>>26528737If you Memory Link between B/W and B2/W2, you get extra cutscenes.
One of which is literally a 5 minute sleepover scene where you just watch Elesa and Skyla hang out and shit, which skyrocketed the lesbian shippers.
The intention is probably just that they're close friends, similar to Maylene and Candice. Thing is, in the Pokémon universe, everyone seems to be friends on some level. So when two characters are specifically paired, people assume this must mean they are more than friends.
As for Skyla, well I have heard multiple excuses for her gloves. Some say it's the kind of gloves that bird keepers have, so their arms don't get clawed off. Some people say that it's to do with her job as a pilot? I don't really know, nobody has given me any convincing evidence. She has a sprite animation where her hands like, TRIPLE in size. That, along with her somewhat larger hands in the official art, and huge blob hands in the anime, just makes it come off like she has freakishly huge hands.
I am sure that's not the intention, but if it was supposed to be bird keeper gloves, or something else, it wasn't made clear at all. Honestly not a good design, for that reason IMO. I'd have changed her gloves in a heartbeat.
Aside from her gloves though, she's still one of the best Gym Leaders in the franchise. The rest of her design is fine, her personality is fine, her gimmick of being a pilot is fine. She's solid waifu material. Aside from her hands/gloves.