While Ash has finally completed his decades-long quest to be the best Pokémon coach on the planet by winning the title of World Champion, an episode of the original anime proves that he could have achieved that goal much sooner if he hadn’t traveled across the land.
Ash’s journey to becoming a Pokémon master is legendary. Starting at the age of ten, Ash has taken on the responsibility of having Pikachu as his starter Pokémon, despite the fact that Pikachu is much more difficult to control than the other three starter Pokémon. Then Ash takes off into the world, searching for wild Pokémon to catch and train before trying his hand at challenging gym heads. Once someone defeats enough gym leaders – who earn them badges – they can enter the Pokémon Tournament, as the badge they earn is proof of the trainer’s skill. Less than ten episodes into the anime, Ash has earned himself two badges after battling Pokémon’s Brock and Misty. Around the same time, however, Ash learned that all the hard work he had put into becoming a champion could have been simplified (at least).
Ash could have become a Pokémon champion by going to school
In Pokémon: Indigo League episode 9 (written by Norman J. Grossfeld, Michael Haigney, and John Touhey, and directed by Masamitsu Hidaka), Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock are traveling to Vermillion City for Ash to challenge his opponent. claim the next gym and earn more badges. However, they are interrupted after they come across a school where a younger student is being bullied by some older kids. Ash and the group immediately support this student and befriend him, and in return, the student (whose name is Joe) tells them everything he knows about the school he attends, Pokémon Tech. . According to Joe, the grade levels at this particular school equate to certain badges, and upon graduation, the student is considered a professional enough trainer to enter straight into Pokémon tournaments.
If Ash goes to Pokémon Tech, he won’t need to travel around the world, challenging dangerous wild Pokémon and encountering more dangerous villains, like Team Rocket, who won’t think twice about placing a ten-year-old child in danger. get what they want. Ash proves he has the level of interest needed to know everything about Pokémon, which means he’s likely to excel at a school entirely dedicated to Pokémon education, even if the episode make it clear that the curriculum is extremely difficult. However, one thing that is also noted in this episode is how expensive the tuition is. Ash doesn’t come from money, so it’s unlikely his mother can turn the tuition around on her own. Despite this, Joe reveals that he didn’t come from money either, but rather his parents saved up to send him to Pokémon Tech. This means there’s no doubt that Ash could have been sent here too, if his mother had followed the same path as Joe’s parents.
Basically, no matter how expensive Pokémon Tech is (since the exact tuition isn’t stated in this episode), Joe proves that Ash can get in too, even if it’s unlikely or realistic. . If Ash’s mother had chosen to let him join Pokémon Tech instead of sending her ten-year-old son out into the world alone (which makes the prospect of his mother saving money on school fees much easier to consider) , then all Ash will have to do is study hard and earn your way in Pokémon Tournaments without having to travel across the country, looking all over the place – and he might as well be a champion much sooner.