Chapter Text
Kei Shinyo stood in front of the Unova Trainer’s School in Aspertia City. Being only eight years old, the grand entrance of the building was slightly daunting. He figured, though, that if he wanted to get a Pokémon when he turned ten, he would need to start learning. He walked through the entrance, albeit with slight hesitance, and saw a boy with black hair and thin, black-rimmed glasses.
“Um…” Kei started to say. The boy with the glasses turned around and looked down to meet his eyes. Kei continued, “My name is Kei. Can I learn about raising Pokémon here?”
After hearing this, the boy’s face became a soft smile at the sight of such an eager young boy. “Of course. This is the Trainer’s School, after all. My name is Cheren. I’m the teacher here, as well as Aspertia’s gym leader.”
Kei was elated! Everyone in Unova knew who Cheren was, and he had watched several people challenge him before, but he never thought he would get to meet a Gym Leader of the Unova Pokémon League at such a young age. In a very excited tone, he asked, “Can you teach me how to take care of Pokémon? I want to be a Gym Leader when I grow up!”
Cheren looked Kei up and down. He didn’t seem like too much yet, but he thought that given a few years, he could easily become a very strong trainer… possibly stronger than his childhood friends Touko and Touya. “Tell you what,” he said. “Classes start tomorrow. If you get your parents’ permission, the doors open at 8:00 am sharp.”
Kei looked down at the floor with trepidation, then looked up to meet Cheren’s gaze. “Are you sure?” he asked. “I’m only eight, and I know that kids normally don’t get a Pokémon until they’re ten…” he started to trail off.
Cheren was slightly taken aback. Kids usually didn’t start coming to the school until they were nine or ten. This wasn’t the first time he had ever had someone this young try to enroll, but it wasn’t frequent. The material was a bit hard to understand for younger kids, which is why the school tried to wait until kids were closer to the age they could receive a starter Pokémon from Professor Juniper. However, he could tell that Kei had the kind of determination he had had when he started his journey ten years ago.
He sighed a little bit, and then looked at Kei. He knew what he had to say: “I’m sorry, but you’ll either have to study on your own or wait another year. You’re just… too young right now.” Cheren felt a twinge of guilt at turning the young boy down, but he knew that it was the right thing to do for now.
Kei looked down at the ground with tears forming at the edge of his eyes. “Okay. I understand what you mean.” However, Cheren noted that as Kei looked back at him, rather than having the eyes of someone whose dreams had been crushed, they had a renewed fire. “The next time you see me,” he said, “I’ll be ready!” He then ran off towards his house, with renewed hope. Cheren watched as he ran off and found himself waiting for the day that Kei would be ready to start his journey toward becoming a gym leader.