It has been a long and hard trek through this gym. The region you live in is famous for it, in fact: in a world where Normal type Pokemon are known for their weakness, known for being the lowest of the low, this gym turned them into the best. Common wisdom was that trainers should tackle this gym last, when your team was at its height in power.
Each and every trainer had a story to tell. That this pokemon was their first, that they'd had it for decades. That they fought long and hard to get where they were, and you'd have to want the title of Champion hard if you wanted to get through them.
Time after time Zigzagoons and Bibarels pounded your pokemon into the dirt, but you managed to perservere.
Eventually, you made it to the Gym Leader.
He is an old man. He wears a bright yellow coat, and a blue baseball cap. He's wearing shorts, but that isn't that unusual given the season. Every trainer before him said that he was the best; that he could take on the Elite Four, if he wasn't so attached to this gym.
He turns, and speaks. "You know, it's been awhile since I met someone with this much tenacity. This much drive. You remind me of a boy from Kanto…" He takes out his first pokeball. "I never beat him, but I tried my damnedest. Maybe I'm just too attached to these cute little guys."
He first throws out a Diggersby. Then a Watchog, a Linoone, a Furret, and a Bibarel.
These pokemon, the pokemon generally considered "garbage" and "low-tier" proceed to grind your team down. Each victory came at a great cost.
The gym leader looks down at his last pokeball.
"You know," he croaks out, "I've had this last pokemon since I began my training… Route one… heh, good times, right buddy?" He looks down at the pokeball wistfully. "Good times and bad, we kept fighting. A loss today doesn't mean a loss tomorrow." He grins wildly and winds up his pokeball.
"So you know what? One last pokeball, one last fight! Prepare yourself trainer!" He whips the pokeball and out comes the biggest, oldest, most grizzled Raticate you've ever seen. Level 100. Max IVs. "I'VE BEEN DOING THIS SINCE I WAS A YOUNGSTER MYSELF! LET'S SEE IF YOU DESERVE THE NORMAL BADGE!"
ELDER JOSEPH SENT OUT RATICATE!