Pokemon Trainer of the Strawhats

One Piece x BNHA part 18

"In the course of my adventures, I competed in the League by obtaining Gym Badges." Yukiko said as she showed the Badges. "It is an item that serves as proof of a Pokémon Trainer's victory in a battle against a Gym Leader.

Trainers need to collect a certain number of Gym Badges in order to qualify for a region's Pokémon League. Young Trainers usually begin their initial Pokémon journey by traveling from city to city in order to collect them. Badges are small enough to fit easily between one's thumb and index finger and can be pinned to a shirt or kept in a Badge case like this. They are made of a special material that is considered very expensive, making them priceless." She said.

"After the gym challenges, those that won all 8 badges can apply for the Pokemon League. The gym challenges are just preparation for the real battles for the Leagues. There are ten known regional Leagues under the Pokémon League: the Indigo League in Kanto, the Orange League in the Orange Archipelago, the Johto League in Johto, the Hoenn League in Hoenn, the Sinnoh League in Sinnoh, the Unova League in Unova, the Kalos League in Kalos, the Alola League in Alola, the Galar League in Galar and the Paldean League in Paldea.

The general structure of most Pokémon Leagues is simple:

The tournament competition itself has an opening and closing ceremony. In some regions, a torch with the flame of Moltres or Ho-Oh burns for the duration of the tournament, a reference to the Olympic Games.

The day after the ceremonial torch has been lit, in some of the regional Leagues, the qualifying rounds begin so as to weed out Trainers who have gotten the required eight Badges but are not yet skilled enough to continue, and those who survive move on to the preliminary rounds. In other regional Leagues, the preliminary rounds will begin immediately and will continue for several days until the top sixteen Trainers have been decided. At this point, there is a short break in the competition so that the Trainers and their Pokémon may rest, followed by the start of the final rounds.

In the final sixteen rounds, most, if not all, battles are usually Full Battles. All battles are conducted in the main stadium, and Trainers move up the tournament tree in a single-elimination style. The winning contestant matchups are shuffled between rounds, as opposed to using traditional ladder seeding. Upon defeating their opponent, the final winning Trainer is awarded a trophy and earns the right to enter the Champion League to officially challenge the Elite Four and Champion of that region.

The Elite Four and the Champion themselves are considered the cream of the crop of their respective region. Before we go on, are there any questions?" Yukiko asked.

 "I do! You mentioned coordinators. Are they different from trainers?" Ochacho asked.

"To a degree, yes. A Pokemon Coordinator is like a person who enters their Pokemon in contests. They are like a beauty pageant for Pokemon, but only Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh host them.  The competition is organized by the Pokémon Activities Committee and allows Coordinators to show how skilled their Pokémon can be. Winners are presented with a Ribbon.

A Pokémon Contest is divided into two parts. In the first round, called the Performance Stage, Coordinators have their Pokémon performing their moves in order to showcase their style and skill. The appeals are awarded points by a panel of judges, usually formed by Mr. Contesta from the organizing committee, Mr. Sukizo from the Pokémon Fan Club, and Nurse Joy from the local Pokémon Center. The Coordinators with the highest scores proceed to the next round. The number of Coordinators that advance to the second round varies. The second round is the Battle Stage, in which Coordinators compete in Pokémon battles while continuing to show off their Pokémon's style and skill. Each battle lasts five minutes and the object of the battle is to decrease the opponent's points. Coordinators lose points when their Pokémon are hit by an attack, when their Pokémon's attack fails, when the opponent's Pokémon performs a particularly appealing move, or when the opponent's Pokémon uses their Pokémon's attack to its own advantage. A battle can also end when one of the Pokémon is unable to battle, called Battle Off by the judges. In this case, the Coordinator with the remaining Pokémon is declared the winner.