#and i cant remember a lot from smusum
Building off of and pulling some things from this post bygreenix, which talks about the Pokemon Leagues, how they function, and how they reacted to Aspects in their Twin Dragons AU.
General Information
A region’s Pokemon League consists of the network of gyms said region has and the Elite Four headed by a Champion. The League functions as a sort of government. In all levels of the hierarchy of power, the people who take up important positions are heavily vetted by their peers and higher-ups in an attempt to prevent corruption. This has become even more important in the last few decades due to several situations where someone managed to slip through the cracks despite having dark intentions. (EX: Giovanni being a Gym Leader and a teacher in Almia’s school being a higher up in the evil team that cropped up there.)
Champions are the ones that tend to handle most of the region-wide problems like evil teams or natural disasters (though Rangers are brought in to help with the latter). They and their Elite Four also handle politics and relations with other regions, as well as vetting Gym Leader applicants. Champions are the main leaders for a region, with the Elite Four acting as both support and a system to overrule the Champion if at all needed. The Elite Four also takes over the Champion’s duties in the event they’re unavailable or the position is empty for whatever reason.
Gym leaders function similar to mayors and handle problems in and around their respective towns. Unless a professor lives in the area, they handle giving out starter Pokemon (if a child doesn’t already have one given by their family) and starting children on their journeys.
There are also the Battle Facility Heads, who are technically counted as part of the League. While Battle Facilities are mostly their own entities and not involved in the affairs of the League, the Heads are sometimes called in to assist in times of crisis.
Finally, there’s the Regional Police. The police handle most day-to-day law and order for their regions
In general, the hierarchy of power goes:
Champion > Elite Four > Gym Leader > Battle Facility Heads / Regional Police
The International Police are a separate, mostly neutral entity similar to the Rangers. The Interpol’s main headquarters is located on an island off the coast of one of the regions, but they have smaller headquarters scattered around the regions. While they’re mainly dedicated to dealing with various villainous organizations around the world, they also have departments that specialize in various types of crises. One unit, for example, is dedicated to situations involving Legendary Pokemon and the strange phenomena that follow them. This unit has contacts within the Rangers, and the two frequently collaborate in times of emergency.
Alola’s government structure is somewhat different from most other regions. The Kahuna function similarly to both Gym Leaders and members of the Elite Four. Each Kahuna has jurisdiction over their particular area, but also deal with the region as a whole with the input of the others in a sort of council. There isn’t really an equivilant to the Champion position for Alola, though Prof. Kukui gives input on things as an equal to the Kahuna’s. Despite them introducing the Elite Four and Champion titles to the region, the Kahunas still hold most of the power, though do take input from the new Elite Four members.
Galar’s system also functions similar to Alola, where the Gym Leaders are equals to the Champion due to the lack of an Elite Four and form a sort of council to deal with region-wide issues.
The Leagues & Age
While young trainers are able to challenge the Leagues and even attempt to become a part of them, there are many rules surrounding minors and League positions.
While technically able to gain titles like Gym Leader, Elite Four Member, and Champion, those under 18 aren’t eligible to fully take over those positions. Instead, they hold the title and are able to battle challengers, but the actual responsibilities are handled by the previous title holder. Said previous holder- or someone who has experience as that title or one similar- acts as their mentor until they reach the age of majority, and keeps in close contact with them for at least two more years to make sure they can handle things on their own. The mentor will slowly allow their mentee to take on responsibilities a little bit at a time, having them tag along when their handling their duties or sending them to handle smaller situations.
This goes especially for Elite Four Members and Champions. In the case that the previous acting Champion or Elite Four can’t train the one taking over their position and there’s not someone in the region with the experience needed to do so, special arrangements are made with neighboring regions to provide experience, support, and training. Thankfully this hasn’t happened often, but there isprecedent.
The Leagues & Aspects
The stance on Aspects holding League Titles varies from region to region, after the knowledge of Aspects became known to them.
Kanto holds some distrust for Aspects, and they aren’t allowed to hold the Elite Four or Champion titles even though they can challenge them. However, they can become Gym Leaders. Overall Kanto’s League as a whole views Aspects with some wariness and sees them more as something to turn to in cases of emergency. Red’s status as Articuno’s Aspect made some have second-thoughts about their kneejerk reaction of wariness and distrust, though he stepped down as Champion not long after he gained the title and went AWOL for a while.
Johto is more accepting and lenient of Aspects due to how integral Ho-oh and Lugia are to their society and culture, but they’re put on a pedestal somewhat and still viewed more as those to turn to in an emergency. As Johto and Kanto share an Elite Four, the rules about them and the Champion are the same, though the idea of Aspects becoming Gym Leaders is met with more acceptance.
Hoenn is very accepting of Aspects due to Wallace and Steven, trusted and well-liked trainers, becoming Aspects after they were established. They’re allowed to take on any League title if they qualify for it. Hoenn’s League definitely sees them more as people than just Legendaries playing as human. Due to this, Hoenn has a high concentration of Aspects, which can sometimes cause problems (EX: Archie and Maxie), but also makes Hoenn a hub for passing on information to various Legendaries.
Sinnoh is very similar to Hoenn, though with a bit more reverence and great level of respect like Johto due to the region’s view on their Legendaries. However, Dawn, Lucas, and Barry help make those who aren’t sure about the revelation of Aspects see that they’re people. Their help with Team Galactic as well as their general natures made those still somewhat wary warm up to the idea of Aspects soon enough. Flint, Heatran’s Aspect, also helped with things due to his position as a respected and well-liked member of the Elite Four.
Unova is somewhere between Hoenn and Kanto. However, the fact that the Aspects for the Twin Dragons and Kyurem are the children of a well-known, respected figure and are trustworthy in their own right swayed the League towards a trial run. Iris was allowed to begin training to work alongside Alder after the events of Black and White, but after seeing her dedication and getting to know her better- along with starting to better understand Aspects through their interactions- Alder eventually announced that she’d be allowed to fully take over as Champion once she turned 18 if she still desired to by that time (and she didn’t have the title taken from her).
Kalos is somewhat like Hoenn with how comfortable and open they are about their Aspects, though of course they’re still respected as whole. There was a period of contention when Lysandre’s plot was discovered and subsequently thwarted, but Prof. Sycamore helped to smooth things over and took on responsibiltiy for rehabilitating Yveltal after removing them from the toxic feedback loop they and Lysandre made.
Alola is the most open and accepting of the regions, as their Kahunas are known to be taken as temporary Aspects- though the word wasn’t common knowledge- in times of crisis and have a deep connection to their Tapus. Aspects are treated well and protected by both those in power and most of the every day people, and are highly respected. The Alolan League finds the idea of Aspects joining holding titles normal due to the Kahunas, and it was never really debated on whether or not to allow them to do so.
Galar is, by the nature of the region and the issue with Eternatus, pretty open about Aspects and accepting of them as well. Raihan and Leon are public and respected figures, and Sonia is gaining recognition as well, which made accepting the knowledge a bit easier. Considering the ties Eternatus has to an essential part of the region’s League Challenges and the land overall, there was also very little debate about whether to allow Aspects to take on League titles.
