Email isn't commonly used in Illumina. Aside from all kinds of spam and game notifications, Rowan currently has only two contacts in his inbox.
His thesis advisor and Ash.
Since his graduation thesis was completed before he crossed over, the only one left is Ash.
And as expected, the sender of the email was Ash.
The content of the email, in summary, says that Pikachu has been checked at the Pokémon Center and is in perfect health. Ash has already booked a battle arena at the Pokémon Center and is asking if Rowan has time for a battle tonight.
Ash's obsession with battling, combined with the freshness of a new region and the special aura surrounding his first opponent in this region, made him eager to battle Rowan.
"A boy so passionate about battles… how pure..."
Ash's eyes were fixed solely on battles. Becoming a Pokémon Master has always been his dream.
Despite experiencing countless failures, he still moves forward toward his dream—challenging Gyms, entering conferences, climbing step by step.
"Living up to one's youth..."
Although he has arrived in this Pokémon world, he knows very well that his goals aren't as simple as Ash's. Even doing the same things, he's more focused on pursuing profit.
Some things, if you don't do them when you're young, you lose interest in them as you get older.
Rowan patted his face, clearing the messy thoughts from his mind.
The past is the past, and now is now. Doing what you truly want to do is, in itself, a form of achieving a dream—just with a less grand objective.
"Nekomi, get ready. Tonight we're going to battle that boy and his Pikachu."
"Meow? Meow? (Pikachu? What's there to prepare for against an unevolved Electric-type Pokémon?)"
"That Pikachu is pretty special. Besides, it's been a while since we've had a proper battle—we need to get back in shape."
Battle in the exam hall wasn't stressful, and it didn't even count as a real battle. A lot of things weren't even tested out. Rowan plans to use Ash's Pikachu to properly reacquaint himself with the flow of combat.
Level advantage is fine for steamrolling weaklings, but when facing a true equal, poor commands might just become a liability.
As for Pikachu's strength...
Rowan didn't know whether Pikachu had entered the "reset mode" after arriving in Illumina. Whether it was still the mighty "Pikagod" or just Pikachu—Ash himself might not even know.
"Meow! (I could just use Frenzy Plant or Flower Trick!)"
Though Meowscarada was better at physical attacks, its Sp. Atk stats weren't bad either. Frenzy Plant, being the most powerful move in the Grass-type Starter Pokémon move pool, packed quite a punch.
With the same-type attack bonus, even without a type advantage, the damage would still be considerable.
"Let's follow my lead this time. In the future, if we run into any tricky opponents and you think my commands are off, feel free to act on your own."
Rowan wasn't sure how good he really was at giving commands—Pokémon battles weren't turn-based like in handheld game consoles; the situation changes every moment.
Even Toxic Spikes, which only activate when the opposing Pokémon enters the field, could be used as a unique attack strategy, triggering repeatedly in a short span of time.
And then there were the countless amazing abilities Pokémon had—like Rapidash, which could accelerate to 240 km/h in just 10 seconds; Arcanine, capable of running 10,000 kilometers in a day; and Dragonite, which could fly around the world in just one day.
In a battle, those kinds of speeds would be practically invisible to the human eye.
A single mistake or delayed command could easily cause them to lose a battle in an instant.
As long as the Pokémon had enough combat experience, they often knew what to do better in a battle.
That's why Rowan wanted to do tests—to figure out which approach would yield better results in potential emergencies.
If Ash and Pikachu's progress has been reset together, that would be one thing. But if they hadn't, then Ash's real battle experience far surpassed his own.
He might have all kinds of strategies in his head and he knew all the configurations of Rain Team and Sandstorm Team, but without actual combat, it was all just theory.
The Pokémon Center was a bit of a distance away. After tidying up, Rowan took Nekomi and headed to the subway station.
Overweight Pokémon, or those having flames on their bodies, strange odors, or other factors that could pose a risk to safety of the train, were required to be kept inside their Poké Balls when riding the subway.
Due to her size, Nekomi had to have her own ticket. Still... a weird incident occurred on the subway.
Rowan's university was located in the suburbs, and since he boarded at the starting station, there were plenty of seats.
Plus, for Pokémon like Nekomi who had bought a ticket, it was allowed for her to occupy a seat.
At first, Rowan was just scrolling through his phone. Some of the videos in this world were similar to ones he remembered... and others were, well, extremely weird.
For example, four Go masters once challenged a single Metagross at the same time—yet they were all defeated 1v4 by the Metagross. This kind of Pokémon is said to possess the computational power of four supercomputers. Humans can't even compare. But Metagross are quite rare.
The most popular content remains all sorts of Pokémon tournaments. Even replays of past matches still get a decent number of views.
As the subway continued moving, more and more people entered the car.
When Rowan saw an old man—probably in his sixties—get on, he was about to offer his seat, but Nekomi stopped him. Then, Nekomi very naturally stood up and plopped herself down onto Rowan's lap.
"Your Pokémon seems really close to you. That brings back memories…"
The old man seemed like a chatty one. As soon as he sat nearby, he started talking about his glorious younger days.
"So where is your Pokémon?"
"Oh, don't get me wrong—it's not that I lost it or anything. I'm just too old to carry it anymore. That little guy could probably send me off to the afterlife now. Don't believe me? Look at this."
As he spoke, he opened a pocket watch that had two photographs inside. One showed a young boy with a Squirtle, and the other showed the same man, now old, with a Blastoise.
Ninetales lives a thousand years, Wartortle ten thousand—that's a well-known saying.
In other words, if raised properly, a Squirtle might just outlive several generations of people.
As for not being able to carry it…
Forget being old—Blastoise isn't something even a young person could easily carry.
"Meow~"
"You're not heavy. A Meowscarda only weighs around thirty kilograms on average. Even if you get a little chubbier, I could still carry you."
"Meow!"
"Being young is so nice…"
The old man beside them seemed to fall back into nostalgia again and accidentally dropped his phone.
It was an old-style phone and quite durable, but while he was picking it up, he got himself into trouble—someone nearby insisted he was secretly taking photos.
Though he eventually proved his innocence using his photo gallery, the old man just got more and more angry. In the end, he looked at Rowan, who had just been quietly watching the drama unfold:
"You can question my character, but don't you dare question my taste! I may be old, but I'm not blind!"
"You're not even as good-looking as that young guy's Pokémon! Why on earth would I secretly take a photo of you?"
That one line turned the argument into a physical fight. In the end, both parties were taken away by Officer Jenny. As for what happened afterward—Rowan had no idea.