"Ms. Greenfield, thank you so much for your time. I don't know how much you pay attention to gym business, and there are a lot of" she pauses, then continues with "misperceptions, particularly in parts of the artistic community in Cerulean, about my gym. I'm saw that your standard contract included an optional privacy clause, and I'm going to invoke it. The gym was dumped on me by my sisters three years ago, and I've spent the time since trying to turn a place that couldn't even give a serious fight to a starting trainer, to one that can handle a wide range of challengers and seriously test their abilities."

She smiles. She's young, barely into her 20s, with muted red hair and a set of Pokeballs at her belt.

"I like to think I've done good work. As the officially recognized Water-type gym of the Pokemon League, I try to prepare trainers for time spent above water or below it, as well as facing off against the Pokemon they're likely to encounter. I don't make it easy: the Cascade Badge means something, these days, and I'm proud of that. But I came to you because I want to take the next step. I was impressed by your work with Erika's gym, and I want to make a layout that pushes trainers a little more. The pure-water stage, with just a pair of combat platforms for the Trainers, is good for exhibitions, and the basic layout where they walk towards me and have to pass the assessments of my trainers if they're aiming for a combat pass* is fine for beginning trainers, but I want something for trainers who have Pokemon who know both Dive and Surf. It should allow them to show off a strong swimmer without absolutely requiring it, simulate real-water conditions to the extent possible, and test them under as many different conditions as possible while rewarding a thoughtful trainer who plans ahead. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to do any of that. Can you help me?"

She's clearly nervous, and not good at hiding it.

*: There are two ways to pass most gyms. The first is to spend a period of time studying at the gym, typically two weeks to two months, though ultimately at the discretion of the Gym Leader. The other is to get a "combat pass", taking on a series of combat challenges, possibly with other complications, set by the gym leader. The ultimate challenge of a combat pass is always the leader themselves, and it is scaled to how many badges the applicant has already.

Thalia smiles, a gentle spotlight of a smile that highlights Misty as the lead actor of the moment. "What an exciting vision! I'd love to help. Do you want this section to be traversible only with both Dive and Surf with the existing section serving as the alternate route, or should it incorporate paths for every combination of the two moves? Do you want to provide some incentives to take more difficult routes, or simply offer challengers the option to show off? Are you planning to station any staff trainers in the new area? I'm imagining an artificial corsola reef with options for swimming over it or diving under it, perhaps with currents that a trainer could either follow or swim against."

Misty is smiling right back at her, delighted to be here. "Trainers will be directed into the appropriate section, with everyone past the third badge expected to take the, well, I was thinking of calling it the 'water path', if that's not too corny?" She's not good at hiding her emotions. "The water path I think shouldn't require Dive, but if it's used cleverly, maybe it lets them only do half of the above-water trainers, and by taking on the ones underwater they can face fewer challengers? But I want to have one patch that's completely unguarded if they rise and has a few underwater obstacles, so that it's rewarding people who think about the challenges they're facing and take them on carefully, not just diving at every opportunity, you know? Though I do want to give something special to trainers who dive immediately and are willing to fight entirely underwater, so I want to make that an option.  It won't be common, most people don't have a convenient psychic pokemon to direct with, but I thought something special might help with the new image. But I hadn't thought about currents: that's a great idea! We can use that to limit their motion and reset them in various ways. As for the trainers, right now I have many more than I need for the existing sections: part of why I'm here is that the current format doesn't allow enough of them to be out there."

"What an excellent problem to have," says Thalia as she produces a sketchpad and starts drawing a few coarse-grained layout ideas. "Do you have a sense of the dimensions you're thinking of for this new section? We can do a lot with currents and sight lines to make the volume seem larger than it is, but it's good to have at least a rough sense of scale starting out. And of course we should think about the 'behind the scenes' spaces as well, and make sure your staff and their Pokémon have everything they need to be safe and comfortable." She flips over the sketchpad to reveal a cleverly two-dimensional rendering of a very three-dimensional space, a sort of space-filling curve in the water with shortcuts both at and below the surface and arrows marking currents aimed to push challengers toward sheltered underwater platforms where trainers can wait.