Cheren

"The one who seeks the right path".
Cheren
Species	Human
Affiliation	Pokémon League
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Blue
Base	Aspertia City
Voiced by	Jason Griffith (2012) Landon McDonald (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Black/White Versions

Cheren is one of the two friendly rival characters who were featured in Pokémon: Black and White Versions. He acted as a more cynical foil to the more optimistic rival, Bianca. The two of them accompanied the player character for most of their Pokémon journey in Unova. He reappears in Pokémon: Black and White Versions 2, set two years later, in which he is the first gym leader of the Unova League who muse be battled.

Background

Cheren lived with his parents at Nuvema Town, and he was friends with Hilbert/Hilda and Bianca since childhood. He was a very intelligent and punctual boy who extensively studied Pokémon. Cheren was also known for his honesty, although he was honest to the point where he often acted blunt or rude to others. He anticipated the day when he would become a Pokémon trainer, as he hoped to become the champion. Cheren felt that only then would he truly feel alive and that it would validate his existence.

Black/White

After their mothers talked with Professor Juniper, it was decided that it was time to give the three children their first Pokémon and send them off on their first Pokémon journey. A gift box containing the three starter Pokémon was sent to Hilbert/Hilda's house. Cheren arrived to get his Pokémon, but they had to wait for the perpetually late Bianca. Hilbert/Hilda got the first choice, after which Bianca then picked for both herself and Cheren. Cheren objected to this, but at the same time he realized that the one she picked for him was the one he wanted anyway. When Hilbert/Hilda and Bianca decided to have a first battle, Cheren tried to point out the logical flaw of fighting in a bedroom. They went ahead regardless, and the room was wrecked by the Pokémon battle. Bianca suggested that Cheren battle Hilbert/Hilda next, since he had enough control to not mess up the house any further. He agreed to this challenge, and whether he won or lost his first battle, the room indeed did not receive any further battle. Cheren still made sure that they apologized to Hilbert/Hilda's mother about the mess and found that she was fine with it. They then went to Professor Juniper's laboratory to receive their Pokédexes, with Cheren guessing some of her topics before she brought them up. They went on to Route 1 for a Pokémon catching lesson. Along the way, they received town maps from Hilbert/Hilda's mom, and Bianca made sure that they took the first step of their journey at the same time. After Professor Juniper demonstrated how to catch Pokémon, Cheren added onto her lesson and then took part in Bianca's suggested contest of seeing who could catch the most Pokémon on Route 1.

They then went to Accumula Town, where Cheren decided to skip out on Professor Juniper's latest lesson, because he already knew about Pokémon Centers. He and Hilbert/Hilda witnessed Ghetsis's rally for Team Plasma's cause. Cheren's beliefs in Pokémon were not shaken by this speech, nor by the ensuing encounter with N, whom he considered to be weird and could barely understand due to his fast talking. Cheren moved on to Striation City so that he could begin to challenge gym leaders and become stronger. At Striation, he spent some time studying in the Pokémon Trainer's School and had another battle with Hilbert/Hilda so that he could test the usage of items. He lost and gave the trainer some berries, along with instructions on how to use them. After earning the Trio Badge by beating either Cilan, Chili or Cress, he moved on to Route 3 and challenged Hilbert/Hilda to another battle after he saw that the trainer had also earned the Trio Badge. He wondered why Hilbert/Hilda kept winning, since they should be equals in strength, but they were soon alerted about Team Plasma having stolen a preschooler's Pokémon. Cheren and Hilbert/Hilda found the thieves in Wellspring Cave, and they wound up teaming up to beat two Plasma Grunts in a double battle. He had confidence in their bond, and they were able to win, after which Cheren continued to question Team Plasma's philosophy. They returned the Pokémon to the preschooler, who was being tended to by Bianca, and after telling Hilbert/Hilda about dark grass, he went ahead to Nacrene City. At Nacrene City, he showed Hilbert/Hilda to the Pokémon Center and gave them some advice regarding berries and the local gym leader, Lenora. Cheren and Bianca both showed up by the museum (which contained Nacrene's gym) just after Team Plasma members had run off with the Dragon Skull that was on display. Lenora had Cheren and Bianca stay behind to watch over the museum. Cheren most likely challenged and defeated Lenora shortly after that ordeal was resolved.

