The Hidden Gym

On my way out of Circhester, I ran into a guy who upgraded my bike so that I could drive on water. I don’t think that this makes sense based on where the center of mass of this particular bike is and also how do the wheels turn into paddles and maybe I’m over thinking this. Sometimes I regret having gone to an engineering college...
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One thing that sun and moon started is the removal of HMs. In that game, you had ride Pokémon whom you could summon to move rocks, help you surf, or fly you around. This game has doubled down on the same concept and replaced Surfing with the aqua bike and Flying with the Corviknight taxi service. There have been no STRENGTH puzzles and no bushes to CUT. There have been no dark caves which need to be lit up with FLASH. I like how streamlined this game is, but I do miss some of the puzzle aspects of previous games. I don’t think that strength puzzles make sense in the modern Pokémon games as a concept (they are definitely an artifact of the Game Boy Era wherein large round boulders don't look out of place in the overworld...frankly because the over world looks like a veritable mess to begin with on the tiny game boy screen), but I miss that smaller aspect of environmental puzzles.
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I made my way across the frozen seas and came upon Spikemuth—the place where I would be seeking my next gym badge. Apparently, however, Spikemuth was closed.

How an entire town could be “closed” is a bit beyond me, but there it is.

SpikeMarnie let me in after I battled her in a TIGHT match that required me to control the speed amd get crafty with Trash's Obstruct and Retaliate. Cheeto uturn.

The town gate being down bothered Marnie. She gave me the League card of the GL, but she didnt tell me that apparently he is her older brother. As soon as I proceeded, the team yell boubcers had me change into my gym attire. Apparently this dilapidated mess of a city IS the gym.

That means that whatever I have with me is...my...battle team...

Checks bag...