Oh sorry didn't mean to make it look like I didn't read the full thing, I was trying to get more context for if you only had one pokemon or if you had a full team, if your team was made of pokemon at lvl 8 or above with the starter at more like 14 you should have been able to clear the gym quite easily, I can't relate to the leader being not balanced but it might be because I have played so many pokemon games so I know a few extra things for most first gyms