Cheren's next stop was Castelia City, where he defeated Burgh before Hilbert/Hilda. He waited at Route 4 and engaged the trainer in another battle, which he lost. Cheren realized that Hilbert/Hilda's strength came from their bond with their Pokémon and saw that he could still get more out of his own Pokémon. Professor Juniper then contacted them over the Xtransceiver and called them to the gate to Nimbasa City, where she gave them some Ultra Balls and told them about Nimbasa's gym leader, Elesa. Cheren felt grateful to Professor Juniper and decided to express this by returning to Route 4 in search of Pokémon that he had not yet caught. Cheren next encountered Hilbert/Hilda at Route 5 after both of them had earned a Bolt Badge from Elesa, and they battled again while waiting for Elesa to take them to the Driftveil Drawbridge. Cheren was frustrated when he lost again, but Elesa soon arrived to guide them. They were interrupted by Alder, who tried to sidetrack them into a festival, and Cheren was shocked to learn that Alder was the current champion, because of the way he was "goofing off" at a festival. Alder noted his judgmental remark and began to ask Cheren about his goals. Cheren told him that he was motivated only by trying to become the strongest trainer, and Alder politely questioned his philosophy by bringing up the importance of loving Pokémon. He attempted to prove his point by having Hilbert/Hilda and Cheren fight a pair of Preschoolers. The two older trainers won with ease, but the losing children were still content. Alder used this example to enforce the validity of just having fun being with Pokémon as opposed to being intent on the pursuit of strength. Cheren adamantly stuck to his belief that the champion was the strongest of the strong. Elesa brought them to Driftveil Drawbridge and had it lowered so that they could cross over into Driftveil City. Entering Driftveil, their path was blocked by the gym leader, Clay. Some captured Team Plasma members had escaped in the confusion while Clay was lowering the drawbridge, so he held the two young trainers responsible and ordered them to find the escaped members. Cheren was irritated by this at first, but he went along with it because he saw that they would have gone after Team Plasma regardless, even though Cheren thought he could get stronger without fighting them. They found Team Plasma hiding in Cold Storage and fought through the grunts, with each of them taking down half of them. Clay's men arrived to round them up, and Cheren once more criticized Team Plasma's philosophy. Outside Driftveil Gym, they witnessed Ghetsis convincing Clay to release the Team Plasma members into his custody. Cheren was just relieved that they did not have to fight in the middle of the city, and he then set off to do training in preparation for his battle with Clay, which he hoped to make a flawless victory.

He eventually defeated both Clay and Skyla, and he next ran into Hilbert/Hilda outside Twist Mountain. Cheren was defeated again and was met by Alder, who described their battle as a fine one. Cheren was bothered by this description, because he considered himself to have lost due to his weakness. Alder continued to probe Cheren's motives for becoming champion and noted his resemblance to Marshal. He told Cheren that knowing what one wanted to become was important, but also that what one did with the newfound power from becoming champion would be just as important. Alder distributed an HM03: Surf to each of them and left. Cheren was uncertain of the answers to Alder's questions and merely resolved to continue questing for strength for the time being. Cheren proceeded to explore Twist Mountain with Hilbert/Hilda after Clay freely invited them to train within the mountain, while also warning them of Team Plasma's movements being unknown. Cheren eventually confronted a Team Plasma grunt near the mountain's exit and seemed to defeat the enemy just as Hilbert/Hilda arrived. He was concerned about the grunt's mentioning of a new power that the team was acquiring, but he decided to stay at Twist Mountain for a while, in order to think over Alder's worlds regarding what he wanted to do with his power when he got it and why he wanted to be strong to begin with.

