When the alarm went off Forrest shot out of bed; he was so excited. Today was the day that he would go before the Pokémon League board to hand in his application to start an official Pokémon League Gym. He had applied twice before but felt more confident this time because he had an excellent résumé. Having beaten all the gym leaders in two different regions and beaten one and a half elite fours it was clear to Forrest that this would be his best chance to be accepted. He went downstairs to give a pep-talk to his "team", his Pokémon. A lover of grass type Pokémon Forrest had assembled a strong team of the type. His favorite Pokémon was Bulbasaur and at the age of seven he had started a Bulbasaur fan club, the motto being "Pokémon number 1 is number 1". Forrest has since evolved his first Bulbasaur to a Venusaur, the "captain" of the rest of the Pokémon.
The remainder of the group includes a Leafeon, originally an Eevee, Forrest's first Pokémon that was given to him by his uncle, Jim. Jim Greene runs an Eevee ranch, he breeds Eevees and evolves them into all of the different forms for people who have difficulty doing it themselves (either they cannot get their hands on evolution stones or cannot time an Eevee's evolution properly). A Tropius, Lombre and Bayleef finish out the group. Forrest spoke to them all about how they were going to "wow" the board today; the process of becoming a gym leader involves not only filling out the application, providing a résumé describing your history and achievements as a trainer, being interviewed by the board and then, finally, having the board inspect your Pokémon to judge your ability. Forrest, in his previous attempts to apply, never had a problem with ability as a trainer. The first time he applied he had really messed up the interview and then the second time it was just a matter of not having a strong enough résumé, but this time he was ready. Forrest returned all of his Pokémon to their poké-balls and then asked Tropius to fly to the Pokémon League headquarters where Forrest called him back into the poké-ball. He stepped into the massive skyscraper, rode the elevator to the uppermost floor and sat in the waiting area. After a few minutes a woman stepped out and called out his name.
"Greene?" she called out, "Is there a Forrest Greene here?
"That's me," Forrest said, rising from his seat.
"The board will see you now." She then led him into the conference room where the six board members sat; the president, the vice president, the treasurer, the board's two secretaries and the Pokémon league founder/president emeritus, Mr. Indigo (the plateau that the Kanto and Johto elite fours are headquartered is owned by and named for him).
"This meeting of the Interregional Pokémon League Board will now come to order," Mr. White, the board's current president, said whilst lightly tapping an official looking gavel featuring the Pokémon League logo on each cheek and a poké-ball design on each peen. "Now we have reviewed our records and they tell us that you were almost accepted during your last application attempt." He paused as if he were expecting me to answer a question that he never asked.
"I, uh, was not aware of that." Forrest said.
"Yes, the forms you gave us last time you applied were filled out and say that you are an exemplary candidate for gym leadership, despite being all of 19 years old, you only lacked certain credentials. We, since, have deliberated over the newest application you sent in as well as the résumé you provided and have decided to make you an official gym leader within the Interregional Pokémon League." This was the best news Forrest could have asked for, nothing could ruin this moment. "There is only one small condition you have to meet." except that.
"What's the condition?"
"A new region is being brought into the league." Mrs. Crimson, the board's vice-president, said, "The Setureso region has recently been accepted to be made an official region within the Interregional Pokémon League, before this can be done we need to establish gyms and an elite four. This is where you come in, 32 gym leader hopefuls are being sent to the region with a team of trainers that specialize in the same Pokémon as the leader. The gyms will be inspected upon set up to determine how the environment benefits both the trainers and their Pokémon as they train there."
"OK, that sounds simple enough." Forrest interrupted.
"I'm not finished," she continued, "as you know, a region can only have 8 gyms, and yet 32 are sent to the region, do you know why?" She asked, not unlike a first grade teacher addressing a student.
"I assume it has something to do with a competition of some sort." Forrest said
"Exactly," Mr. Indigo said, chiming in, "the plan is that there will be 4 gym leader candidates for every proposed type-specific gym. 8 gyms, 32 gym leaders, make sense?" He asked, again a teacher-like voice was used. I nodded. "You will be one of four grass-type gym leader candidates; you will face each other candidate in a tournament, three matches of one on one. The winner of the 'mini-tournament' will become the official gym leader for their type. You will have two weeks to gather trainers to make up your initial gym members. Thank you for your time and we will see you in Setureso." Mr. Indigo said dismissively.
"Do you have any questions?" Mr. White said, his tone giving off the connotation of "I am in charge here, and don't you forget it."
"Um, just one. Do you know who any of the other leader candidates are yet?"