Hello, readers. My name’s Bill, and I’ve been running the operations of Brick ‘n’ Break for the last few years. And we’re the best of the best. Well, the best available anyways. That’s what our logo says after all.
You may have read my recount of how we made all those Gyms we constructed in Kanto. The Gym Leaders supply the plans, and we make it happen, no matter how wacky or insipid the idea. This time, I’ll take you through our creations within the Johto region.
Violet Gym
It always looks to me like a dollar sign from above…
I have to admit, I didn’t understand this first version of the design. A few Gym Leaders do opt for the straight-path option, with a few trainers in the way. But here was some odd zigzag pattern to walk through that was all too narrow. Those black areas were a dug-in set of pits, so although trainers stood on ground level, the flying types had more room to move. But this wasn’t a remarkable change from usual conditions – any regular ground-loving Pokémon would still feel comfortable, even if they moved down to those pits. Granted, it was fairly simple to build; we just had to dig a lot. But we do enjoy a challenge at times, and this was anything but. We had some pillars around as well to act as obstacles for the battles.
I hope you – or your Pokémon – are not afraid of heights.
That changed when we visited the second time around. I think he realised that it wasn’t going very well for him, and he was probably inspired by that giant Sprout Tower next to the Gym. That building there, I might add, is a marvel in itself; the thing shakes, but it’s still supremely safe. Anyway! He decided to keep that same layout, save for two differences. One was the narrower path of glass surrounding the S-shaped path, allowed trainers to bypass the Gym trainers if they were brave enough to walk on clear glass. The second difference was to put the whole darn pathway several feet up in the air, and have it only accessible via a lift platform.
I don’t think his Gym trainers were all that fond of the idea, but he got the final say, being Gym Leader and all. We made sure to install safety nets below to avoid any potential injuries from falling from above, and made sure the whole structure was extra sturdy. Certainly though this would have had more of an effect in unsettling Pokémon used by challengers, unless they were also able to fly or levitate.
Azalea Gym
Naturally, the Gym Leader is the one who gets to sit by the tree.
Bugsy was all about nature, that kid. He – or was it she? – had the first set up be fairly straightforward too. This set up allowed two paths for the trainers to take to get to him by the tree. This might have better suited Grass types, but I’m sure all those Bug type Pokémon enjoyed the environment too. And the tree would have been particularly useful for them as well, especially after a few battles and training sessions so they got used to the conditions. We had to dig a pretty big hole to allow it to get planted properly, so that the roots had proper access to the soil’s nutrients and water. We did have to let the local florist on speed-dial for the Gym however. Only so much you can do in trying to diminish the effects from a pyromaniac challenger who decides to set the plants on fire in a battle…
Never cared for spiders myself.
This didn’t seem to be a worry for Bugsy however, even though he asked for a different design when we came back. If anything, even more trees were put in! However, they were also joined by those pits and spider rides. Rest assured, those giant Spinarak are purely mechanical, and very flame retardant as well. It took us a while to meet his request for the paths the trainers would have to navigate be a puzzle in itself though, but we eventually got a switch system in place which would alter the path taken in the second half, while in the first section the challenging trainers had to correctly pick the right spider kart to take. Bugsy then put trainers on dead ends, as a way to punish mistakes by challengers.
Those pits aren’t too deep or anything, they’re just large enough to prevent someone from just plain old climbing up instead of using the rides properly. Bugsy didn’t seem to understand why someone would do this though. He looked pretty aghast when someone pointed out that perhaps the spider contraptions would creep out a few people. ‘Why would anyone not want to ride on top of a giant spider?’ he asked us. I told the worker that it was probably a touchy subject and to drop it. As they say, the customer is always right, or at least we pretend they are.
Goldenrod Gym
She sure liked Clefairy.
Whitney was quite the emotional character. She got very excited when she explained her plans, and sometimes had a right old fit when something went wrong. We all started carrying tissue boxes while working just in case.
Her request was reasonable enough though. It was a maze, and she even drew up the plans herself, which was surprising. It’s not often Gym Leaders have that sort of experience, and they tend to have experience in construction as well. And she might have used more love hearts in the blueprints than we usually see. We used a number of bushes and potted plants. I’m sure you’ll notice from the photo that it makes an outline of a Clefairy, something Whitney was very proud about. I suppose it was a neat idea to base the design on one of your own Pokémon. We also had to train her and the Gym Trainers on how to walk through it and not get lost, as they were to act as further obstacles. Easier said than done, especially if you try to avoid everyone to limit the number of battles you take.
