What makes a trainer special?

This question has been asked by many trainers since the practice became commonplace, and even before then. At least, I assume it was. We're talking hundreds of years, if not thousands. I wasn't alive then, so I can't confirm with 100% accuracy. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, so the thing that people have been arguing about for years is what makes a trainer special? Is it a certain trait that you are born with? Is it a learned skill, like tying your shoes or learning a language? Or does it simply involve being in the right place at the right time? So many trainers over the years have achieved greatness, but the source always seems random. I'm not explaining this as well as I should be. Ok, so you've heard of Trainer Red, right? Who hasn't would probably be the better question if we're being honest. At the age of 10, he became the strongest trainer in the entire Kanto region, allegedly without uttering even a single word. So many other trainers wanted to follow in his footsteps, child and adult alike. But so many failed to overcome him in such a short time frame that he transferred his Champion duties to Dragon Master Lance of his Elite Four and left to go train even more. Rumors say he kept popping up throughout history, but not all are the most accurate accounts. Regardless, Red set a high bar and many Champions in other regions have since been mere children. What am I trying to get at here? I'm starting out as a trainer, too.

I'm probably a little old compared to the average new trainer, but better late than never, yeah? At 16 years old in the Orre region, it's not like I can go out and just catch one. Orre is a barren desert; there were hardly ever any wild Pokémon back in the day, and there's even less now. And anyway, there's still no Pokémon League in the region. Barely any registered trainers reside there in the first place. Despite these setbacks, there is another method. You see, maps of the entire world can be hard to come by, especially in Orre. Generally, one can only buy Town Maps, which only show the region you're currently in. It works well for the average citizen, but for those who wish to travel the world, it's a huge impediment. It used to be easier back in the day when the internet was a common amenity, but unfortunately it got heavily restricted after the Software Wars of the 2050s. Because of that overall terrible decade, a lot of tech went analog. At least smartphones still exist in some capacity, although they're more akin to those old Pokétch watches in terms of processing power.

But I'm getting ahead of myself again. Forgive me if I go off on an unrelated tangent every now and again. My name is Jack, by the way. My last name isn't very important, if you're wondering about that. Which you probably aren't, only further proving my previous statement about it not being important. Does anyone know Red's last name? Does anyone know his rival Blue's last na- oh, wait, I guess he is the grandson of the late professor Oak. Bad example, but do you see what I'm trying to get at? Anyway, my goal is to become a Pokémon trainer. Once again, the Orre region is a terrible place to start out from, but what I was going to say before I got distracted was that I managed to find a world map. The damn things aren't often seen in even top-level universities, but I got ahold of one. Found it in some old military base or something. Don't ask what I was doing out there. Some code-breaking operation by the look of it. I could make out "Cipher" in a few locations, but it didn't look like anything significant happened there. Just kinda…fell apart. Found the map hanging in an executive office of some kind, so I grabbed it and hightailed it out of there. The place was a little creepy, after all. Look, the point of all this map talk was to set up something I've been dying to say since I started this whole tirade. I can finally leave Orre for a region that's actually populated with Pokémon. The current plan is to travel to and start off in the Johto region. It's not my first choice, but it is the region closest to Orre that actually participates in the League. I can't go very much farther without a Pokémon. From what I hear, the locals in League regions can be pretty pushy if you don't have one. The question is just how to get there…

Orre is very isolated from the outside world, you see. Very few visitors come here, and even fewer actually leave. Most regions have some sort of desert, but Orre is mostly desert. Because of that, the infrastructure is…not very good. Which is to say, there are few roads or routes, especially leading out. That doesn't mean there's no contact with the outside world. There's a commercial railroad leading to a midway point between here and Johto. After that, things are going to get a little rough. The station is even more secluded, and the roads are heavily patrolled. I'd need to travel through dense forest until I hit the western edge of Johto, and then travel to all the way to the Pokémon Lab in New Bark. The last part should actually be the easiest, since Johto has a dedicated transit system. It'll just take a little while longer to move between whatever city I hit to the easternmost town in the region. No matter. I'm sure it'll only go terribly. But hey, what better test of mettle than travelling through hundreds of miles of wasteland and wilderness without any assistance, man or animal? If I can do that, then training Pokémon should be easy by comparison!

Ah, who am I kidding. This is gonna go terribly. Won't stop me from trying, though.