The gym leaders of the Hoenn region. Tropes shared with two or more gym leaders:
- Ascended Extra: Instead of being important NPC characters, every gym leader here is a villager from the games.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Several gym leaders' appearances fit their type speciality. Coco's based on haniwa clay, Frobert wears athletic clothes, Static has a thunderbolt pattern on his fur, Phoebe's based on a phoenix, Butch looks like a regular dog, Celia dresses in dark blue fatigues, and Klaus has a Greek/Roman aesthetic (fitting his hometown of Sootopolis City and Water-types).
- Foil: Celia and Phoebe. Both are female birds who became the newest gym leaders to their cities, but have several differences: Phoebe is incredibly anxious by her position, while Celia is more confident in her abilities. Both previous gym leaders (Kenneth and Leopold) were replaced for different reasons (the former for resigning after a scandal, the other for being murdered). Their successors also contrast each other (Phoebe was chosen due to being the oldest child, Celia for being the only trainer to wield Mega Evolution).
- Theme Naming: For their Pokémon:
- Foreign names and pop culture for Coco
- Pokémon Journeys minor characters for Frobert
- Electrical terms for Static
- Pepper variants for Phoebe
- Movie references for Butch
- Cloud variants for Celia
- Signature Mon: Just like their canon counterparts, each Gym Leader has one mon associated with them:
- Coco: A Nosepass named Outlandos
- Frobert: A Hariyama named Hoji
- Static: A Magneton/ later Magnezone named Gauss
- Phoebe: A Torkoal named Meg
- Butch: A Zangoose named Zaitochi
- Celia: A Pinsir named Nimbus
- Chrissy and Francine: A Gardevoir and Gallade, respectively
- Vague Age: While all gym leaders seen so far are adults, none of their ages are confirmed. It's assumed Coco, Frobert and Phoebe are on the younger end i.e. college-aged, while Static and Butch are seen as 'older' i.e in their thirties at minimum. Klaus is old enough to have a niece whose presumably an adult, putting him in the middle-aged range. Butch is old enough to have a kindergarten-aged daughter. Celia is an adult as well, and close in age to both Frank and Apollo.
Current Gym Leaders
Coco Haniwa
- Boyish Short Hair: Downplayed. She has short hair and is a studious bookworm, but she also regularly wears a school uniform.
- Custom Uniform: She wears a school uniform with a gyroid pattern sewn on the hem.
- Dishing Out Dirt: She specializes in Rock-types.
- Graceful Loser: She has nothing but respect for Holly for beating her, and even defends her from her angry fans.
- Joshikousei: She regularly wears a school uniform (despite being in university) and is a native Hoennian.
- Law of Disproportionate Response: Coco doesn't have the best reaction skills. Losing a gym battle is no problem to her since it's part of her job, but having someone throw a can at her challenger? That's when she snaps and breaks into a rant against the citizens of Rustboro.
- Meaningful Name: Her last name references the clay dolls her appearance is based on
. - The Mistress: She and Don have an intimate relationship despite his marriage, and he gifts her with a Pokémon as part of the affair.
- School Uniforms are the New Black: Coco, a university student, is always seen wearing her high school uniform whether she's working as a gym leader or not.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: Her Geodude is named Giorno, her Nosepass is Outlandos and her Anorith is named Tsutsuji.
- Two Guys and a Girl: For the Rustboro Gym, she's the One Girl to Clay and Tucker's Two Guys.
Frobert Grenounille
- Bare-Fisted Monk: He specializes in Fighting-types.
- Hidden Depths: Is an athletic gym leader, yet follows the fashion scene enough to know who Gracie is.
- Out of Focus: Compared to most gym leaders, Frobert doesn't get much focus. He's the only gym leader who doesn't play a role outside of his hometown's arc.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: All three of his Pokémon (Keira the Meditite, Bea the Machop and Hoji the Hariyama) are named after Pokémon Journeys minor characters..
- Species Surname: A bilingual variant. Grenounille is French for frog.
- Surfer Dude: Wears a wetsuit all the time, and says "dude", "bro", and "gnarly" as part of his vocabulary.
- Walking Swimsuit Scene: He's always depicted wearing a wetsuit with Gracie-print swim trunks over it.
