Mm-hm! You challenge the various gyms in each city across Kanto and Johto to earn badges. Each gym has a theme and focuses on a particular type of Pokémon, and you can test your strength, skill, and strategy against the top trainers that work at those gyms. Some trainers who have come here in the same way we have also have started their own gyms as well, so you can even go to them as part of your journey.

It's a very common thing to do here, and is considered a sort of right of passage or coming of age tradition in the culture of this world.