Think about it. The Kimono Girls are manipulating you to bring back their god of the sky, possibly to have it repair the damage to the land and revive the dead. (the three legendary dogs gave them this idea.) This is in HG/SS, so maybe the apocalypse happened recently.

The Kimono girls are pretty straight-foreward, but let's analyze the rest of the land and make educated guesses.

Tin Tower (where you meet Ho-Oh) features advanced technology in panels. Yet most of the tower is old and run-down. Why are the floors so complicated and maze-like? To keep the unworthy from reaching the top? Or was it rebuilt? Or did something happen to destroy most of the inside and the monks had to rebuild?

How come there aren't a lot of roads connecting around towns and cities? Take Ecruteak: to the west, bumpy paths and grass. Makes to sense, the way it's designed. To the South, a patch of grass, making people who have to Pokemon unable to get to Ecruteak. Either the Gym Leaders did this (see below), the townspeople became paranoid of other people and isolated themselves by destroying the roads, trade relations broke down, or some horrible natural disaster wiped away the roads and lands.

The Gym Leaders are shoguns who rule over their towns. They are the most powerful, and keep their people isolated. Those without Pokemon are not worthy enough to enter their area; they take advantage of the destroyed roads and use them as tests to make sure a bunch of their people do not escape and to make sure only the strong enter. Perhaps they don't want strong people, but since many Gym Leaders happily accept challenges, maybe they just want people to battle them so they can train, gain new experiences and make sure they stay stronger than their populace. When you defeat them and get a badge, you have liberated the town and helped free the region from the dictatorships. Defeating the Elite Four means you defeated the regime, or do you? The final, strongest trainer you face in the end is the true leader of the organization.

These can apply to any region or game, really. Just thought you could get some lulz from this.

Discuss.