Sensei or Senseless?

July 4, 2017December 12, 2024 Cathy

Hellllloooooo loyal readers! It’s time for something new!! We’re going to be calling this kind of article People, Places and Pokemon! It’s a short format read where we’ll have a little gossip about notable figures in the world of Pokemon! It’s just a quickie for the first release I’m afraid because, frankly, there’s not too much to cover on this one. He’s pretty much a blip in the history of the Pokémon League.

Kenja no sensei. The Sage Teacher. At least that’s how he refers to himself. Sensei Chimon is an old hermit and former Champion who lives deep in the heart of Vermillion Forest. Word on the ‘net is that he’s some kind of ancient martial arts master turned Pokémon battler turned hermit but don’t believe everything you ever read on the internet folks. A little sleuthing and some time at the Vermillion library have led me to discover two things:
One: The ancient old man from a forgotten era routine is just an affectation
Two: His real name is actually Chimon, he’s from Ecruteak in Johto and he’s about 70. Gross.

And that’s about it, I tried to watch some of his old interviews and battles on ‘Chutube but the 240p and crackly audio was, frankly, too much to bear. Long story short: This man came up and out of nowhere around ten year ago, swept the Indigo League like it was nothing, walked into the Indigo Plateau on a Sunday afternoon and was Champion by Monday morning. And then, just like that, was retired and walking off into the sunset by Monday evening. No interviews, no speech, no appointed successor. Just in and then out. I’d say it was some kind of marketing scam but nobody ever seems to have heard of this guy so if it was then it failed miserably.

Anyway he now runs some kind of guru, self-help, Kung-Fu cult out in the forests of Vermillion. If you’re up by Route 11 and wander off the beaten path and come across an old log cabin then steer clear, you’re probably about to be charged a lot of money for some kind of spiritual awakening that amounts to buyng overpriced bottles of spring water, some weighted wristbands that contain traces of heavy metals and some phony master of the mystic arts moves to ‘harness your chi’ or ‘focus your chakras’ or something.

If you need any further proof that it’s a scam then look no further than the door to the Vermillion Gym, so recently overtaken by those protein powered punks, where you’ll see Chimon’s very marketable logo inscribed onto the door of the once reputable Gym. It’s been said that Argento trained under Chimon once upon a time which leads one to wonder exactly what Chimon teaches these trainers because I don’t think Argento has ever sat behind a school desk in his life.

The man’s got quite the racket going on, I must say, I’m impressed. Rumours persist of him being able to teach Pokémon some nifty tricks but nobody ever seems to seen this first hand nor have their Pokémon learned any of these moves because outside of Argento and a handful of others Chimon hasn’t taken on a single student in the last decade.

Perhaps there’s more to the story, perhaps not. Chimon has refused all attempts at contact with me and other journalists, Kessler remains steadfast in his avoidance of an interview with a real journalist who isn’t on the Pokémon League payroll and the other students of Chimon (including Helena and Braxton of the Saffron City Gym) refuse to speak on their sensei and his actions.

I’ll let my readers be the judge of this one; sensei or scam artist? Until next time!