Static Cumulus
- Animal Facial Hair: He has a shaggy beard on his chin, fitting his gruff engineer nature.
- Battle Strip: When he's the last trainer left against the wild Electivire, he takes his jacket off and rolls his jumpsuit down, revealing a black tank top.
- The Bus Came Back: Static returns in a later chapter for A Day in the Limelight, focusing on his efforts to fix the power outage in Mauville City.
- Extra-ore-dinary: Uses the steel-type Magneton as his ace.
- Interspecies Romance: He's a squirrel that's happily married to a tiger.
- Product Placement: In-universe. His varsity jacket has several patches representing local Mauville City businesses.
- Shock and Awe: Uses electric types (an Electrike, a Pikachu, a Voltorb a Magneton who later evolves into Magnezone and an Electivire)
- The Smurfette Principle: Tesla, his Electivire, is his only female Pokémon.
- Took a Level in Badass: Static is initially written as an exhausted snappy gym leader, but he and his Pokémon get tougher and willingly challenge a dangerous Pokémon to a battle.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: He's a short squirrel who's married to Bangle, a much taller tiger.
- Theme Naming: An electrical engineer who names all his Pokémon after electrical/lightning terms.
Phoebe Crossfire
- AM/FM Characterization: Phoebe, a college-aged woman, is a fan of energetic hard rock music like the Maximizers.
- Daddy's Girl: Kenneth appointed her as the newest gym leader, and he's very supportive of her. He even comforts her after she loses her first official Gym match.
- Establishing Character Moment: Her first scene in the series establishes her closeness to the locals as much more nervous than the average Gym leader.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's an attractive college-aged woman who wears a crop top and short shorts. The protagonists are seen blushing when she walks into the restaurant.
- Naïve Newcomer: She only became the gym leader because her dad got caught peeping in the hot springs. She admits to a friend that she's anxious about the position. Heavily deconstructed since she ends up losing hard in battle due to her inexperience, and gets booed for losing her first time.
- Playing with Fire: She specializes in Fire-types.
- Statuesque Stunner: She's so tall her ponytail brushes against the doorframe, and the main trio find her attractive.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: At first, she's dreading the idea of becoming a Gym Leader. She gets anxious after failing her first gym battle, but feels much better after her father comforts her and tells her he loves her.
Butch Reid
- Action Dad: A powerful gym leader and a caring dad at the same time.
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: He's the only gym leader that Holly lost to, but later has a proper rematch.
- Confusion Fu: His Pokémon know more moves than Normal-type, including Dig, Poison Jab, Low Kick, Ice Punch, and Shock Wave.
- Foil: To Mornay Sussex. Both are strong Pokémon trainers who lived in Unova, but while Mornay doesn't see his teenage son or his other children anymore, Butch is actively involved in his young daughter's life.
- Good Parents: He's a dedicated gym leader but makes sure to spend time with his daughter Dolly.
- Happily Married: He and Serena (the white chihuahua from City Folk) are in a good marriage, and Butch regularly gets her her favorite mochi.
- Interspecies Friendship: A dog whose friends with Mornay (a chicken).
- Mirror Character: To Holly. Both of them are Unovan immigrants who nickname their Pokémon after pop culture.
- Musical Theme Naming: His last name comes from the Reid twins while his daughter is named Dolly.
- Non-Elemental: He uses Normal-types.
- Pop-Cultured Badass: All his Pokémon are named after movie references, and he's a competent gym leader who curbstomps all of Holly's Pokémon without breaking a sweat.
- Token Minority: While the gym leaders are already diverse in both species and names, Butch is the only one confirmed to be from another region (Unova).
- Worthy Opponent: Butch considers Holly one of the best trainers he's challenged.
Celia Carlisle
- Alliterative Name: Both her first and last name start with C.
- Ambiguously Gay: She's not particularly close to any male characters, while her closest friend is a chicken named Becky who wears violets (a sapphic symbol). Her half-brothers Apollo and Frank are gay, implying Hereditary Homosexuality through the Hawkwinds.
- Confusion Fu: Instead of just specializing in Flying-types, she also utilizes weather as a battle strategy and takes advantage of her Pokémon's other typings. Her Pelipper even knows Ice Beam to deter other Flying-types.
