Viridian Gym

The Viridian Gym (Japanese: トキワジム Tokiwa Gym) is the official Gym of Viridian City. During the events of Generations, , and , it is based on  and the Gym Leader is Giovanni, the head of Team Rocket. After Team Rocket is disbanded at the end of Generations I, III, and VII, takes over as the Leader during Generations, , and VII; under his direction, the Gym no longer concentrates on any particular type. In Generation VII, Blue takes over the Gym immediately after Giovanni leaves it, rematching the player in his place during the post-game.

Agatha of the Elite Four serves as a temporary Gym Leader in the.

s who earn a win at the Viridian Gym receive the.

In the games
Viridian Gym appears in all games set in the Kanto region. In Generations, , and , when the player first reaches the Gym, it is locked due to the absence of the Gym Leader. With this acknowledged, the player journeys off to other Gyms to challenge them. Once the player has collected the other seven Gym Badges, the Viridian Gym reopens.

In Generations, , and VII, takes over the Gym. In Generation II, the Gym can be challenged as soon as Blue is spoken to on Cinnabar Island. In Generation IV, however, Blue will stay on Cinnabar Island and will not return to his Gym until the player speaks to him after obtaining the other seven Kanto Gym Badges. In Generation VII, Blue can be challenged to a Gym Leader rematch at the Gym during the post-game in place of Giovanni.

Inside the Gym, the floor uses the same transporting tiles as are used in the Team Rocket Hideout. The player must use these tiles to navigate through the Gym to reach the Gym Leader. In Generation II, the Gym is completely remodeled and the tiles are gone; in Generation IV, the tiles are put back up, now covering almost the entire floor of the Gym.

A field based on the Gym also appears in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿's Gym Leader Castle and 's Kanto Gym Leader Castle.




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Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!



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Rematch




Round 1




Round 2




Round 1




Round 2




In the main series
The Viridian Gym was originally led by, as it was in Generation I. The Gym featured, stately pillars, and an old mural. A predominant brownish color scheme was used to represent the Gym's affiliation with the Ground type. Owing to this, there were also guards resembling ancient Roman soldiers posted outside.

The Viridian Gym debuted in The Battle of the Badge. Before could challenge the Gym, however,  appeared, taunting him with his ten Badges and insisting on challenging the Viridian Gym for fun. Gary faced Giovanni, though his confidence quickly eroded after Giovanni brought out, who defeated each of Gary's Pokémon with ease, even when Giovanni allowed him to use more than one Pokémon at a time.

Ash challenged the Gym soon after. However, unbeknownst to him, Giovanni had unmentioned business to attend to, and thus he left the Gym in the care of Jessie, James, and, giving them several Pokémon to use against any possible challengers. At first, Ash had a hard time beating them, as the trio had rigged the Trainer platforms to shock anyone whose Pokémon took damage. Eventually, Ash overcame the borrowed Pokémon's power and defeated all of them, causing Team Rocket to completely ignore the Gym rules and send out their and. Despite this, even the two additional Pokémon were quickly taken down. When started playing with Meowth's remote control, it inadvertently caused the Trainer platforms to explode and send Team Rocket blasting off again. They dropped an in their wake, allowing Ash to get his eighth Badge. Ash,, , Gary, and Gary's cheerleaders then ran out of the Gym, which proceeded to collapse into ruins due to the explosion.

The rebuilt Viridian Gym appeared when Ash returned to Kanto from Hoenn in The Scheme Team, where it was revealed that Agatha of the Elite Four was now the temporary Gym Leader. Ash challenged her to an, but lost. This was also the place where Ash first met Scott, who told him about the. During its second appearance, the Gym sported a new, lighter color scheme.

Giovanni abdicating his position as Gym Leader is similar to the case in the Generation I games; however, in the anime, he is still in charge of Team Rocket, while he also disbands the team in the games.

In Pokémon Origins
The Viridian Gym was featured in File 3: Giovanni. Once arrived in Viridian City in order to challenge the Gym, he encountered, who was revealed to have defeated the newly returned Gym Leader just the day before.

Once Red entered the Gym, he right away noticed the different atmosphere it had compared to the other Gyms he had previously visited. The reason for this was revealed soon enough, as Red then found out that the Gym Leader was none other than the Team Rocket Boss, Giovanni. Red refused to believe that a man who treated Pokémon as tools for business, like Giovanni, could be the strongest Gym Leader of all. Giovanni, however, ignored this, simply stating that he didn't need his acceptance to make it true. As he asked whether Red wanted to battle him or not, Red replied that he was challenging him, but not as a Gym Leader, but as an enemy of all Pokémon. Seeing Red's arrogant attitude, Giovanni put away his usual Gym Leader team and took out two s, containing his strongest Pokémon. The first one was Rhyhorn, which, surprisingly, was able to defeat four of Red's Pokémon, despite two of them ( and ) having a tremendous type advantage over it.

Eventually, Red's was able to tie with the Spikes Pokémon, leaving both Trainers with one Pokémon remaining. Knowing that Red was going to use his, Giovanni revealed his other Pokémon being Rhydon, and said that Red made a mistake by saving Charizard as his last Pokémon. Red, however, told that he had intended it to be so right from the start, wanting to give the whole match a meaning by winning it with his Charizard. At first, Giovanni intended to crush Red's pride along with his Charizard, but when he sent out his starter Pokémon, Giovanni realized that the pose that he had taken and the way he threw his Poké Ball reminded him of his childhood, when he had also battled just for fun and excitement. After a climactic clash between Charizard and Rhydon, which ended with Charizard defeating the Drill Pokémon with, Giovanni was ready to give the Earth Badge as a sign of his defeat, but Red refused to take a Badge from the Boss of Team Rocket. With his childhood passion for battling revitalized, Giovanni told his that Team Rocket was now disbanded, before turning back to Red and presenting the Earth Badge to him as the Viridian Gym Leader instead of as the Boss of Team Rocket.

