The Pokédex - Extended Fanon Edition

You can update your articles whenever. Obviously you'll need to tell people if you want feedback.

Best to contact the author of an article you didn't write if you have anything to add.

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?

Mr Animeface, there is a difference between using our best knowledge of science to explain canonical information and straight-up bsing. There is NO parent connection between the Rangers and the league and there's no evidence that the Pokemon League is anything other than a sporting event organization and any action to the otherwise was complety League Indpendent (Lance never acts as a League member when he bails you out in Johto, just as himself. The Pokemon League is shown as nothing more than the Sport Federation for Pokemon Training and the Rangers are like a park service. The Dex is like The Britannica, simple.

Closet DCLAU fan.

^ But part of this 'Dex project has been coming up with fluff related to the societal aspects of the Poke-world as well. What's so wrong about seeking to elaborate on a system of sporting leagues and a Park Service?

Let's play a game about Pokémon...

@Chronix: I'm not entirely sure I like you. Fine whatever strike my entry, see what I care, I was having fun.

TVTropes Nuzlocke Thread. - Arceus Help Us All.

He was simply criticizing your entry.

You got some dirt on you. Here's some more!

He generally seems ornery in general, and calling someone "Mr. Anime Face" does not seem like a particularly calm or reasoned way to make them listen to your opinion.

TVTropes Nuzlocke Thread. - Arceus Help Us All.

Guys, guys, let's all be happy around here. Now, everyone think of your favourite member of the Nido evolutive line. Picture it in your head for 5 s.

 

 

Now... What were we talking about? Yeah... the League. Although I'm sure at no point in the games canon is the League presented as more than just a sports association, I seem to recall that Lance in the anime was acting in Hoenn under advise or direction of the "G-men" to stop Magma/Aqua. Also in the manga, the Elite Four of Hoenn comes explicitly to stop the weather beasts, but I am unsure as whether they were directed by the Association to do it. All that I recall was that Wallace was talked to by an important member of the organization right before that.

One thing to consider is that it is very unlikely that high ranking League trainers (say, the E4) are just ultraskilled sportsmen or something like Rich Boy With No Day Job. They need to be doing something else. And because of their very nature (they are the best of the best in their region), with some of the social systems we have very loosely explored in some entries, it would only make sense that they are contracted part-time or something to provide "superhero-like" community service. Asfter all, we do know that some Gym Leaders are either employed or do specific community service beyond the gates of the Gym (to name a few, Jasmine in Johto, Wallace in Hoenn).

Bottom line, I'm not sure that the League is just a (set of) sports association. Due to the "nature" of the sport, it would force them to spread and handle too much stuff. Sports and conference league has to be kinda the frontend, whereas the backbone of it would essentially be profiling and refreshening of social resources, both on the human side and the Pokémon one.

Anyway, the forum says this, I think I've not managed to live up to it:

Fanfic Recs orwellianretcon'd: cutlocked for committee or for Google?

Canon-wise, no it does not fit.

I kind of constructed that from whole cloth really. The ranger thing was a stretch anyway.

It still needs to explained why there is so much undeveloped land between towns.

TVTropes Nuzlocke Thread. - Arceus Help Us All.

I agree with the League certainly being more than just a sports organization. After all, they're the best at what they do (raising/training/commanding strong pokemon) in a world where pokemon are used for just about everything. It'd just be silly if they did nothing but rest on their laurels waiting for he next challenger.

Besides, if they're just a sports organization, then where's all the league merchandise? Could you imaging an "I love Wallace!" giant foam hand?

edited 22nd Nov '10 7:20:02 PM by Blissey1

XP granted for befriending a giant magical spider!

... yes. Yes I can.

We've seen at least one Gym with cheerleaders in the anime.

I'd suspect that if the League isn't an actual governmental department, the distinction is nonetheless blurry at times. I suppose a Gym and its more experienced members would serve as a sort of town militia, and have a working relationship with the local police.

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?

They're practically that in Black and White.

edited 22nd Nov '10 10:34:38 PM by Marioguy128

You got some dirt on you. Here's some more!

Here's my guess as to how Gym Leaders work.

Gym Leaders act as the Pokémon League representatives of the city where they're located. New Gym Leaders can only apply after an existing city's position is vacated and they have to have two prerequisites:

• They must be recommended by an existing Gym Leader, Elite Four member, or the Champion. Unfortunately, this has given rise to nepotism, as a retiring Gym Leader like Byron, Koga, and presumably Maylene's father can simply recommend their child.
• They have to defeat everyone else vying for the role.

The reason their pokémon are scaled in level from first to eighth is that if they used their actual best team then it would discourage the entire generation of trainers and it would become less of a commoner's sport, which is something the League desperately wants to avoid–after all, even people like Red can harbor hidden talents. Type specialties are based on the town the Gym Leader represents as a form of city pride.

Of course, one doesn't have to grow up in the representative town to become a Gym Leader. A good example would be Byron, who used to be the Oreburgh Gym Leader until he decided he liked Steel-types more and moved away, leaving the position to Roark.

Gym Leaders generally live in or near their gyms because of the 24-hour schedules of most Trainers, but can declare a vacation or sabbatical (in Brock's case), leaving an unofficial substitute in their place. When the League contacts them concerning a crime of especial heinousness, they are forced to comply, but that happens very rarely.

edited 22nd Nov '10 10:50:00 PM by Magus

The Elite Four

Purpose

Despite often catering to the new and upcoming Trainers, the Pokémon League also concentrates on the cutting edge of training, from learning new techniques to the intricacies of item and EV distribution. The Elite Four is the League's way of creating a semicompetitive research area for new discoveries to be made about Pokémon combat and tactics.

