Fuck your hard mode.
The Pokemon universe is full of prodigies. These are the ones that see and battle legendary Pokemon, take on the elite four, become the champion, and save the world. Their names are written down in history (and the Hall of Fame) and remembered with awe and respect. These are the stories told to children to inspire them to become Pokemon Trainers themselves.
Obviously, not everyone can become a prodigy. Our hero is a relatively experienced Ace Trainer who has traveled multiple regions and has never won a single championship. Hard work and experience just can't seem to stack up against the monsters that top the charts in the League's statistics. He is also nineteen, and pretty much at the end of his prime as a traveling trainer. Because when a twenty year old hasn't accomplished anything as a trainer in all his years of traveling, it's probably time to call it quits and settle down before you lose to any more ten year olds offscreen in the next Conference.
The story follows him trying to find a job, while figuring out where he wants the rest of his life to go. Should he go back to school? Work in a Pokemart? Get a relative to hook him up with a job at a family business? Sure, he has plenty of life experience from all his travels. He knows all about how to not starve to death while scaling mountains, how to get across deserts without dying from dehydration, all those important things. But how is this going to help him get out of NEEThood?
The Midlife Crisis of a Failed Prodigy. We ;_; now.
