Unoriginality 1: An Original Trainer Story

A Different Starting Point

"You lost again, huh?"

Eric opened his eyes . He'd been half-asleep, dozing on one of the pink couches at the pokecenter. He saw Alex's face and groaned, closing his eyes again. "What do you want?"

"Your pokemon are getting crushed! You're a wreck, and you're spending all your time either moping around here or else running back to that gym."

"So?"

"So the League tournaments start in a month, idiot! If you don't have your eighth badge by then, you're not going to be competing."

"I'll get it," he said flatly.

"Here? No one's gotten the Earth Badge in ages, not since that new pokemon showed up. You're the only one stubborn and stupid enough to keep trying. You're obsessed, Eric, do you understand? There are plenty of other gyms-"

"I said I'll get it." Eric pushed himself off the couch and walked past her without a glance. "My pokemon are probably healed by now."

Where does it go now? I don't know. Maybe Eric, skulking (or sulking) around the gym, sees some rockets and starts to investigate. Or maybe Eric gets lucky somehow and manages to beat Mewtwo, leading to...well, who knows? Or maybe Alex gets involved with something weird and sucks Eric in. Or anything else you want. Eric, age something in the teens, in possession of seven badges and high-level pokemon, can handle whatever you want to throw at him, and as a bonus, doesn't require some frantic canon rape to explain his age or pokemon's ability.

See? You can start a story about older trainers with powerful pokemon without ignoring canon. In fact, it's really easy.