>>17603331>ghost>3rdHow about a puzzle based on a seance? A very dark, single-candle lit room that requires the player to locate the first trainer (the one holding the only candle) and battle them. Once defeated, the grunt, or what have you, will face the next trainer in the circle, and you'll be off to battle them.
Two things, though- the puzzle is a timed puzzle, and if you're not moving at a pretty steady pace, the candles will go gradually go out- meaning you have to repeat the battles, and, believe me, those grunts will get a bit snarky if you show up more than once. It's easy to abuse for Exp, but- sort of irritating if you want to go back and do the same battles again and again.
Additionally, the last grunt/trainer/whatever you call them will hand the player a candle of their own, but with no direction as to what to do with it. Since the room should be more decently lit by now, the player should spot a glaringly obvious candle holder on the table in the centre. The candle pops right in, and boom- you've summoned the gym leader.
(And yes, if you can't figure out what to do with the last candle, you're still on a timer, so fuck you and everything you care about.)
The Gym leader may or may not actually be dead/a ghost, but is dressed that way regardless. Lots of ethereal floaty fabrics and things. Sort of creepy but not enough to disturb a relatively young player (because babbies).
The Gym Leader's dialogue consists of [...], and the battle starts without any real set-up, using :
Duskull
Spiritomb
Banette (regular ol' Banette, mind you)
Lampent
& Drifblim
And to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, afterwards, the Gym leader seems to have gone from [...] to being exceedingly happy with the player, giving them a little (in, text that's actually smaller than it's supposed to be) 'thank you', and a bright violet light they can take with them to the exit that lights up the whole room.