I guess I'll see what he sees and what he’s going to see is that I’m gonna call it Catastropika and so will everyone else eventually. Pikachu agrees.
Don’t worry about not being able to come visit, although it’d be really great if you could!!! I can understand being busy, though. But why aren’t you sure if you should take the Champion challenge? Is it because you still feel guilty about everything that happened with Lysandre and Team Flare? If so, I think that’s I understand, because I remember what you told me before, about how you think your mistake is iredemable ireedemable “irredeemable” and stuff. But I don’t think you should feel that way. Even if you made a mistake by trusting Lysandre, you still helped a lot when it came to stopping him. You helped me fight him, and you saved Manon’s chespin. And like I said before, me and my pokémon all had a really great time battling you. You’re a great trainer, and you’re really strong, and you’re also someone that I like and respect and trust a lot. And I think you’d make a really great Champion! So I think you should definitely do the challenge if you want to, and if Lizardon wants to and stuff. And someday I’ll go back to Kanto and take on the Indigo League again, and win, and also beat the current Kanto Champion (I think it’s Lance right now??), and then we can meet and battle again as Champions this time. How’s that sound?
Speaking of things that sound good, great, I could really use your help with some of this!!! I’m sending you one of my math sheets. It’s due by Thursday. Actually I don’t know if you’d be able to get this back to me by Thursday I’m going to call you for help on one of my math sheets if that’s okay. Actually you’ll probably hear from me by phone before you get this letter Maybe it’d be easier if you could help me with the readings instead. Have you ever read a book called Moby Dick? ‘Cause I’m supposed to write a paper on this and I’m completely lost.
I look forward to hearing from you again—and tell Lizardon to stop being mad, it was an accident!!
—Ash
- - -
Ash,
Unfortunately, I can’t tell Lizardon how to feel; his feelings are all his own, and to be honest you saying it isn’t your fault only made him miffed all over again. It’s okay, though; he’ll stop pouting eventually. Just give him time.
Z-Moves definitely sound interesting. I don’t know whether “Catastropika” is the best or worst name I’ve ever heard for something. I think it’s a mixture of both. But about the Z-Rings—you said everyone at school has one? That’s interesting. Where did they come from? And how do they work, exactly? You also mentioned mega evolution—do they have anything to do with that? I tried researching it myself, but there seems to be very little information on it. The Professor is curious about it, too, particularly if it could help us make any headway into our mega evolution research. So any information you have on that would be helpful.
About the Champion challenge—thank you. For everything you said. You’re right, of course—I do still feel guilty about what happened with the Director. It’s as I said: Even if I didn’t know what he was really planning, I still assisted him. I’m still the one who gathered the mega evolution energy he needed to make that nightmare a reality. So many people and pokémon were hurt because of my actions. All of Kalos was put into jeopardy. Even if I didn’t know, that doesn’t absolve me of the blame, not really. And even if I helped resolve the crisis, I was really just helping to put an end to the mess I helped create. I was just doing what needed to be done—doing one right thing after messing everything else up.
But to hear you still have faith in me after all of that—thank you. It means a lot. I’m still not sure it would be best for Kalos to have me as her Champion given all that I did, but I want to do right by Kalos somehow. I want to make things better. Even if I can’t ever truly atone for what I did, I want to at least try. Maybe if I can do at least that little bit, then I could be worthy of being Kalos’ Champion.
But that’s enough about that. I do think that the idea of meeting you, Champion to Champion, sounds fantastic—or, like the Professor would say, marvelous. That would definitely be a something, wouldn’t it? And I bet we could do a lot for the relations between Kanto and Kalos, too. A man named Lance is currently the Kanto Champion, yes, and according to Professor Sycamore (who heard this from Diantha) he can be obstinate and difficult to deal with. I don’t think Kanto has terrible international relations right now, but whatever Kanto’s present relationship with Kalos is, if it’s the way it is with Diantha and Lance not getting on very well, then it could only get better with you and I as the Champions of our respective regions, wouldn’t it? It’s a fun thing to think about, anyway.
I actually have read Moby-Dick. What is your paper supposed to be about? Do you have a thesis picked out yet? And when is it due? It honestly might be easier if we do homework help over the phone. I don’t think you’re going to get your assignments turned in on time otherwise.
Give Pikachu a scratch behind the ears from me, and both of you try not to destroy the planet between now and when you send your next letter.
Sincerely,
Alan
- - -
Dear Alan,
Tell Lizardon I look forward to the day he stops being a big pouty baby just because I didn’t tell him about Charizard. (Actually don’t tell him that or he might never stop being mad at me.)
Catastropika is the best name you’ve ever heard for anything in your entire life and you know it. And yeah, everyone at school gets a Z-Ring! Professor Kukui said they come from this place here in Alola called the Aether Foundation which is researching science and stuff. I dunno all the specifics because I haven’t been out to Aether Paradise yet, but apparently they’re researching science and bonds and things, and also they provide a sanctuary for pokémon who have been mistreated and hurt by Team Skull, which is this gang here in Alola that I think is trying to be like Team Rocket, only they’re a lot weirder about it. Like the Team Rocket that follows me around can be weird, but actual Team Rocket can be pretty scary sometimes. Team Skull doesn’t really manage that. Mostly they just try to pick fights with people, only they don’t have weapons that are any worse than yo-yos, and they’re really bad at stealing pokémon because none of their pokémon are stronger than ours. (So in that way they’re really similar to Jessie, James, and Meowth.) And they have this “enforcer” named Gladion who is actually Lillie’s twin brother and he tries to be really intimidating and acts like a jerk, but whenever he shows up he just ends up getting into a fight with Lillie and they insult each other a lot and then try to fight, only neither of them is very good at fighting. They mostly just slap at each other and pull each other’s hair. I tried to give them lessons on how to fight but neither of them would listen to me, so it’s their loss I guess. But even if Team Skull seems to be really bad at what they do apparently they manage to hurt pokémon anyway, and the Aether Foundation takes care of those pokémon on top of developing sciencey things like the Z-Rings. I guess it’s pretty cool!