Cheren later had a talk with Bianca in which he pondered several questions about whether or not something about him has changed, and if he had really become stronger or if it was just his Pokémon. They met with Hilbert/Hilda outside Icirrus Gym following the trainer's defeat of Brycen, and Bianca tried cheering Cheren up by pointing out that the three of them were reunited. They were then confused by Brycen's sudden shouting, until they saw that he was referring to the Shadow Triad who wear hiding nearby. The Shadow Triad delivered a message from N saying that he was waiting for Hilbert/Hilda at Dragonspiral Tower. Cheren immediately set off for the tower with Brycen to see what was going on there, and they wound up holding off a wave of Team Plasma grunts so that Hilbert/Hilda could proceed upwards unhindered. They arrived at the top of the tower, where they witnessed N flying off on the legendary dragon Pokémon (Zekrom in Black or Reshiram in White). He was flabbergasted by the idea that N could be a legendary hero and by N's challenge for Hilbert/Hilda to find the other legendary dragon. Brycen calmed Cheren down and pointed out that figuring out their next move was more important than analyzing what just happened. The three of them convened with Bianca and Cedric Juniper back by Icirrus City, and they were soon joined by Alder, who warned them about the destructive power of the legendary Pokémon. Cheren started to realize that being able to do something for people or Pokémon in such a time of trouble was strength, and he saw his strength as something that was given to him by his Pokémon. He decided to accompany Alder to the Relic Castle in search of the second dragon's stone.

Despite leaving first, Cheren arrived at the Relic Castle late and commended Hilbert/Hilda for their speedy arrival. He was then able to navigate the Relic Castle and caught up to Hilbert/Hilda just as they had arrived in the room where Alder was confronted Ghetsis. Once the stand-off with Ghetsis ended, the three of them took the conversation outside, where Cheren voiced his anger towards Team Plasma. While Hilbert/Hilda and Alder went to Nacrene City to check out Professor Juniper's last finding, Cheren chose to stay at the Desert Resort and to continue looking for the lost stone. He presumably stopped after receiving word that Hilbert/Hilda had acquired the stone (the Light Stone in Black and Dark Stone in White) from Nacrene Museum. Cheren showed up again with Bianca at Route 10 after hearing from Drayden and Professor Juniper that Hilbert/Hilda was en route to the Pokémon League (presumably after winning his eighth gym badge from Drayden or Iris), where N would be making his move. Cheren decided to battle the Hilbert/Hilda once more just to make sure that the trainer was truly ready. After being defeated, Cheren complimented Hilbert/Hilda and made sure they knew that his words were sincere. He offered to help Hilbert/Hilda in any way that he could. Bianca chastised Cheren for his frequent seriousness and tried to point out how much they had all changed over their journey. Cheren acknowledged this and said that he had come to think that people and Pokémon are there to help each other out. He then left to keep training and becoming stronger so that he could help Hilbert/Hilda and Alder.

Cheren managed to defeat the Elite Four in order to reach the champion's room shortly after Hilbert/Hilda arrived, and N had already beaten Alder. Cheren tended to Alder while N's Castle emerged nearby. Cheren and Alder entered the castle and found Hilbert/Hilda while the trainer was fighting Ghetsis. After Ghetsis was beaten, Cheren considered Ghetsis's ramblings to be a waste of time, and while Ghetsis tried to convince them that he had molded N into a heartless freak, Cheren was only convinced that Ghetsis was the heartless one. Cheren and Alder attempted to escort Ghetsis away, but he was swept away by the Shadow Triad before they could get anywhere. Cheren and Bianca met with Hilbert/Hilda again at Nuvema Town after Looker had talked to the trainer. Bianca apologized for what she perceived as her big failure during the whole crisis, but Cheren rebutted by blaming Ghetsis's escape on his own shortcoming. Cheren was more concerned about Bianca's next move, and after she departed, he decided to restart his journey at Route 1. He looked forward to new discoveries and the possibility of finding the missing Seven Sages of Team Plasma.

