Viridian City Gym

The Viridian Gym (Japanese: トキワジム Tokiwa Gym) is the official gym of Viridian City. It is based on Ground-type Pokémon. The Gym Leader is Giovanni, the head of Team Rocket. Trainers who defeat him receive the Earth Badge.

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Owned by Rocketmafia currently houses: Croconaw, Buizels, and Lord_Empoleon

Was removed from the Kanto Pokemon League due to "shady activity", but RocketMafia is applying to have it reinstated to be the Eighth gym again. Still accepts challengers. The badges, at the moment, allow pokemon up to level 100 to obey, but carry no secondary prowess and are invalid by League standards.

In The Anime
In the anime, 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 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 soon after challenged the gym, 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, and as the Gym was rigged to shock anyone whose Pokémon took damage, it was a hard fight at first. 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 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.

In The Games
Viridian Gym appears in all games set in the Kanto region. In Generation I and III when the player makes their first encounter with the gym, it is locked because of the absence of the Gym Leader. With this acknowledged, the player journeys off onto other Gyms to challenge them. Once this has been accomplished and when the player has collected the remaining seven Gym Badges, the Viridian Gym reopens.

Inside the Gym, the floor uses the same transporting tiles as in the Rocket Hideout. The player must use these tiles to navigate through the Gym to reach Giovanni. In Generation II, when Blue takes the place of the Gym Leader, the Gym is completely remodeled, and the tiles are now gone. The Gym has no junior Trainers and large blocks that resemble Lego bricks form most of its design.

A field based on the gym also appears in Pokémon Stadium's Gym Leader Castle.