#anyway adios ash this is the first and last time i will ever post about you lol

[thesilvercondor]

(Spoilers for Aim To Be A Pokemon Master Ep1 (JN137) below the cut)

ok so i am perpetually obsessed with Anabel and thus extremely biased but like. fun little conspiracy theory. Ash is actually developing Empathy (ability to sense pokemon's emotions, and use this for knockoff telepathy with them).

I have not seen past the first episode of this series, if there’s further evidence I might return to this theory but I kinda doubt there will be any lmao. Proceed beneath the readmore if you want to see my insane ramblings (1k words).

So, let’s look at this episode real quick, shall we? First major event- Ash accidentally attacks a Beedrill nesting site, potentially angering nearby Beedrill. And like, in the vast majority of Bulbapedia’s anime entries about wild Beedrill- those things get angry all the freaking time. I’ve already seen people down in the comments of this episode talking about how they didn’t think they’d seen a wild Beedrill be calm before.

However, Ash manages to calm it nearly instantaneously- which one other character has actually pulled off before- the only canon Empath, Anabel (S9 E24, ‘Talking A Good Game’).

I just find it interesting that this scene was included in the episode, given that it has no obvious importance to the rest of the storyline, you know? Unless it was meant to draw parallels, between this episode and *checks notes* some obscure episode from the early 2000s that barely anyone remembers. *sweatdrops*

 Uhhh but anyway!- next major event in the episode- the token ‘Empath’ finds an extremely powerful Pokemon, who is openly hostile to them, but calms it down by helping to care for its wounds.

In JN137, this is Ash helping Latias with a (burn?) on its wing, while in S9E24, it’s Anabel pulling out a stick from a Gyarados’s injury.

 Then, the third (and most major) event is the reveal of Empathy being used as Telepathy in a battle situation. This one uh. This one I have less evidence for, but we’re just going to pretend that Ash isn’t good enough at empathy yet for the parallels to be perfect, ok? Just to stoke my own ego.

Anyway- S9E24, Anabel first uses this with her ace, Alakazam. It’s characterized by her giving orders without talking- aka, though Alakazam can’t physically hear her, he can still hear her.

In JN137, Ash is captured by Team Rocket’s ‘Supercooled Capsule’. Here, Ash’s voice is extremely muffled- to the point that even Team Rocket (1-2m away from him) can’t hear him well. Meanwhile, Pikachu is uhhh 25-40m away? Down on the forest floor. (perspective is unhelpful, here’s the best screenshot I got).

Anyway, while being extremely muffled and getting progressively further away, AND while having his back turned on Pikachu- Ash proceeds to practically whisper his command to Pikachu to aim a 10, 000 Volts at him. And Pikachu understands instantly. Like yeah, I get it, this is an anime, not everything is realistic- but doesn’t this feel at least a little sus to y’all?

(left: Ash’s whisper, right: Anabel’s Empathy)

So yeah uh. I’ve yet to watch the other episodes of this anime. But if he gets overlaid on Pikachu at any point to give commands, then Imma 100% claim Empathy my dudes.

Especially since, the next RSE episode (S9E25, ‘Second Time’s The Charm’) is partially about Anabel trying to teach Ash Empathy- with the final line of the episode being her thinking- “I guess you can’t sense feelings yet, Ash […]”. Here, please just picture me pointing commandingly at the word ‘yet’. She reckons he had potential- and maybe that potential is finally coming true.

 Since we’re doing Anabel quotes right now, I’m going to throw another one at you- her response to being asked how she talks to Pokemon like that (aka while using Empathy):

“"I don't even really know how I do it. I guess its been happening ever since I was a little girl. I'd come to the forest and talk to everything. Trees, grass, the stars; and all the wild pokemon- and that's how it all started!" (S9E25)

So you know. She went into the forest. Not much of a goal. Interacted with literally everything she saw, without discrimination. Sounds kinda like the start of the episode; with Ash stopping to interact with every single wild Pokemon he sees. That’s how she developed Empathy- so maybe this is how he develops it too.

Like, this is Ash’s final series. Why start with him just wandering around looking at random mons, unless that act is something seriously important?

 Finally, just to add a bit more pizzazz; this episode is about Latias and Mew. (Oak’s poem at the start is something about if you want to make a lot of friends, you need to find 151- and 151 is Mew’s Pokedex number so. Yeah.) These two just so happen to be two of 9-12 ‘Empath Pokemon’ I have currently identified.

I’m counting Empath Pokemon as anything that has a Pokedex entry that mentions its ability to sense emotions (like Anabel does). Not just influence emotions (like Milotic), or get attracted by specific emotions (like Shuppet/Togetic/Blissey), but actively sense all emotions.

Latias’s Pokedex entry mentions that it “…is highly sensitive to the emotions of people.”

Meanwhile, Mew’s Pokedex entry mentions that it “…only appears to those with a pure heart.” (this is one of my ‘debateable’ Empath mons, as like. What is a pure heart exactly. I’m guessing it needs to be able to see all emotions in someone to decide whether their heart is pure or not, but I could be wrong.)

But yeah, if this series is about him trying to acquire two Empath Pokemon… it might also be about him trying to acquire Empathy itself.

 Anyway I’m gonna. I’m gonna watch the other episodes eventually. Not just yet, cos I wanna dream about a world in which this conspiracy theory is any way feasible-

  (oh yeah also before anyone asks. Anabel didn’t use an Empathy Pokemon in the anime, but in the games (Emerald and USUM) her ace is either Raikou or Latios, with the latter being another Empathy Pokemon- “…it can sense the emotions of others.”.)

(oh and full Empathy Pokemon list: Latias, Latios, Ralts, Indeedee, Hatterene, Sylveon, Audino, Solrock, Finizen. Bonus: Mew (how do you determine a ‘pure heart’), Mesprit (it created emotions so surely it can sense them?? But no pokedex entries on that) and Lucario (can sense emotions but through Aura not Empathy).)