#prodigyverse

Hierarchy of the League :

𐃯 Champion :

Strongest trainer of a Region and reigning Leader. Important decisions and diplomatic Inter-Regional relationships goes to them. Under 16 years old, the Champion will rule under the guidance of their predecessor.

໑ Elite Four :

Main advisors of the Champion and members of the League closer to the power. In scenarios where the Champion is in incapacity to rule, the power goes to the E4 members until a new Champion takes over the League. E4 members are picked by the Champion themselves, a new Champion can choose to keep their predecessor's E4.

⟡ Gym Leaders :

Closer to the public and picked by E4s. Some of them take the role of Ambassador of certain Public Faction (Exemple: Gym Leader Milo is Ambassador of Agriculture, Gym Leader Surge is Ambassador of Armies), though not all of them do. A Gym Leader can choose to be the direct of their city, if no, they are allowed to pick a Mayor. It's a taboo subject, but the place in the Circuit of a Gym Leader does impact their political power. Order changes in the Journey Circuit do happen to give a Gym Leader more or less authority. Due to this, Gyms can be referred to as "Establishments" with their place in the Circuit. They form the Leading Council, which can suggest new laws ideas and get them to be voted. They often partakes in the same duties as Parliament Affiliates in situations of extreme danger.

ᛝ Parliament Affiliates :

Found in Gyms and League Buildings mainly and employed by Gym Leaders, even if it happens for them to also be picked by E4s and the Champion. -- Juridique Parliament (JRP) Affiliates often works with the Police while conserving a statue above them. They make sure that new laws respect the "Humans And Pokémon's Rights And Duty Conventions" (which changes depending on Regions but stays similar) and to keep League Members in check about respecting the rules imposed to them. They are allowed to stop corrupted League Members in any ways they want. -- The Anti-Malevolent Trustee Parliament (AMTP) is more discreet, the League's detectives is a way some would describe them. Their duty is to catch Evil Teams' operations before they become too important and do it without getting the attention of the public. -- The Civilian Security Parliament (CSP) is self-explanatory, specialized in quick, defensive strategies and trained to put civilians in pre-established safe zones during public attacks. Lines between the three Parliaments often gets blurry, an Affiliate can be part of a Parliament and still get often involved in another.

Exemple of Affiliates' introductions :

° The Four Institutions have ways to cancel eachother out in case of Coup d'État or extreme corruption.

° Pokémon Journeys are advertised with the objective of becoming Champion. Of course, Champions rarely get dethroned. Journeys are often used as a way to spot promising trainers with the potential to become League Member.

° League's functioning can alternate depending on Regions and are not always morally respected. There are also exceptions to rules. Organizations and Alliances between Regions (such as the Inter-Regional Pokémon Laboratory and Academy/IRPLA)

✎ Regional Professors are part of the League. This will be discussed in another post.

Discreet Dehumanization :

Dehumanization has many more procedures than just telling someone face to face that you do not see them as human or directly treating them that way. It can be discreet, almost unnoticeable for the person doing it, the people around and the one enduring it, even if consequences are more than present. Treating someone as perfect can be dehumanization, because you are failing at seeing them for what they are, a flawed human capable of mistakes like everyone else. Treating someone as deeply evil can be dehumanization, as you are denying any possibility of them ever doing any good even if they are capable to. Masaru experienced both. Outside of home, he was already a great child trainer, good at school, popular, appearing to be bigger than the world throughout both his skills and personality. He was put on a pedestal. Not a child but a prodigy. Kids his age treated him like someone greater than everyone and adults believed he could do no wrong. And even if he did? It was justified and understandable. There's no need to correct his behavior or call him out on it. In the familial household, things went by differently. A child that responded to abuse, both verbal & physical with the same aggressivity. Making him build on a temper that later lead his parent to treat him as a brat all of the time. Seeing his emotions treated as "too much" and unjustified. Taken seriously enough to be called out for his behavior (but in the wrong way) but not taken seriously enough to really be heard.> Dehumanization can be such a soft process. You're slowly driven away from your Manhood, to the point you start thinking you never had it in the first place.

Superiority Complex :

As a consequence of the previous point, bakugo is a product of his environment, of how people view him, he's shaped by it. but he's an asshole nonetheless. take that more as an explanation more than an excuse for his behavior. When put in a situation where two different group of people treat you differently; one treats you as above — the other as below, you're most likely to believe and cling into the opinions of the group that treats you well. Which is the beginning of the end for Masaru, his parents are correct to some extent but deal with that so wrongly that his reaction to it is almost… understandable. Listening to people outside his home would mean that he's right in the story! and give him a reason to be so against his mother and disrespecting her (even if that comes with a cost)! Right? Right. That's the recipe to the perfect asshole. People tell you over and over again that you're so great, those who tell you the opposite keep wronging you so they can't possibly be right. So now you're here, now convinced that you're the best and that you're allowed to do anything you want to because of that. No one is allowed to be better than you. Masaru's anger issues doesn't help with that, but that's a subject for later.

Relationship With Parents :

Masaru’s parents, Yohaku Gekioko & Fera Gekioko, are both popular figures in the fashion world. His father is present, kind in appearance but emotionally absent and not participative in Masaru's education. Leaving the work to his wife due to being afraid of doing it in a way she wouldn't like. Just like Masaru, Fera is a result of normalized questionable parenting, repeating a cycle. She's vocal about not allowing Masaru to be "weak". The thing with abusive parents of her type is that they love their children, they'll hug them, help them out and not see the wrong of "tough love". Simply because that's how they grew up, how their parents grew up, how their grandparents grew up, and they're convinced they turned out just fine, so there is no use in changing their ways of education. Abuse often is used on children as a tool to discipline children into being submissive & obedient, sometimes it fails and creates deeply angry, aggressive and oppositional individuals. That's the case for Masaru. You could argue for the first one too, but that's more a product of his own discipline to reach his goals, partly fueled by the need to prove his mother wrong by showing her that he's not weak. Past that, Masaru would seem even more disrespectful to his parents from an outsider's point of view, but often in families where parents talks really badly to their children, talking back is more acceptable. Still bad. But you can get away with words and names other children would not. Yohaku loves his son, Masaru wished he could be more than a decorative father. Fera loves her son but is constantly is angry at him, Masaru wants to prove her wrong and make her proud. To earn the calm love other mothers give to their children. (Cough Sylvan's mother cough)

Different Treatment From His Peers :

Blueberry Academy is nothing like his Castellia City Middle School. Here, everyone (well, almost everyone) are battle prodigies to some extent. He has constant competition & people don't have that unearned respect for him here. Masaru is experiencing a new treatment where he's still seen as aggressive, almost scary but not worth of treating with more respect than anyone else. He's experiencing for the first time people who aren't constantly praising him but not tearing him apart either. It's strange to him. It's new. Anything that's new is worth treating with aggressiveness, just in case.

High Walls And Loneliness :

He's very disconnected from the concept of friendship, being more used to people playing "sidekick" for him rather than real friends. Making him deeply lonely if nobody is willing to stay by his side (probably the first few weeks of class before his friend group started forming without his consent). Isolation, even if only emotional, causes you to be more of the angry type in some situations. It can make you think you're always correct and that others could never understand. Which can be linked to hid reluctancy to let people in. They'll misunderstand him even further and maybe even start seeing him ad weak. That's why he acquired hearing aids as quickly as he could, he refuses to be dependent on anyone, even one of his Pokémon.