Leon now spends his weekends commentating minor league battles, where he famously yells, “THAT’S A BAD STRATEGY BUT I LOVE THE ENERGY” into a live microphone. Not all retirements are peaceful. Former Hoenn Champion Steven Stone admits he struggles with identity loss.
“I was ‘Steven Stone, Champion’ for eight years. Now I’m just ‘Steven Stone, rock collector.’ The silence after a title defense is deafening.” Pokemon Retired Champion
“I was a terrible Champion,” Alder admits, laughing over a plate of Casteliacones. “I was grieving. I let my partner die of an illness because I was too arrogant to see the symptoms. The title was a cage.” Leon now spends his weekends commentating minor league
Red’s post-champion life is a nomadic pilgrimage. He battles only when a true prodigy finds him. He believes that the title of “Champion” actually weakens a trainer. “You get soft. You have a throne. A throne is just a chair. A mountain peak has no chair.” “I was ‘Steven Stone, Champion’ for eight years
“Champions remember their wins. Great trainers remember their losses. I show students the tape of my first defeat to Sonia. Humility is a stat you can’t IV train.”