Note that the Elite Four are separate from the Champion: While the Champion generally wanders around, the Elite Four are required to stay in their facility most of the year.

The original and now lesser purpose of the Elite Four is to test a prospective Champion before they can face the current one; these occasions occur rarely, often only once every few months.

Functions / Duties

The Elite Four often conducts their research in places far from the beaten path. This is for two reasons: First, certain attacks (such as Hyper Beam, Focus Blast, and the like) are so powerful in the hands of these trainers that they have to be done where there's no risk of harm to others. (TRAINER'S NOTE: This is also why you need eight badges; they need to make sure you have a team that can withstand this sort of thing.) Second, uninhabited places are often host to stronger Pokémon; the headquarters are located on the other side of a gauntlet of these, always dubbed Victory Road by the Pokémon League.

Rest, lodging, and excellent training facilities are provided for challengers, but once the test begins, the trainer cannot rest himself nor his Pokémon until he has failed or won. A large amount of environments can be simulated in the battle chambers, and the Elite Four member usually chooses the one they're most comfortable in during a Champion match.

Video cameras are placed to the sides of every arena. This is normally used only for League research purposes, but Champion battles will be televised publicly.

Non-Unova Elite Four are actually at slightly different pay grades; this refers to each member's relative strength and is affected by their win/loss ratio, reset every year. This was implemented so that battles would actually put something on the line, giving the members motivation beyond sheer curiosity or fighting spirit. New members can only apply when a pre-existing Elite Four member retires, and only by invitation. These invitations go out to the cream of the region's crop, typically Gym Leaders, Frontier Brains, and past Champion challengers.

The Unova league is slightly different from the Johto-Kanto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh leagues; this is because it was originally founded as an academic salon to discuss theory, rather than a fighting league. The members can be challenged in any order and are considered at the same relative strength. The recruitment process works in roughly the same fashion.

Programs

• The League publishes a small journal monthly, detailing the new advancements in moves and tactics made in the facility. Some of the Elite Four members aren't the best at describing these matches in scientific fashion (e.g. Bruno), so these tasks are often left to the scientists who usually work "behind the scenes".

edited 27th Nov '10 9:15:39 PM by Magus

I think were implying Correlation predicates causation. Now if you have a Pokémon related disaster, who do you get? The best trainer. And if you need a pro-sports star who do you get? The best trainer. Lance was acting as a member of the G-men not the league.  ^*

Is it too hard to assume that the League is a pro-sports association filled up mostly with superheroes? (It'd make sense, with all the training their mons get they must be pretty hardcore.) And I'm sorry Locker, I didn't men to offend I just forgot your name and since I was typing that on a cellphone there was no way to go back and check without deleting my message. [Embarrassed] So far I think we can synthesize three fields

• The League:  ^*
  ^{The Contests seem to be a branch-off league}
  The Tourney agencies and the Pokecenters and Marts
• The "Heroes." :The guys who show up and save shit at the end of the various franchises
• The Nerds: The Professors and Dex project users who are in it for the research

We know from the Almia games that the middle has at least some government connection and it seems that a lot of techs and infrastructure of the league comes from various Profs. (The boxes, healers, teleporters...) So it seems to me that we have three separate, but related and overlapping institutions.

EDIT: Bulbapedia seems to back me up on this one.

EDIT EDIT: The Pokemon Association Seems to be the "Hero" class which bankrolls the League most likely through Government Grants. The PA would probably be a coralarry to the IRL Ministry of Japan.

edited 22nd Nov '10 11:10:15 PM by Chronix

Closet DCLAU fan.

The existing article implies that they typically use the Gym Pokémon in badge battles, to ensure Trainers get an appropriate challenge no matter what order they challenge Gyms in. (There are probably more than 8 per most regions, anyways.)

The League itself may be focused on regulating the conduct of battles and organizing tournaments, but I'd say Gyms grew out of a deeper tradition, and are expected to play many roles in the community.

Pokémon Centers are tough to classify there. Clearly socialized medicine, but also heavily integrated into both the League structure and research community.

I imagine there's enough overlap that the distinction between the groups is mainly academic... but what do you know, we're being academic here.

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?

The League was probably a Federalization of several local Pokemon battle customs into one manageable group; akin to the formation of the NFL, NBA and MLB. Now a question is, is it one (Inter)national League with various branches or several unrelated branches that share a similar function?

I'd also like to note that the Centers are Pokemon-only which questions whether the League or the Association operate them.

edited 23rd Nov '10 12:14:39 AM by Chronix

Closet DCLAU fan.

^^That seems pretty good. I do have some things to add about your article, though:

• Why does the Trainer have to pass through the gym's gauntlet before challenging the Leader?
• How does one become a Junior Trainer?

Elite Four article's up. I might start a personal biography for some of the more interesting Gym Leaders and Elite Four who haven't been given a lot of exposition.

No it isn't.

Closet DCLAU fan.

What isn't?

The e4 article aint up.

Closet DCLAU fan.

I just posted it. Look above.

Hmm. A little sparse and off-format.

Perhaps you should discuss how exactly they fit into the League Hierarchy?

Closet DCLAU fan.

All right. It's a bit late tonight so I'll throw it up when I can.

Sorry to double-post, but I formatted my entry and made it meatier. Would there be any other programs offered by the Elite Four?