>>34492151The first two League Champions of Kanto's first-ever Pokemon League, with a cool story attached to them to boot (both set out to train Pokemon at the same and challenged the Elite Four for championship in rapid succession). And Kanto's League is apparently super strong because nostalgiawank (or just Kukui's Kanto boner).
I actually wish we got some more context on the history of the League institution. It had not spread to Alola yet at the beginning of SM, but Kukui wanted one there after being impressed by Kanto's, which started up at the time Red/Blue were kids and left Pallet Town (it is clearly a new thing to Kanto since there is no reigning champ yet and they're advertising their opening in the email you can read at Oak's computer at the lab). And yet, Johto shares its Pokemon League HQ with Kanto at Indigo Plateau, and apparently Johto has had Gyms for a while as Falkner inherited his from his father (and it would be weird if his father had only been Gym Leader for a year or two before Falkner took over). Likewise with Hoenn and Flannery, with RSE supposedly happening roughly around the same time as the Kanto adventures.
