#sam oak

5/03/23 + 5/23/23 + 5/05/23

I realize this might not be a revelation to some people but I literally just thought about the fact that Sam, who we know to be Professor Oak, is Professor Oak.

We already get that bit at the end of the movie that shoes Sam, or Professor Oak at this point, clearly remembers every bit of their adventure and still holds fond memories of it.

But the thing that hit me just now--what if he actually engineered Ash getting Pikachu because of that adventure? He’s Professor Oak, one of the Poke-World’s leading experts on pokemon, and is personally authorized by the Pokemon League to give trainers one of the three kanto starters. So what the anime originally plays off as a “OOPS, he woke up late and everything else is gone!” is really Professor Oak faking all of that so he can give Ash Pikachu.

There are bylaws stating that when a kid reaches ten they have to register to get their pokemon. There is absolutely no way Professor Oak didn’t know ahead of time and either conveniently forget to request the right amount of starters or just outright lied to Ash.