- Musical Theme Naming: Her last name is Carlisle.
- Shared Family Quirks: Celia has several traits of the Hawkwinds. She's a white eagle (like Apollo) who wears blue clothing and uses Flying-types (like Frank). Holly even notes the similarities during her gym battle. It's later revealed that she's their half-sister, being the illegitimate child of Don Hawkwind and Gloria.
- Small Parent, Huge Child: She's an eagle (one of the largest Animal Crossing villager species), while her mother Gloria is a tiny duck. This is because she inherited her species from her father, Don Hawkwind.
- Transformation Trinket: Her key art shows a Key Stone on her fatigues, confirming that she can Mega Evolve her ace. Chapter 40 reveals that she's the only Fortree City resident to wield Mega Evolution.
- Weather Manipulation: She trained several Pokémon to specialize in one weather type i.e. Tropius for harsh sunlight, Skarmory for sandstorms, and Pelipper for heavy rain.
Chrissy and Francine Diamandis
Francine
Chrissy
The twin sister Gym Leaders of Mossdeep City.- Idol Singer: Both the sisters used to perform as idol singers, performing for crowds and writing songs for a lost movie. They quit after an actress killed herself and the industry dismissed concerns by introducing two new singers.
- It Was a Gift: Chrissy and Francine treasure the Gardevoir and Gallade they were gifted, as the Pokémon were given by Totakeke after they quit the idol industry in favor of becoming Gym Leaders. Apollo gifted them both Key Stones that they use in battle.
- Related Differently in the Adaptation: Downplayed. Both are sisters canonically, but here they're twins.
- Stage Mom: Their mother forced them into the idol industry due to having several aunts working as singers.
- Teen Idol: They started performing at 14, reached #1 at 18 and retired afterwards to work as Gym Leaders instead.
Klaus Arkadios
- The Ace: He's the strongest gym leader in Hoenn, and a competent coordinator at the same time.
- Cool Uncle: He and his niece Bluebear are always supportive of each other.
- Good Is Not Soft: He's a polite coordinator and gym leader, but is brutally honest. He calls out both Kidd and Raymond for their poor sportsmanship.
- Magical Accessory: He wears a Greek-style leaf crown with his Key Stone embedded in the crest.
- Making a Splash: He uses Water-types, including a Luvdisc named Cupid.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: He's the only Gym Leader to do Pokémon Contests as well. It's mentioned offhand that he has two Pokémon teams: one for contests and one for gym battles.
Former Gym Leaders
Kenneth Crossfire
Phoebe's father, and the former Lavaridge Town Gym Leader. Like his daughter, he uses Fire types.- Expy: He's based on an older version of Kenny McCormick. He wears sunglasses that hide his eyes, is associated with fire/the phoenix and has a kind heart underneath his perverted side.
- Foil: To Butch. While both are older men who care about their daughters, Kenneth is a bird and retired gym leader, while Butch is a mammal and an active gym leader.
- Original Character: He's not based on an existing Animal Crossing character.
- Parents as People: He's a good father to his daughter Phoebe, but has his flaws (namely spying on women in the onsen).
- The Peeping Tom: He got caught peeping in the ladies' side of the hot spring, which leads to him resigning from the Pokémon League.
- Signature Mon: As a gym leader, his ace was an Arcanine named Kimchi.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His role leads to two major events in the story's timeline: Apollo becoming the champion and Phoebe becoming the newest Gym Leader.
Leopold Basurto
The former Fortree City gym leader.- Death by Adaptation: Team Cottage brutally murdered him when invading Fortree City.
- Green Thumb: His League badge was the Bouquet Badge and he specialized in Grass-types.
- The Lost Lenore: Gender-inverted. Deirdre, an ex-Team Cottage grunt and his girlfriend, is still traumatized by his death.
- Off with His Head!: Team Cottage decapitated him when he refused to give them the town's Pokémon.
- Posthumous Character: He was murdered by Team Cottage before the story began, and the residents of Fortree City are still reeling from his loss.
- Signature Mon: His ace Pokémon was a female Roserade named Kaguya.
