Viridian City lives up to its nickname as "The Foothold of Champions", which is obtained due to the immense amount of former champions and trainers who failed to conquer the league. It all started around a little inn that hosted trainers preparing to hike through Victory Road and take the league by storm. The hike through Victory Road is grueling and Indigo Plateau is no pushover. Many trainers fail and they flee to the closest place, Viridian Inn. These washouts made ramshackle homes in the area to stay in while they tried time and time again to take the championship for themselves.
Eventually, a business man named Giovani came through the area and saw promise in the swarm of string trainers in the area. He built up Viridian City into a nice residential area it is today. Despite the low crime rate typically associated with the city today, in its early stages, Viridian City was quite a seedy place. The high level trainers that normally promised safety turned to lives of crime after losing Pokemon to the treacherous Victory Road. It is here that the infamous crime syndicate the Rockets were formed. The washouts would join to get enough money to drown their sorrows or buy more supplies for the League. By the time that was possible, they were in to deep to leave. Nowadays, Viridian's criminal past has been swept under the rug and forgotten about. Viridian City is now one of the safest cities in Kanto and the former trainers serve to teach the younger generation in the Trainer School, which serves as a battling club on weekends. Recently Viridian City has received a new gym leader, the former champion Blue, who serves as a true test before the League with his gym not having a set type and his skills as a trainers. He is the second leader of Viridian due to Giovanni, the first leader, having been forced to leave due to accusations of being involved in the Rocket syndicate. These accusations remain unproven to this day, although some point to the fact that Giovanni vacated his position in the league right before most of the Rockets disbanded as proof of his guilt.