As far as mega evolution goes, I asked Professor Kukui and he said that the Z-Rings could hold Key Stones if any of us had any Key Stones, and the Key Stones are what cause mega evolution, right? So the Z-Rings could work kinda like your old Mega Ring! But it’s hard to say for sure since we don’t have a Key Stone. Maybe if you ever come visit we could test it out??
Of course I still have faith in you—you’re awesome! And like I said (I think I said??), I think you’d make a great Champion, too. I don’t know that you need to “atone”—you’ve already helped a lot and have done a lot and stuff—but if you do think that way, then isn’t the Champion supposed to protect people? I don’t know what all you mean about international relations and stuff, but I know that in Kanto and Johto Lance worked to protect people and pokémon from Team Rocket when they were doing some crazy stuff at the Lake of Rage in Mahogany Town. And Hoenn’s Champion is Steven Stone, right? And he helped fight Team Flare, and so did Diantha. And so it seems to me like the Champions do a lot of protecting, and isn’t that kind of what you want to do now? Don’t you want to protect Kalos to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again? If you do, then wouldn’t the best way to do that be to be the Champion? If not, how else are you gonna do it?? I mean I guess nothing is stopping you from just going around and protecting Kalos anyway, but it seems to me like being the Champion fits with what you want, so I don’t see why you shouldn’t go for it, especially since you’d be great at it.
And yeah, it’d be awesome if we were both Champions!!! Again, I don’t know about any international relations stuff, but I plan on being a Pokémon Master one day and also Kanto’s Champion, so it’d be really cool if you were also Kalos’ Champion!! I’ve got friends in other regions that can be Champions of their regions, too. We can form a super team! It’d be awesome!!!
As for my paper, it’s due at the end of the month. What’s a thesis? Isn’t that a super long paper? I looked it up and that’s what it said online and I hope that’s not what this is because there’s no way I could write a whole thesis on this book I don’t get. We talked a bit about it in class and Lillie said that she felt that the wailord “represented” Arceus, which doesn’t make sense because if that’s the case then why wasn’t Ahab just trying to catch Arceus? Why wasn’t he looking for Arceus instead of looking for a wailord? Wailord looks nothing like Arceus! They couldn’t be more different! I mean I guess they’re both big, but wailord is actually bigger than Arceus so even that doesn’t work. I tried to ask her what she meant by that because they’re completely different, and she said, “it’s a metaphor” and I said “I thought you said it was Arceus” and then everyone stared at me until Kiawe said “anyway” and the subject moved on but I don’t see how I was wrong considering she just said it was Arceus and now she’s saying it’s a “metaphor” but the author said it was a wailord. I don’t get it.
Pikachu and I will try not to destroy the planet but we don’t make promises, especially if Team Rocket interrupts during another one of my presentations because speaking of Arceus, I swear to him that if they do it again I’m going to Catastropika them into the sun because the last time they did they ruined a presentation I spent three nights working on that was worth 50% of my grade. THREE NIGHTS!!! But Pikachu appreciates the head scratches. Tell Lizardon I said hi!!!
—Ash
- - -
Ash,
Lizardon knows how to read, you know. I don’t have to tell him anything, so you should probably watch what you’re saying about him in these letters.
That’s interesting about the Aether Foundation and the Z-Rings. I would be interested in seeing how it all works up close in person, but I’m not sure (and neither is the Professor) that it’s a good idea at the moment, at least not until we’ve done some more research into the Aether Foundation. They have a website, but there’s not really very much useful information on there. If you hear anything more about them, let me know, all right? And be careful.
It really is fruitless to try and I really can’t You’re right, of course. You always are. Your logic is sound and, if there is any fault to be found in it, I certainly can’t find it. Thank you once again for all of your advice. I’ll remember it. And maybe hopefully we’ll definitely have to meet as Champions of our home regions one day. Study hard so you can hurry up and become the Champion of Kanto, all right?
By “thesis” I meant “thesis statement” — it’s the topic of your paper, and the argument you’re trying to prove with the paper. They didn’t teach you this? As for what Lillie said, she meant that the wailord represented Arceus because Arceus is thought to be the legendary pokémon that created the universe—a god among gods. Some people interpret Ahab’s quest to hunt down and capture that wailord as a quest to hunt down and capture Arceus, not so much from his point of view but rather from the point of view of the author. For Ahab, capturing the wailord was impossible and a fruitless endeavor that drove him to madness, as capturing Arceus would be. There’s a bit more to the interpretation than that and I don’t necessarily subscribe to it myself, but that’s the general idea. Since it sounds like Lillie is going to be writing her paper on that, I don’t recommend you write yours on it anyway. It’s better if you have a unique thesis.
Give Pikachu a scratch behind the ears from me, and feel free to give me a call if you think it’d be easier to discuss your paper over the phone.
Sincerely,
Alan