Once Red left the Gym and headed for the Pokémon League, Giovanni decided that it was time for him to find a new path for himself and, indicating that, much like in the games, he was going to leave the Gym and train on his own.

In Pokémon Generations
Viridian Gym made an appearance in The Chase. While searching for Giovanni, the International Police managed to track his location down to the Viridian Gym. A squadron of International Police officers led by Looker subsequently raided the Gym in order to catch Giovanni, but came to find out that the Gym was empty, although signs of a recent battle were visible on the battlefield.

During a follow-up investigation, the International Police was surprised to discover that Giovanni was the Viridian Gym Leader, and that he had vanished after losing to two Trainers ( and ).

In the Pokémon Adventures manga
The Viridian Gym first appeared in Bulbasaur, Come Home!, where and  entered it while following a Bulbasaur escaped from Professor Oak's Laboratory. At the Gym, they were attacked by a wild, but Red managed to defeat it with Bulbasaur's. Afterwards, Professor Oak let Red keep Bulbasaur.

The Viridian Gym made a brief appearance in Make Way For Magmar!, where citizens of Viridian City were asking questions about the missing Gym Leader.

Red revisited the Gym in Drat That Dratini! after hearing rumors about the missing "invincible" Gym Leader. At the Gym, he met, learning that not only was he the Viridian City Gym Leader, but also the leader of Team Rocket. Giovanni then challenged Red to a battle, making a bet with him that should Red lose, he'd come to serve him as his right-hand man. During the battle, Giovanni's 's caused the Gym to collapse into ruins. Eventually Red emerged victorious with his Pika defeating Giovanni's and knocking the Gym Leader himself unconscious as well.

In Forretress of Solitude, Red participated in Pokémon Association's Gym Leader test for the new Viridian Gym Leader at the reconstructed Viridian Gym. Although he passed the test with flying colors, Red had to turn down the offer, as he had not yet completely recovered from the frostbites he had received after being frozen by Lorelei in the. As such, was appointed as the new Gym Leader instead, after he impressed the Pokémon Association by stopping and  a group of rampaging wild Pokémon.

In Secrets from Sneasel, went to the Viridian Gym, looking for Blue, but only found his hologram, set there in case for a challenger coming while he was not present. An automated system then brought out Blue's Pokémon, which, even without their Trainer giving them commands, easily defeated Yellow's Chuchu in a battle. Soon arrived at the site as well, looking for his roots.

In the Pocket Monsters HGSS Jō's Big Adventure manga
The Viridian Gym appeared in The True Road to Becoming the Strongest!!, where Jō was seen defeating Blue with his and earning his last Kanto Badge. Afterwards, Blue told Jō about who had traveled through Kanto three years earlier.

In the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga
The Viridian Gym appeared in Get The Last Badge!!, where battled  for his final Kanto Gym Badge, eventually emerging victorious.

In the Pokémon Zensho manga
The Viridian Gym appeared in Viridian City, where Satoshi entered the Gym and was surprised to find out that Giovanni was the Gym Leader. First Satoshi used his against Giovanni's, but its  wasn't enough, so Satoshi switched out for his , who was able to beat Rhydon, ending the battle. Satoshi then gave Giovanni the object he had received from Mr. Fuji before coming to Viridian City, which turned out to be the horn of Giovanni's dead. Afterwards, Giovanni gave Satoshi an as a sign of his victory.

In the TCG
The Viridian Gym was featured in the TCG. The following is a list of cards named Viridian City Gym.

Trivia

 * In the anime, Agatha's temporary position as Leader of the Viridian Gym, replacing Giovanni, may be a reference to the games, in which Giovanni quit Team Rocket and his status as Gym Leader after being defeated by.
 * In Generation II, the design of the walls are possibly a reference to Nintendo's discontinued N&B Blocks which are also featured in.
 * In Generation II, it is possible to challenge Blue before beating any other Kanto Gym Leader by talking to him on Cinnabar Island. In, Blue can only be challenged when the player has seven Badges from Kanto.
 * In, the exterior coloring of each Gym is based on the colors most associated with the type that the Gym specializes in. Viridian Gym, however, is both green and blue, possibly referring to its Gym Leader's name.
 * Although the Gym guide in Generations I and seems to be unaware of the Gym Leader's identity until the player defeats Giovanni, in Generation I, the statues near the Gym's entrance still list Giovanni as the Leader of the Gym. This oversight was removed in, where the Gym Leader's name is only visible on the statues once Giovanni has been defeated.
 * The Viridian Gym is the only Gym with non-hidden items that can be picked up from the floor.
 * In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the player can find a bottle message at Ula'ula Beach, which they can deliver to Kainoa at Malie City's Outer Cape. He will tell the player that the message is from a friend of his named Arabella, who works as a Gym Trainer in Kanto. This is a reference to  Arabella, who can be battled at the Viridian Gym in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
 * The Viridian Gym is the only Gym to ever change its Gym Leader mid-game.

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