Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
I have an idea though, referring to Ashaekin's 16 gyms idea. What if we only have eight gym leaders, but each has two challenges? As in, you have to go to each of them twice... I'm going to use numbers as an example: G=Gym lol
1G>2G>3G>4G>5G>6G>7G>8G>8G>7G>6G>5G>4G>3G>2G>1G
Get it? And each gym leader has two badges the trainers must earn before they can move on to the Elite Four