I mean, she really liked Clefairy.
She requested much of the same the second time around, but added ‘only more stairs’ to the list. So we changed out the plants for those walls, so that challengers could walk along the top of them. We also had some archways cut out so people could also navigate through the walls – a multi-leveled maze. I think she probably got too many complaints about people getting lost within the maze, and so by doing this she gave them a chance to view the whole maze and hence better navigate their way through. Not a bad idea!
Or maybe she just wanted people to notice the Clefairy shape. I suppose that’s possible.
Ecruteak Gym
I think he heard that one song by The Rolling Stones.
You think Morty’s infamous Gym is a bugger to get past? Try making that thing! It’s not easy making a path that looks virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding pits, for starters. In fact, we had such a hard time with that, we had to have some Ghost Pokémon help trick challenging trainers. That’s right – while that whole floor looks black, it’s really a zigzag path surrounded by pits. If you fall off, the only way back up is by walking back out via an underground exit, and coming back in from the front.
And this was a real nightmare to work with. Can you imagine all the safety issues from this? Pits are bad enough, but when a person doesn’t expect it the chance for injury really shoots up. We had to make sure the flooring for the pits was really soft, and eliminate any sharp edges from the path. I imagine it’s really amusing for the Gym Trainers however. They sure laughed whenever my workers took a wrong step.
Those lights don’t stay forever…
He went with the same idea again when we returned as well. However, the League had caught wind of it and decided that he should give some sort of hint as to where the path was so people didn’t go and fall off it fifty times before reaching Morty. He obliged and had us put in those ghostly lamps, and we also added those large rocks for a better appearance – you have to admit that blunt, black appearance wasn’t the greatest. And there was some fog allowed in via a fog machine as well, for extra effect. But Morty was a sneaky one. He also had a remote switch system installed and had us supply the remotes to Gym Trainers. The idea was that when one lost a battle, they were to turn off the lamp next to them, so unless the trainer was paying attention, it’d appear like the whole path disappeared from view. And usually people don’t expect that first time around, and inevitably take a tumble.
Olivine Gym
After Morty’s gym, this was a welcome change for ourselves.
Jasmine was a rather quiet character, and that can be a nice change. Always good to work with someone who doesn’t chuck fits or has a really demanding personality. That did seem to translate to her Gym design, but that’s only in the second version. The first time around Jasmine hadn’t yet converted to the Steel Type, and so she had the gym floor covered in ground and rocks, fitting for her Pokémon in Onix. Until it evolved, anyway. Those rocks were rather like the sort we used for Brock’s Gym. What is with a bunch of the Rock or Ground type Gym Leaders opting for this sort of design anyway?
As you can see, there’s no actual puzzle to it. Jasmine merely opted for a plain approach – challengers would need to battle her Gym trainers first in order to reach her. Nothing wrong with that though – it’s one thing to have a potentially boring Gym, it’s another if you have an overly elaborate one that fails one way or another. And the design can still be made to look nice.
Much nicer.
It was the same general idea for the next version of her Gym as well. The only difference is the materials we used. Now she used Steel types, so we made use of a lot of metal. There’s those arches with lights which just added to the theme in my opinion, and a nice shiny platform for Jasmine to stand on. All those objects were extremely sturdy, something I’m sure her Pokémon would have enjoyed fighting by. We did a much better job here, I have to admit.
Cianwood Gym
Doubled as a dojo as well!
Chuck was annoying to work with. Why? He kept on insisting on training in the Gym, even during construction, is why. It’s not easy when that guy keeps on getting in your way, or breaking something to show off his strength. I don’t think the rest of my team appreciated being shown up either by his ability to lift heavy objects.
At least this design wasn’t too hard to work with, if maybe not the most aesthetically pleasing. A lot of fencing was used, to force trainers to have to fight trainers to get to him. He also insisted on a number of boulders be placed so that they would block the path, and had to be moved to get to him. He also had one placed at the end next to where he stood, so he could show off how strong it was by tossing it about as we worked. I bet he does that to the trainers who take on his Gym too.
But this was a classic example of a failed Gym puzzle. The boulders were very troublesome to move back into their original positions; often the Gym trainers had to break them and roll in new ones. Good thing they were all part of a Fighting type Gym, I suppose! But try telling that to the challenging trainers. A lot of them didn’t even have the HM Strength, so getting to Chuck was always going to frustrating. By comparison, you can easily get to Jasmine, without needing to punt giant boulders in a specific order.
I challenge you…uh, which one of you is the Gym Leader?
