What makes the best stand above the rest?
It's simple. We're just born with a talent that'll help us climb the stairs to success. The talent can be anything really… reading the movements of the battlefield exceptionally well, psychic abilities, aura, luck. Some say by being diligent and hardworking you can mimic talent. They're fools. Cheren worked twice as hard as anybody at Liberty*, and still he lost to my brother every single time.
My talent? It's a fucking curse. The best way to describe it is hypersensitive empathy. The moment I meet a pokemon I instantly connect with it. Like I experience everything it senses, it's like I can see its past and tell you what has shaped it to be who it is. Oh, you think that sounds cool? Imagine getting a flamethrower to your face without your skin burning but it still feels like you're being torched. Smelling something half a kilometer away and the smell of everything else around you is amplified… or what about the pain and hatred after seeing your family being slaughtered by another pokemon. Yeah, not so cool anymore.
You wouldn't believe the amount of anger pokemon feel. It's borderline rage. Why else would they willingly train under beings so inferior to them in strength and ability? Yeah yeah, you have good moments with your pokemon, and you feel happy together. Some of them just strive to be stronger just like us humans, but the majority aren't some cute little pewkewekemon who are just here to please our egos by winning battles for us. They're also looking for outlets to release their stress and emotions. We can give them that together with a promise of secured food supply and a safe retreat when they're hurt and vulnerable.
I'm sorry if I'm breaking your sweet little bubble of pokemon fantasy, but this is what I've had to live with my whole life with nobody but one able to understand why I wanted to quit studying and battling. Why I hated constantly being forced to be around pokemon, and why I seemed so ungrateful having my whole fucking life revolve around pokemon. And when I thought I was finally free? Nope, time to go be a fucking pokemon trainer.
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* Liberty: Liberty Private Boarding School.