It's another crisp spring day in the Johto reigon, when a familiar commercial begins to play on a nearby television...
"Hey there trainers! Are you wanting to take the GYM CHALLENGE this spring? Well the Pokémon League has a deal for YOU! The champion himself has decided to re-take the gym challenge, and a handful of lucky trainers will get to travel with him, learning from the best of the best! Call now or enter online to..."
It was no secret at this point that the Pokémon League was unhappy with their current champion. He used to be a battling prodigy all those years ago, but the years have not been kind to him. They say he hasn't lost a single battle in nearly a decade, and that he's spent a fortune perfecting his team, importing rare and powerful Pokémon, buying special vitamins and training equipment, and breeding them to perfection. After all this time, the champion has become somewhat jaded, and has lost his passion for battling. He sees battling as more of a chore than a sport now, and his personality is said to have completely shifted. What was once a fiery young man who loved the sport has become bitter, apathetic, and depressed after losing his passion. He's stated before that he doesn't even want to be champion anymore, but his pride won't let him throw away his title to the next random challenger.
The Pokémon League and Johto Elite Four have decided that just getting rid of him would likely cause all sort of legal and press issues, but with how low the challenger rate is for the Johto League, they're left with few choices. Eventually, they settled on the plan of having him re-take the gym challenge. This way, he would start fresh, with a different perspective. They hoped it would help spark his lost passion for the sport, seeing what has changed during his time as champion, and that traveling with young, up-and-coming trainers might help him connect with his past self. So, the drawing was held, and a certain few lucky trainers would get to learn under his belt.
The champion, of course, was not happy in the slightest. But evem after much protesting, it was apparent he wasn't going to get his way. He was either going to stay sitting in the champion's room all day, or finally get some vacation time, albeit a working vacation. And so he went to New Bark Town, a place famous for being a starting point for the gym challenge. There he'd wait for the lucky (or unlucky) trainers he be getting dragged along by. What awaits our champion and the new trainers? What has changed in the past years for our champion? Can you help him find his lost passion for battling? Will he remain a mopey dickhead, or become the fiery young man he used to be? Why am I asking so many questions?
So yeah, TL;DR Champion is big sad because he's too good at his job, league puts him on mandatory fun time with a handful of children to make him not sad. Let me know what you think and if you're interested.
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