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How do you become a Gym Leader.

Kabudoom

Member
Now I know that this can't be an original topic since this is a Pokemon forum and most fans think the same (when it comes to history repeating itself). So here's my question:

Other than inheritance (like Koga's daughter, Brock's brother, and Misty), how does one become a Gym Leader? Do you just have to be a trainer with money (to buy a building)? Do you have to go through a Gym Leader test?

Now your theories can be from the manga, anime, or how you think it would truely be like in the real world. What do you think?

I personally think that a trainer must build his/her gym from the ground up in a new town. And only when the construction is done, and they've recruited Gym trainers/students, an Elite Four representative will visit your Gym to see if it passes all the tests (maybe even have an official battle) and see if it qualifies. However, if there are more than one gym in the same town, the gym leaders of all the gyms must decide amung themselves (vocally or battling) how to resolve this (like Saffron City or that town in the Anime that had the Scyther and Electabuzz gyms).

I was going to ask how do you become an Elite Four member, but it may seem obvious that you must be a great Gym Leader to reach up there (Koga). If not that, then there must be other ways to reach that point.
 
On the inheritance list, you forgot Asuna.

As for how you become a gym leader:

It's a childrens TV show. Do we need to go this deep into it?
 

CyberCubed

Yeah, ok!
We know how. Start your own "unofficial" Gym and hope the creepy Nurse Joy in an undercover trenchcoat comes to your Gym for inspection and makes it "official."

There have been a lot of "unofficial" Gyms in the show, like the one in "Just Add Water."
 

RedJirachi

Veteran member
It may be either in the family,or after acheiving something great
 

loonatic

Smart and sneaky
maybe a person like Scott (creator of the Battle Frontier) goes around scouting out elite, eligible pokemon trainers and assigns them a gym!

this is a good topic! i never thought about this before!
 

tinfoil

Well-Known Member
Or you start it to prove your skill form what you learned from some school by becoming the top student, like Roxanne.
 

Rashdan

[Insert Wacky Title]
CyberCubed is right, that's how it was done in Showdown in Dark City, and those two gyms were rejected.

Another possibility is that you have to take a sort of test, and if you pass it, you are eligible to run your own gym, and it becomes official once you pass the inspection.
 

XyronTheFalcon

I'm Back? YAY!
No actually....In the manga...u take this sort of aptitude test and if you pass there is this battle by the Pokemon Association and if you win the battle within the time limit...I guess you are then allowed to take control of the gym.

Reference:pokemon Special Volume 9 Last 2-3 chapters
 

hmmm

Scuffle of Legends
i dont know , but i dont see why there are gymleaders, if there are pokemon trainers WAY WAY WAY stronger than them like 2 towns after.
but yah, i gues sonly for HMs
 

Kabudoom

Member
Of course this question has been with me for quite awhile, but it struck me even more when I read a trainer's speech after defeating him in battle in Sevault Canyon (Island #7). He said "Training by oneself is certainly not a bad thing. But it's also not bad to aim for the top with a partner. Even BRUNO... He trained with a fellow by the name of BRAWLY before."

As we know, Brawly was a student of Chuck's. Is it possible that Bruno was a student of Chuck's aswell? So this let me thinking "Maybe Bruno used to be the Gym Leader of Dewford Town, and when he became part of the Elite Four, he had his friend Brawly take over". Of course this is just speculation, but it makes the game more fun that way (like meeting Koga's daughter Janine near the Chansey cage of Fushia City. They're just speculation/possible Easter Eggs). It could be coincidence that Brawly and Bruno meet on the road (training) or in Chuck's Dojo (heck, wasn't that trainer in the episode "A Tyrogue Full of Trouble" say he too was a student of Chuck?).

Edit: I just realized/remembered something while looking through serebii.net's Gold/Silver Walkthrough section: Gary became the Gym Leader of Viridian City. He was a trainer (and was once Pokemon Master for a very short while), I wonder if that is another way to become a Gym Leader: Becoming a Pokemon Master.
 
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Polursine

Leave my posts alone
You'd have to go through some sort of trial with the Supreme Pokemon Council, and if you succeed, they assign you to a list of leaders that made it too. Once eight are assembled, badges are designed by the leaders. Then, their ideas are sent to the SPC and they make them.

Tada! (It's fake, just my speculation in case no one knows)
 

Francesc

Natsu no Maboroshi
I think if you're are a excellent trainer, and townspeople like you, you can build a gym. (Crazy idea)
 

Neko Godot

Hey! Listen!
I remember that AJ kid who had an unofficial gym, he abused his Pokemon.

And it's pretty weird that the gym closest to your hometown is the one with the weakest Pokemon.
 

syvarris

Fuhrer
who said KOga was a good trainer i like the beat the elite four idea but then how did brock become so weak(and the bird guy in gol/silver) oh well
 
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