Hilbert/Hilda could meet Cheren again at Route 5, where he reflected on his definition of strength had changed over the course of the journey. For this, he thanked the trainer as well as Bianca, Alder and N, and he hoped that N could see this as well someday. Cheren went on to Victory Road to enter a heavily self-reflective training. Once Hilbert/Hilda met Cheren there, he mentioned how difficult it was to confront the unflattering parts of one's self. A confrontation with Marshal followed in which he he assured Cheren that even if he lost a battle, it would not matter as long as he continued to surpass himself. Cheren asked if he was using Alder's words, and Marshal admitted that he was borrowing them. Regardless, Marshal encouraged Cheren to become stronger and challenge him, as he wanted more confident challengers. After losing another battle to them, Cheren thanked Hilbert/Hilda and said that he saw what was missing in himself. He decided to continue battling many trainers and Pokémon like this until he learned what kind of person he was, so that he could open up his own path that he was sure would lead him to become the person he was meant to be. Cheren proceeded to reflect on the role that Pokémon played as their important friends. He could be challenged to occasional rematches afterwards.

Black/White 2

Over the next two years, Cheren became a teacher at the Trainers' School in Aspertia City, and as the game began he had just recently been appointed the gym leader of the new gym which was attached to the Trainers' School at that city. As a gym leader, he took on a specialty in Normal-type Pokémon, which he found to be a challenge compared to working with his normal team. Even though it was in a different city, he was replacing Lenora and became the keeper of the Basic Badge, which had originally been her gym's badge. Cheren also underwent an image change, as he no longer wore glasses.

In Black 2/White 2, Nate/Rosa was his first challenger as a gym leader. He enjoyed the battle, and once he was defeated, he gave them the Basic Badge as well as TM 83: Work Out. Cheren then stepped out of the gym just in time to be reunited with Bianca and also was able to say hello to Professor Juniper over an Xtransceiver call. He then accepted Hugh as his second challenger. Afterwards, Cheren made several more appearances throughout the games. He showed up at Route 20 to teach Nate/Rosa and Hugh about dark grass and gave them some Pecha Berries.

Clay then called him over to Driftveil City and convinced him to take part in the Pokémon World Tournament's Driftveil Tournament, by telling him that he had to show everyone what Pokémon battling meant, in the absence of Hilbert/Hilda. In the tournament, he could end up battling Nate/Rosa and Hugh again, and he was impressed by their progress. Afterwards, he helped to investigate the Plasma Frigate and teamed up with Nate/Rosa in a Multi Battle against several Team Plasma grunts. They confronted Zinzolin, one of the Seven Sages of Team Plasma, but they were soon ejected from the ship by the Shadow Triad, and Cheren was left concerned about Team Plasma's new plans. He went ahead to Route 6 and started to compare mysterious temporary temperature drops that had occurred recently in several parts of Unova. He decided to investigate this and also gave Nate/Rose HM03: Surf. Cheren later traveled to Opelucid City after Team Plasma's attack there and found part of the answer to the mystery, as Team Plasma had frozen over the town.

Cheren deduced that the team was hiding by Humilau City, as that was currently the area with the lowest temperature in the region. He asked Nate/Rose and Hugh to go there as well, and they ended up at Route 21. There, they found that Team Plasma was heading for the Giant Chasm and using the power of the third legendary dragon Pokémon, Kyurem. He did not know how to stop Kyurem without one of the other legendary dragon Pokémon, and he felt that the only solution would be to locate Hilbert/Hilda or N. N did ultimately appear, and although that played into Ghetsis's plan, Nate/Rose was ultimately able to defeat Team Plasma once and for all, and Kyurem was freed from their control.

