[](/web/images/want-to-be-a-part-of-our-newsletter-youre-welcome-to-submithttps-johtosubstackcom-s-mailbag-content-.png)Want to be a part of our newsletter? You’re welcome to submit content including (but not limited to) questions, fanart, short stories, your cherished memories, photographs of your collection, and anything else you think you want us to see. Today we received a letter from John Camou, who wanted to share a nostalgic anecdote with us from his childhood.

John's copy of Pokémon SoulSilver

The year was 2016, and me and my sister were visiting a family friend with our parents. Their teenage son was also present, and since there wasn't much to do while we waited for our parents to wrap up their conversation, we got to talking about our hobbies and favorite video games. It turns out that he was actually a pretty big Pokemon fan just like me! I had never been able to [make] use of local multiplayer due to none of my friends or family having any of the games, so I seized the opportunity and challenged him to a battle on the off chance he had his DS with him.

It was my lucky day because he actually had brought it to entertain himself during this trip and he said he'd do a few battles with me. After that, we [promptly] booted up our games and headed over to the Union Room, him on his copy of Diamond and me on SoulSilver. We agreed to do best of 3 with the free battle style. I distinctly remember being very confident in my abilities and thinking that I would win 3-0.

That delusion was quickly shattered upon entering the first battle; my team was around LV45 with my ace, Ampharos, being only LV59. This was in contrast to my opponent whose Pokemon were all LV100 legendaries with competitive movesets.To make a short story even shorter, I was absolutely curb-stomped in all 3 rounds. I saved a video of the last one, although unfortunately the file this story happened on was deleted a few years ago.

Although I lost, he was really chill about it and wasn't a sore winner. We did some trades after that and enjoyed the rest of our trip. We haven't been able to meet since this incident, though, mainly because he's a lot older than me and works in Japan now. But it's still a nostalgic story that I'll sometimes think about when I'm getting curb-stomped in [Pokémon Scarlet & Violet] like I was 7 years ago on the DS.

John Camou, United States

Hi, John! Thanks so much for sharing your memories with us! It’s fantastic when you can meet a stranger and share a hobby you’re both passionate about. I hope that he also has some good memories of the event, and maybe the two of you will eventually be able to meet again and talk about that time you both met to play Pokémon together!