>>22058737>>22058766So NPCs seem to hold the Granaldo Gym Leader with very high regard, one saying he's the only trainer in the last three years to make it to the Blue Sage (the Sages being the E4 that would whoop my ass if I tried to beat them). A sign in front of his Gym says "Wins: 97, Losses: 0"
However, entering the Gym, we catch him having suffered his first defeat at the hands of an unknown woman, she lamenting that she thought he'd finally be someone to match her skills.
Noticing me, she recognizes me and seems to imply she's part of Team Darkness, but asks me to have a "friendly match without any consequences" while we're able (a ton of foreshadowing all around that something extremely heavy is going to happen pretty soon in this game).
She has the highest-leveled team by far at this point in the game. Lv. 56 Venusaur, Lv. 62 Flareon, Lv. 59 Starmie, and a whopping Lv. 65 Dragonite. Surprisingly I win clean without any abuse just because luck was on my side with using Smokescreen on Dragonite while it tried to Hyper Beam me and then seeding/poisoning it and stalling it out; had to sacrifice a couple Pokémon to land the first couple Smokescreens while it recharged, but it was a clean win.
After the battle, she thanks me, tells me to keep training so she can use her full force against me, and then expositions the shit out of me for Team Darkness:
>she (named Gosalyn) is an admin for Team Darkness>she joined just because she can't find any strong trainers and wants to do something that will challenge her again (so basically Bruno from Adventures)>the Steelix admin is just a dick who wants to fuck shit up for the hell of it>she doesn't know what the leader of Darkness really wants, she guesses he just wants to see if the legends about the Orbs are realand leaves advising me that professionals like her are better suited for the task of tracking down the Orbs.
The actual Gym Leader just stares dejected at getting wiped so hard and won't battle you.
