Like no one ever was

"I want to be the very best, like no one ever was."

For 25 years Ash Ketchum has been the face of Pokemon, and now with the most recent announcement, we learn that he is retiring.

This comes as a shock to some, and foregone knowledge others, but for me, this breaks every single nostalgic bone in my body.

Let's back up.

Picture it, the summer of 1999. I'm in Indiana in my cousin's basement, and I'm new to things like t.v. and video games like the newly released super smash bros. My cousin wakes me up early on a Saturday morning to watch some cartoons. I expect Ren and Stimpy or the Men in Black cartoon. But no. None of that.

My cousin turns on the t.v. and there's a show called Batman beyond that I was pretty excited for, but we only caught the tail end of it. My cousin grabs me by the shoulders and jumps up and down.

"Pokemon, Pokemon, Pokemon." He's chanting it like a little boy possessed of dreams.

It was contagious, I was cheering for it, before I even knew what it was. And then for 22 minutes on a Saturday morning, I got lost in a magical world of small creatures that we all now know as Pokemon.

For the next ten or so years, I had a light obsession with all things Pokemon. I (my parents) bought Pokemon bed sheets, Pokemon trading cards, Pokemon toys, and figures. I got all of the Pokemon games, and played through, and beat (yeah, even Trozei) all of them.

The industry and games though only captured a part about what it meant to be a Pokemon fan growing up. Every Monday morning my classmates would gather around and talk about the most recent Pokemon episode. If you hadn't seen it, you may as well not come to school.

When I hit 5th grade or so, my friends eventually lost interest. They might play the occasional game, or have a stuffed animal or two, but none of them watched the show anymore. They had already been through two seasons and a few movies after all.

Not I.

I was still pleasantly obsessed with it all. I had replayed every game I owned until some of them were worn well with love and frustration. I was still in the habit of imagining what I would do if Pokemon were real, and cursing myself for not being born in a world that had these magical little creatures.

At the center of all of it, though was the main figurehead, the 10 year old prodigy himself Ash Ketchum.

Now there are some that see him as a kid that needed to grow up. Some, to be sure see him as almost a permanent loser, but for me? He's my hero.

As a kid he taught me important life lessons about not giving up on your dreams, about chasing the thing you want with all of your heart. He taught me about friends moving away or out of your life (Misty and Brock). He taught me about how to face constant challenges (Team Rocket). He taught me about losing. He taught me about caring for those around me. He taught me how to be a kid, but more importantly the lessons that would carry me into adulthood.

I'm 30 now, and I haven't watched a full episode of Pokemon in a minute. But when I heard that he had won the Pokemon championship, it made me sit back and smile. He finally did it.

He was such a huge part of my childhood that it feels like a personal accomplishment that has finally come true.

He was a perpetual 10 year old and that's not lost on me. But it's in this way that he still stands in for the innocence that I left behind. Before I betrayed anyone, before I told a plethora of lies, and before I broke anyone's heart, I was a kid. Sitting on the floor watching Ash's journey and wanting more than anything to be a part of it.

Let me say, yeah I know he's a fictional character in a fictional universe with fictional problems. But all of the best art, and all of the best fiction mirrors that which we see in ourselves, and makes us feel.

He's leaving now, and in a way my heart breaks. I want deeply the comfort of knowing that he'll keep going. That he'll keep travelling and beating Team Rocket, and making friends and catching em' all.

There comes a time when every hero has to say goodbye. Is it sad? Sure. For anyone that has ever held him in their hearts, or his journey it's sad. That's what nostalgia is. It's okay by the way- to shed a tear, or cry, or do whatever you need to. Look around. Comments on every social media site, and every anime network are filled with love for this guy. It's filled with people who he touched, just as much as me, just as much as you.

But maybe this is his last lesson to us.

He was my hero, and he was yours, and he might always be, but now it's time for the next generation to have theirs.

I want this next generation to have what I had. I want them to sit on the floor on a Saturday morning and cheer for Liko and Roy the way that I cheered for Ash and Pikachu. I want them to feel their struggles, I want them to want to go on their own journey, to experience Liko and Roy's first catch, their first battle, their first loss. Their final win.

So here's to you Ash, thanks for everything.