>>41937546CONT
Pic related is the ground gym leader. It's actually the scene displayed in the game when you find him, nice touch, liked the background in the sky.
So, you have like 15 (was it 5) minutes to beat him and reactivate the pyramid's systems to fill the magical springs and save your friends. I got my ass handed to me so I flew the way back to other places to get items I could use. Unfortunately, Grand Dream City was in emergency state after the terrorist attack, which limited my options but nevertheless I could manage.
Ryland has 3 gimmicks: desert field, sandstorm and a Torterra with a Torterra Crest (Crests are items that make shitmons moderately good). The Torterra Crest inverted his weaknesses and resistances which means that it became weak to Ground. And due to that, 4 out of 6 pokemon of the Ground Leader on the field that boosts Ground types are weak to Ground itself. Desert field causes Sand Rush to be perma-active which made his Excadrill very fast among other things and he had a Mega Camerupt.
This battle stands apart from most gym battles because this time you can't change the field to break the leader's legs, but you CAN use the field to your favor due to how much his pokemon die to Ground.
So you beat him and then save your friends, get attacked by some goons, get to fight an illusionist in a weird battle where your friends warn you that nothing is what it seems, so when you start a fight against said illusionist you can see that she is paired with you. So losing is actually an option here, which is actually praised by your friends for noticing you were brainwashed but winning or losing make no difference. It doesn't impact in relationships nor karma so it was just a story battle basically.
The illusionist escapes, your friends are saved and then you have to storm the evil hospital soon after because your friend Lavender is kept there by the Evil Doctor.
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