Gaiien Region: Tier 8 Gym Leader: Polaris

aka "Oops I made Human!Sans Undertale"

Name: Matti "Polaris" Virtanen
Location: Sastruga Fjord
Awards: Frost Badge
Affinity: Ice-type
Age: 28
Hometown: Sastruga Fjord, Gaiien
Hobbies: Rock Collecting, Electronic Music, Polar Bear Swimming

Polaris's parents met while working in what was then an unincorporated territory in the far north of the pokemon world (Gaia), developing a string of villages suitable for people from the far north of Terra (our/"our" world) to inhabit and maintain some of their traditional lifestyle. Geothermal power nearby would keep the lights on and power a pokemon center and hospital, while their proximity to the sea and a southern current ensured that relatively mild temperatures would prevail.

Polaris left Gaiien to train pokemon and earn badges in Hoenn as a teenager and kept up with training (though perhaps not so much his studies). Even as a teenager he saw how important pokemon training and a good rapport with pokemon was to the far northern community and volunteered often at the local dojo and then the newly-established Ice-type gym under his mentor Sedna. He developed a reputation as an effective "pokemon whisperer", able to mend relationships between pokemon, their teammates, and trainers, or to suggest a happier trade or release when warranted. He was eventually chosen for leadership of the gym after his mentor retired, a decision that came as a surprise to no one.

Pokemon Roster (Tier 8 ): Ursabre, Gaiienese Noctowl, Glacerine, Hiemalin, Tamguin, Hexx, Antepard, Wintris
Pokemon Roster (S-tier): Mega Ursabre (+) and (-), Boreannid, Olorant, Hexx, Antepard, Yulerein, Delibird, Walrein, Tibyss

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Notes:

Tier 8 and S-tier (trainers with 8 or more badges aka Senior Trainers) are close in level and often overlap in many leagues, but the main differences between them are move diversity--more specially-bred* moves and tutored moves--and more pokemon with age/experience as well as power.

It's possible to reach tier 8 or S-tier training a pokemon over a few months, but the kind of battle experience that allows a pokemon to anticipate moves, to remember which moves take less energy to dodge and which ones should just be soaked, to learn comrades' (and common opponents') battle styles, etc. takes years to develop.

Junior trainers are generally fighting with wild-caught pokemon, and gym leaders often are as well in order to meet their level bracket, so before S-tier the level of play is to get wild pokemon to use their moves effectively and to be less cautious (wild pokemon don't have pokemon centers, so they often only fight to first blood or in "contest" fashion, using showy but poorly-energy-efficient moves).

*Bred moves in the Gods and Demons universe can be tutored, but tutoring isn't a matter of turning over some battle points and learning it instantly, but rather weeks of sessions with a tutor pokemon to learn the move from first principles. Some pokemon just simply don't have the patience for this compared to their instinctual movepool. Bred pokemon get these moves "for free"**, as it were, and may have deviations in their stat margins compared to the landrace.

**Breeding pokemon in the Gods and Demons universe is not quite as difficult as finding matches for humans, but it's quite a bit harder than just turning two pokemon loose in a pen and riding your bike back and forth for a little while, so """"for free""""