So I wasn’t surprised when he asked for a completely new setup. Here he went with switches instead of boulders, which controlled a winch, which in turn managed a giant waterfall’s flow. They were placed on walkways to either side of the waterfall, and trainers would need to navigate them past the Gym trainers to be able to switch it off. Luckily Cianwood City is right by the ocean, so there was no lack of water available for us to funnel into the artificial system.
We were confused though – did he want to stand behind the waterfall during a challenge, and if so, why wouldn’t a challenging trainer just walk through it to get to him? He answered that it should be obvious – he’d just stand underneath the waterfall and train, so if anyone wanted his attention for a battle they’d just have to turn it off. What a weird fellow.
Mahogany Gym
A pretty ‘ice Gym, if you ask me!
Pryce also liked waterfalls, but he didn’t want to use any of that in his Gym. I suspect he was rather partial to the layout of the Ice Path, as both times he asked for sliding floor puzzles.
These are always difficult to construct, but we tried out best. The trick is to have the floor and surroundings difficult to melt (because you know that pyromaniac trainer is going to come in with five fire types), but not so cold that anyone inside becomes an icicle in five minutes. Then you have to really make sure the ice is difficult to transverse, so that people will basically slip in one direction until they hit an obstacle, like a well-positioned Gym Trainer, a regular floor panel, or wall.
After that, the puzzle isn’t too hard to come up with. You just need to make sure there’s a clear way for someone to get to Pryce, and make sure nobody can get stuck in a corner or anything. That includes making those rocks you see extremely sturdy. You don’t want a stray attack to break one so easily, or at least have a way to replace them without much fuss.
Three times the fun!
The first version just have one really large room. The second time however Pryce requested we set it up in three separate rooms. Luckily we have a nice system set up so that you can generally customise the number of rooms simply, as long as you’re not needing to put in any pits or the like. There was another addition as well – in order to get to the other side of each room, one had to push a block of ice into the correct position to be able to navigate past.
The advantage of this plan I suppose is that a challenging trainer would get a taste of how it feels to go sliding about in a very simple puzzle, and then start encountering trainers as the method to get across grew more complex. I am still more partial to the first version myself though. Nothing like a giant, grand puzzle that works.
Blackthorn Gym
Don’t trip, now!
No, that’s not real lava there. Remember, Gyms still have to have some sort of safety to them, and it’s no good for the League if Pokémon or people keep falling into lava and die. It’s just some warm fluid. Mind you, I’d still avoid falling in; it’s not exactly pleasant either.
Sure looks dangerous though, doesn’t it? My team spent quite a while on that, and Clair sure was pleased. She always did have a thing for the grandiose. And I think she was also inspired by the nearby Ice Path. I imagine it makes sense for one to train in a place filled with Pokémon strong against your own typing. There’s a section where you have to push Boulders down holes from above that maze-like floor (the right side of the picture), and here is much of the same principle. Here the trainer has to go to the upper level and push boulders from there in order to make a bridge between those platforms over the fake lava. We had to be pretty careful in setting up our measurements so that the boulders would fall in the right places, let me tell you! Don’t want someone’s head to get hit by one of those. Of course, this brings up the problem that arose in Chuck’s Gym too – challenging trainers needed Strength, or some makeshift way to push those boulders (and also a way to remove them and set up the puzzle again too). 
Now that’s some fake lava.
The next version of the Gym abandoned that layout. Instead, Clair went even crazier in her next request, and had us put in those controllable boats, allowing one to get to those platforms surrounded by the fake lava. It took my engineers a long time to get everything just right so that there was a puzzle involved too; a trainer would need to rotate the boat around correctly to be able to get out safely. And of course, it had to be very resilient to collisions, as challengers inevitably just tried ramming the boat straight into something. We then had teleportation panels placed every so often so people could easily leave instead of having to do the puzzle in reverse first to be able to get back out, or visit the bathroom. Good old teleportation panels. We also put in those spikes for aesthetics.
And we did a really nice job on that fake lava too. From above you can see that the colouration paints out a very swell picture of a Dragon. Clair really did like that nice touch. Just as well; it was really uncomfortable working in there in such uncomfortable conditions. We did have to test out the whole system with the fake lava and keep it heated, after all!
Well, that’s all of the gyms in Johto I’ve personally overseen. Some of them weren’t the best, but that’s the advantage of us coming around every few years for repairs – we can just build you a new, better puzzle. I’ll sign off on here, and may well return to tell you tales of Gyms from other regions I had the honour of constructing!
Written by bobandbill
Edited by Bay Alexison and Slayr231