After Nate/Rosa won the defeated the Elite Four and their champion, they could find Cheren at Pinwheel Forest, where they worked together in investigating the presence of some of Team Plasma's remnants in the forest, and they ended up confronting Gorm. Cheren thanked Nate/Rosa for their help by giving them an Up-Grade. During their investigation, Cheren could also tell Nate/Rose that they reminded him of his old friend (in reference to Hilbert/Hilda), and he also talked about how his ideal still was to be strong, but he had come to realize that there were different kinds of strength in the world. Cheren and Bianca also met with the trainer at the Giant Chasm after that trainer successfully defeated or caught Kyurem.

Cheren also took part in other divisions of the Pokémon World Tournament. It was possible to face him in the Driftveil, Unova Leaders, World Leaders and Type Expert visions. When using the Memory Link feature, Cheren could also be battled at Route 5, using his old Pokémon roster. After being defeated, he would reminisce about the past and talked about his realization that N had changed for the better. He also knew that Hilbert/Hilda would be happy to learn about this.

Pokémon Roster

Black/White

• Snivy/Servine/Serperior, Tepig/Pignite/Emboar or Oshawott/Dewott/Samurott - In traditional rival fashion, Cheren's starter Pokémon will be the Pokémon with a type advantage over the starter that the player had already chosen. His Pokémon undergoes its first evolution prior to the Route 4 battle and its final evolution by the Route 10 battle.
• Purrloin/Liepard - Purrloin is first used during the Striaton City battle. It is evolved by the Route 4 battle.
• Pidove/Tranquill/Unfezant - Cheren first uses Pidove during the Route 4 battle. It evolves into Tranquill by the Route 5 battle and into Unfezant by the Twist Mountain battle. He has the male version.
• Pansage/Simisage, Pansear/Simisear or Panpour/Simipour - Out of the three elemental monkeys, Cheren will receive one of a type that is weak against his starter and is the same type as the monkey that the player Pokémon can receive. Cheren's monkey is first used during the Route 4 battle and evolves by the Twist Mountain battle.
• Gigalith - Cheren uses this Pokémon only during the final battle and rematches at Victory Road.
• Haxorus - Cheren uses this Pokémon only during the final battle and rematches at Victory Road, rounding out his six-Pokémon team.

Black/White 2

For gym battles, Cheren uses a Patrat and a Lillipup. In Challenge Mode, he also uses a Pidove. For the first Driftveil Tournament battle as well as for tag battles, his team consists of Stoutland, Cinccino and Watchog.

For further World Tournament battles, his roster can include some or all of the following Pokémon:

• Stoutland
• Zangoose (Driftveil/Unova Leaders)
• Cinccino (two in Driftveil, one in all others)
• Watchog (two in Driftveil)
• Lopunny (Unova Leaders)
• Lickilicky (World Leaders/Type Expert)
• Porygon-Z (World Leaders/Type Expert)
• Castform (all except Driftveil)
• Bouffalant (all except Driftveil)

For the Memory Link battle with Cheren, he uses his final roster from Black/White, depending on the starter Pokémon that the player had chosen in the linked Black/White game.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Cheren (with his design from Black 2/White 2) and his Stoutland appeared as a playable sync pair that could be recruited by Chapter 19 of the Main Story's PML Arc. In that chapter, it was shown that Cheren and Hilbert (who was depicted in the role of protagonist) had been working together as a team for the Pokémon Masters League tournament, and they recruited Hilda (who was known as a trainer who went on a similar journey, and who faced Cheren in the past) to round out their team. The player then had to battle them in the tournament. After their team was defeated by Scottie/Bettie, Hilbert and Hilda helped Cheren to acknowledge that he wanted to join Scottie/Bettie's team, in order to witness that trainer's growth firsthand. Thus, Cheren ended up being recruited into the team. Cheren was later featured in the third Interlude chapter (between Chapters 21 and 22), where he spied on Lear and learned that he had been using a Hoopa that had fallen into the hands of Team Break. He also learned more about Lear's motivations and hinted that Lear's obsession with power reminded him of himself when he was young. In later Interlude chapters, Cheren was enlisted by Sawyer and Rachel to help Lear connect with his inner kindness and to become a better king. After Lear was kidnapped by Team Break, Cheren worked with Sawyer and Rachel as well as Cynthia in a rescue effort. While Lear was able to escape by himself, they still had to go through with the mission in order to save his companion Hoopa. Cheren told Lear that he considered them to have become battle comrades, and he admitted that part of the reason that he had tried so hard to help him was because Lear reminded Cheren of the way he used to be, and he wanted to pay forward the good others had done for him. Cheren would later appear in several Interlude chapters of the Villain Arc, in which he made attempts to provide guidance to Paulo.

