A Traveler's Guide to the World of Pokémon/Pokémon Gym

240px|right|thumb|A screenshot from Pokémon LeafGreen, showing the player in Blaine's Gym on Cinnabar Island Pokémon Gyms are buildings situated throughout the Pokémon world, where Pokémon Trainers can train or compete to qualify for Pokémon League competitions. Although the internal organizations of Pokémon Gyms may vary, all specialize in one certain type of Pokémon, and all are manned by a Gym Leader, a formidable Trainer that acts as a boss. To qualify for a regional Pokémon League competition, one must defeat at least eight of the region's Gym Leaders in League-sanctioned battles. In the video games, a region only has eight Gyms, although the anime asserts the existence of others (such as Gary Oak having acquired 10 badges, but had not defeated the Viridian City Gym Leader). When an official Gym Leader is defeated, the challenger wins a badge, which serves as proof of a Trainer's skill and is a key part of advancing the plot. It is said that Pokémon tend to respect Trainers with more badges, and are more likely to follow the advice from their Trainers. As the name indicates, a Pokémon Gym maintains basic operations that allow Pokémon Trainers to train their Pokémon. Some Gym Leaders may employ other Trainers to be officials in their battles in return for food, lodgings, free use of the Gym facilities, or the promise of a future battle. In the anime, the Gym Leader and all of their employees are also responsible for the maintenance of the battlefield used in official Gym Battles. As it is conceivable that anyone can start their own Gym, the Pokémon League maintains minimum maintenance standards, and how they (among other factors) must be met to receive official League sanctioning. In Pokémon Chronicles, several Gyms lost their official sanctioning, and were said to have closed down. Some other facilities, while similar in organization to a Gym, are not sanctioned by the Pokémon League, and do not consider themselves as Gyms. It is implied in the anime series that each city may have only one official Gym, and that when one Gym gains official status, all other Gyms are forced to close. This is also true in the games, at least in the case of Saffron City's Fighting Dojo. Becoming a Leader Some Gyms, such as the Cinnabar Island Gym, are sole proprietorships, while others, such as the Pewter City and Lavaridge Town Gyms are family-run businesses. Others rely on a secondary business affiliation to run — in the anime, for example, the Rustboro City Gym is partnered with a Pokémon training school, while the Celadon City Gym also runs a greenhouse. Most notoriously, the Viridian City Gym was run by Team Rocket as a legitimate front for their underground operations. It is unclear how one becomes a Gym Leader, although one must be a Trainer of sufficient ability. In some regions, one must take a League-sponsored examination in order to become eligible to open an official Gym, while in others (most notoriously the family-owned Gyms) the position is passed from one generation to another. Most notably, in the manga, Norman opened his own official Hoenn Gym after failing to become an official Gym Leader in Johto; while in the anime, Forrest inherited the title of Gym Leader from older brother Brock. Notwithstanding the type of Gym and any other auxiliary partnerships, most Gym Leaders have a name similar to the type of Pokémon specialized in. For example, Rock-type Gym Leader Brock's name is similar to the word rock, as well as Roxanne and Roark, other Rock-type Gym Leaders, while Bugsy's name includes the word bug, a reflection of his own Pokémon. The same goes with Gardenia, the grass-type Gym Leader in Eterna City. Additionally, Misty (the water-type Gym leader in Cerulean city in Kanto) has the word mist in her name. Gym Battles In order to earn a badge at a Gym, the challenger must win a Gym Battle against the Gym Leader. In the video games, the eight Gym Leaders act as bosses, in the sense that they are one of the main impediments to the progression of the storyline. Although it is sometimes necessary to defeat a Gym's lesser Trainers before advancing to the Leader, some may be avoided. In the anime, each Gym has its own rules for its official battles, which the challenger must accept. In many cases, they are slightly tilted in favor of the challenger, with many Gyms adopting the rule that only the challenger may switch out their Pokémon. The Battle itself may be held at any place the Gym Leader deems appropriate. If the challenger loses in a Gym Battle, they have the right to challenge the Gym Leader again, although the Gym Leader may have certain restrictions for granting a rematch. In the anime, some Trainers have established their own 'unofficial' gyms. These Gyms are not illegal and Trainers may come and battle the Leaders, but these Leaders are not recognized by the Pokemon League and Trainers do not receive badges for winning. Pokémon Gym Badges Trainers must defeat the eight Gym Leaders of a region in order to win the eight badges required to challenge that region's Elite Four. Gym badges in the anime There are some inconsistencies dealing with Gym badges in the anime when compared with the video games: Gary Oak is shown to have at least ten badges excluding the Earth and Marsh Badge (it was not shown on his case), suggesting there are at least twelve Gyms in Kanto. Before Ash competes in the Indigo League, a Trainer named Otoshi is shown in the episode "Bad to the Bone"; he owns eight badges, but only shares four in common with Ash; later in the episode we see another Trainer with eight other completely different badges all together. In total, Ash, Gary, Otoshi and another Trainer display 27 different types of badges, so there must be at least this number of Gyms in Kanto at the time. During Ash's Johto League challenge, he is given what is referred to in the show as the "Silver Wing Badge"; however, this is not an official Gym badge and is not recognized in the games as a badge at all, but rather an item (partnered with the "Rainbow Wing"). At the Hoenn Pokémon League Championship, Morrison is shown to have an eighth badge different from Ash's, suggesting that there are at least nine Gyms in Hoenn. Given the number of Trainers that participate in the anime League tournaments (several hundred), it is reasonable to conclude that there are many more Gyms in any given region than those visited by Ash, as it is unlikely that the same eight Gym Leaders would be beaten several hundred times each. It should also be noted that in the video games it is stated that you need eight badges, but does not say that there are only eight gyms.