>>56814180>>56814221>>56814258>>56814293>>56814382Classify it as one of the parts of the game that was unfinished. Maybe there would have been some lore justification. Or maybe they would have changed her design, or replaced her entirely, if only the games had been given time to finish being made.
My headcanon, which is based on nothing except my own worldbuilding and slight edginess, is that some tragedy befell both the original Medali gym leader and one of the Elite Four members, like a skiing accident or a plane crash or something. The Elite Four member was Poppy's mother or father and used steel-type pokemon. The reason Larry pulls double duty as both Elite Four and Gym Leader is because the vacant gym leader spot hasn't been filled yet. Poppy got her parent's spot out of nepotism, using her parent's pokemon since they're willing to listen to her. While Poppy is inexperienced, her inherited pokemon are anything but. Also maybe the deceased gym leader and elite four member were married? There's precedent for Pokemon League officals being related (Clair and Lance; Koga and Janina; Roark and Byron; I may be forgetting some) but they don't have to have been for this to work.