He has also appeared in several story events. In the "Revel in Rivalry" Story Event, he provided Hugh with advice about dealing with Bede, which was to be supportive and try to meet him in the middle. In the "We Should Battle!" Story Event, Cheren saw Nemona for the first time, and her excitement for battle reminded her of others he knew. When she was looking for a third trainer for her team, Cheren introduced her to Hilda, as he felt that they were similar when it came to Pokémon battling. After it was decided that a tournament would be held to commemorate Nemona's arrival on Pasio, Cheren and Hilbert decided to join in as well. The two of them teamed up with Lear, and they were defeated by Nemona, Hilda and Bede. Cheren also acted as an opponent in Hilbert and Hilda's Sync Pair Stories in which he had to be beaten in a one-on-one battle for their respective Pokémon (Dewott and Pignite) to undergo their final evolutions.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Cheren has been featured as a supporting character for the Black/White arc. Cheren and Bianca were shown in flashback to be childhood friends of Black who were driven to become Pokémon trainers by Black and his overwhelming ambition, and the two of them also had to vouch for Black so that Professor Juniper would appoint him the third Pokédex holder. Although Cheren and Bianca both received their own Pokédexes, they both stopped working after Black accidentally dropped them in water. His starter Pokémon in this version is Snivy (a departure from the games in that it has a disadvantage against Black's Pokémon), since Bianca said that it resembled him. The three traveled together until Striation City and went down separate paths after White gave them their own Xtransceivers. He made several other appearances in the arc and eventually competed in the Pokémon World Tournament, where he battled Black and was shown to have become cold towards his Pokémon in pursuit of strength because of ideas influenced by Team Plasma. Black defeated him, and the two seemed to reconcile in their dreams after passing out. He returned in the Black 2/White 2 arc, where he was shown as a teacher two years later. Throughout this arc, he and others work on investigating and battling Team Plasma. Although he had not yet become a gym leader yet in this version, Brycen does suggest that he take up an open gym leader position at some point.
• Cheren was featured in an episode of the Pokémon anime, based solely on his BW2 appearance. He was shown to be a recently appointed gym leader as well as a teacher, and they worked together to gather Pokémon after Ash's Pikachu accidentally scattered them. He had an unofficial battle with Ash and defeated him.
• In the fourth episode of the Pokémon Evolutions anime miniseries, Cheren made a cameo appearance where he was seen standing next to Hilda while Ghetsis was making one of his speeches. His face was never shown in this appearance.

Trivia

• HIs name is taken from the Bulgarian word for "black". This is complemented by Bianca's name, which means "white" in reference to the version colors.
• His catchphrase is "What a bother."
• Cheren notably makes sure to heal the player's Pokémon before most battles.
• Cheren has stopped wearing glasses in the sequels. According to the National Gymquirer, he stopped wearing them in order to focus on Pokémon battles, but he was speculated to miss his glasses due to occasionally being seen using his fingers to symbolize glasses over his face.
• In Black 2/White 2, it is possible to ride the ferris wheel at Nimbasa City with him on Saturdays. Though he feels uncertain about the ride's appeal, he does manage to enjoy it to an extent.
• When calling him on the Xtransciever in Black 2/White 2, he can explain any type of Ability to the player.
• Cheren is thus far the only gym leader to give out a badge that had been previously associated with a different gym.