The Viridian Gym (Japanese: トキワジム Tokiwa Gym) is the official Gym of Viridian City. During the events of Generations I and III, it is based on Ground-type Pokémon and the Gym Leader is Giovanni, the head of Team Rocket. After Team Rocket is disbanded at the end of Generations I and III, Blue takes over as the Leader during Generations II and IV; under his direction, the Gym no longer concentrates on any particular type.
Agatha of the Elite Four serves as a temporary Gym Leader in the anime.
Trainers who earn a win at the Viridian Gym receive the Earth Badge.
In the games
Viridian City
Pokémon Gym
Viridian City
Pokémon Gym
Leader: ...
The rest of the
text is illegible...
Viridian City Pokémon Gym
Leader: ...
Viridian City Pokémon Gym
Leader: ...
The rest of the text is illegible...
Viridian Gym appears in all games set in the Kanto region. In Generations I and III, 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 II and IV, Blue 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.
Inside the Gym, the floor uses the same transporting tiles as are used in the 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 Pokémon Stadium's Gym Leader Castle and Stadium 2's Kanto Gym Leader Castle.
Appearance
Trainers
Core series
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Tamer Cole
アキラ Akira
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Tamer Jason
ヒロ Hiro
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Side series
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 1
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Round 2
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Items
In the anime
The Viridian Gym in its debut
The Viridian Gym battlefield in its debut
In the main series
The Viridian Gym was led by Giovanni, as it was in Generation I. The Gym features Roman architecture, stately pillars, and an old mural depicting the proud tradition of this most prestigious Gym. The predominant brownish color suggests the Gym's affiliation with the Ground-type.
The Viridian Gym first made an appearance in The Battle of the Badge. Before Ash could challenge him however, Gary Oak appeared, taunting him with ten Badges, and insisting on challenging the Viridian Gym for fun. Gary faced Giovanni, though his confidence was quickly eroded after Giovanni brought out Mewtwo, who defeated each of Gary's Pokémon, even when Giovanni allowed him to use more than one Pokémon at a time against Mewtwo.
Ash Ketchum challenged the Gym soon after, but after Gary and his Pokémon had recovered. However, as the Team Rocket boss had unmentioned business to attend to, he left the Gym in the care of none other than Jessie, James, and Meowth. Giovanni also left them with several Pokémon that they could use against any challengers. Ash had a hard time beating them initially as the new Gym Leaders had rigged the Gym to shock anyone whose Pokémon took damage. Eventually, Ash overcame the borrowed Pokémon's power and defeated all of them, causing Team Rocket to rely on their usual duo of Arbok and Weezing. Ash quickly dispatched the two, shocking the trio due to the Gym's rigging. They blasted off, dropping an Earth Badge in their daze. Ash caught it, but he, Gary, Gary's cheerleaders, Brock, and Misty had to escape the Gym quickly, as it was collapsing.
The Gym appeared again (presumably rebuilt) when Ash returned to Kanto from Hoenn in The Scheme Team, where Agatha was now the temporary Gym Leader. Ash challenged her to an exhibition match, but lost.
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 in the games he disbands the team.
The Viridian Gym in Pokémon Origins
The Viridian Gym battlefield in Pokémon Origins
In Pokémon Origins
The Viridian Gym was featured in the Pokémon Origins episode File 3 - Giovanni. Once Red arrived in Viridian City in order to challenge the Gym, he encountered Blue, 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 Ultra Balls, containing his strongest Pokémon. The first one was Rhyhorn, which, surprisingly, was able to defeat four of Red's Pokémon, despite some of them having a tremendous type advantage over it.
Eventually, Red's Hitmonlee was able to tie with the Spikes Pokémon, leaving both Trainers with one Pokémon remaining. Knowing that Red was going to use his Charizard, 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 Seismic Toss, 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 minions 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 his Pokémon, indicating that, much like in the games, he was going to leave the Gym and train on his own.
In the manga
The Viridian Gym is first visited in Bulbasaur, Come Home! in the Red, Green & Blue arc where Red and Professor Oak enters following a Bulbasaur. In this occasion the Gym is abandoned with only a Machoke and a Giovanni statue present.
The Viridian Gym made a brief appearance in at the end of A Hollow Victreebel and at the beginning of Make Way For Magmar in the Red, Green & Blue chapter where citizens were asking about Giovanni.
The Gym is visited again after Red's incident with Mewtwo. During this time, Giovanni is present and ready to fight. However, as the battle progresses, the Gym collapses due to Nidoking's Earthquake.
Even later, Red's Gym Leader test is held in the Gym. Even though he wins, Red declines the position as he was struggling throughout the battle. Currently, Blue is the Viridian Gym's Leader.
In the FireRed & LeafGreen arc, Yellow and Silver go to the Viridian Gym to seek Silver's past. At the same time, Giovanni and the Three Beasts are on their way to the Gym also, trying to reunite Silver with Giovanni. This succeeds when Sird lets Yellow use her power, thus exhausting her.
Pokémon
These Pokémon had escaped from Professor Oak's Laboratory and were found in the Gym:
In the TCG
The Viridian Gym was featured in the TCG. The following is a list of cards named Viridian City Gym.
Trivia
- Agatha's temporary position as Leader of the Viridian Gym when Ash returns to Kanto may be an anime reference to the fact that Giovanni quit Team Rocket and his status as Gym Leader after being defeated by Red. What this possibly means for Gary Oak, whose game counterpart Blue eventually assumed the title of leader in Generation II, is disputed.
- In all generations where this Gym is accessible, at least one Trainer inside the building owns a Rhydon.
- In fact, both of this Gym's Leaders have always had a member of the Rhyhorn evolutionary line in all of their Gym parties; the only time the Gym Leader does not own a Rhydon is in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, in which Giovanni owns two Rhyhorn.
- In Generation II, it is possible to challenge Blue before beating any other Kanto Gym Leader by talking to him on Cinnabar Island. In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Blue can only be challenged when the player has seven Badges from Kanto.
- In HeartGold and SoulSilver, 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, likely referring to its Gym Leader's name.
- In HeartGold and SoulSilver, two male Ace Trainers in this Gym are named Arabella and Bonita, both being typically feminine names.
