AN: If I was writing about the Unova region all/most money transactions would be digital but as Japan is supposedly still very cash minded, so is Sinnoh. Which doesn't mean Yun doesn't have a bank account and a card (but she doesn't have it with her anymore either) but all prize money is cash and the card would only be used to withdraw/deposit money rather than to pay.
"Oh no, that's terrible!"
Yun raised her eyebrows as Akane appeared actually panicked as she turned on her.
"You can't miss your appointment, Gardenia is super freaky about that."
"What do you mean?" She questioned.
"Oh Kazama, it's a known fact that Gardenia won't let anyone stand her up. She has even refused to let trainers try again when they missed an appointment. They were stuck with one badge forever." The other girl began pacing nervously while her starter send her a confused glance.
"That... can't be true, right?" Yun questioned but started to get worried.
"No, no, I actually know somebody who it happened to. My cousin's best friend never got more than one badge because she missed her appointment for the second one. You can't let that happen, not because of me! When were you supposed to be there?"
Glancing at the clock again, she answered slowly. "In about two hours." That being said, now that she was taken off the IV the wound on her face had started throbbing and a headache started to form. She had never felt less like battling than in that moment.
"Oh, you can still make it!" The other girl looked hopeful if not incredibly frazzled.
"I don't know..." Yun murmured, not sure if a Gym leader could even do that, legally speaking. That and she was somewhat tired with battling, the motivation she felt before having evaporated.
"Please," Akane was nearly sobbing now, "you have to. You can't be held back because you saved me. That's not fair." There was something desperate and pleading in her eyes, making Yun squirm.
Looking at her Pokémon, she gave in. "Alright then..." It seemed to calm down her former classmate and she offered her a wobbly smile.
She took her bag, littered with scratches, and started rummaging through it. "I guess you don't have your items right now so I'll give you some of mine. Gardenia's Roserade is big on inflicting status conditions, chances are you're going to need this afterwards."
An antidote and a paralyz heal were pushed into her hands along with a potion.
"Thanks." Yun replied numbly while stuffing the items in the deep pocket's of her track suit's vest.
Then the other girl started searching through her bag again, this time with a frown. "Huh, I could have sworn... it's gone." She muttered. Something appeared to dawn on her then, and she looked up with a far away look on her face.
Curious by the girl's stunned expression, Yun asked. "What is?"
The question visibly snapped her former classmate out of whatever thought had held her and she simple shook her head. "It's... not important. Do you want my Pokéfeed for your team? It wouldn't do to have them fight hungry."
Despite that it was obviously intended to deflect her question, Yun felt grateful for the suggestion, not knowing how else she could have kept her team fed. She took Akane up on the offer and she discovered her Pokémon did not share their trainer's listlessness. At the end of it she was kind of embarrassed by how much of Akane's stock her team had devoured. Luckily the other girl didn't seem to mind at all, going so far as to give them extra when Yun had told them they had had enough.
Soon enough it was time to leave for her Gym battle, something Yun could not conjure enthusiasm for if she tried. But for the sake of her former classmate, who's bloodshot eyes only regained a spark when talking about battling or Pokémon, she gave it her best effort.
The center wasn't very far from the Gym so Yun actually ended up arriving early. The receptionist gawked openly at her when she signed herself in, a process slightly more tedious without her trainer ID but as she had given it when she made her appointment and no one else was challenging today, the lady at the desk quickly found her information. Gardenia wasn't in yet so she settled to wait in a provided seat, trying but failing to work herself up for the fight she had previously been looking forward to.
After a while the automatic doors opened and let in a woman Yun only recognized from the pictures. Gardenia, in all her green glory, was looking at her mouth agape before bringing a hand to her forehead. Absently, Yun touched her swollen eye but immediately drew her hand back when it stung with the contact.
"Okay kid," She sighed, "I'll be the first to admit that I like punctuality. But there are reasons to miss an appointment and then there are reasons. Go home, or better yet, check yourself in to the hospital!"
Silence.
"But I just came from there." Yun replied, slightly stunned. Somebody had definitely been exaggerating to Akane about the grass Gym leader.
"Oh Arceus." The woman sighed. "Look, just come back next week same time, okay?"
Yun was tempted to take that offer and she probably would have if she didn't recognize a familiar numbness setting in, accompanied by a well known willingness to avoid battles. She remembered what Chihiro had told her after she had been attack by a blood thirsty Pokémon the first time.
"I need to get back on the saddle." Why, was left unsaid but she could swear she saw understanding light in Gardenia's eyes along with something akin to pity.
She ran a rand through her short hair, effectively tousling it, and shook her head. "Fine, fine, as you wish. Come on then, I guess."
She gestured for Yun to follow before taking long strides towards the back of the room, making the young trainer scramble to keep up. Opening a door, a literal garden appeared behind it with clusters of tall trees scattered throughout the field.
"Usually, I have challengers find my gym trainers in the maze before they're allowed to battle me but I'm feeling generous today so you can just go ahead. Just don't expect me to go easy on you during our battle, alright?"
Yun nodded dumbly before she realized Gardenia couldn't see that with Yun behind her.
There was a large open grass field behind the trees, white lines marking the arena. And Yun definitely spotted a disappointed gym trainer peeking through the foliage as they passed by. Gardenia took place at the far end and Yun moved to stand opposite from her. The grass, she noticed, was damp, probably a safety measure against fire types so the whole field wouldn't easily catch fire.
"Do I have to explain the rules?"
Yun shook her head and send out Reign, which was unusual enough to make Gardenia quirk an eyebrow as Gym leaders gave challengers the advantage of releasing their Pokémon last. But Yun found she couldn't care less, she just wanted it over and done with. A Cherubi was called out along with a quick order.
"Safeguard."
Recognizing it, Yun had to concede that it was a good move against her. Cherubi took extra damage from poison type moves and was thereby also prone to getting poisoned. With safeguard, it was now impossible for Reign to create this scenario, losing one of his main advantages.
"It's impossible to poison your opponent now, so don't bother trying." She advised him.
He uncurled his tail in response, visibly excited for the challenge and started shooting pin missile from a distance. Tentatively, a smile rose to her lips, reminded once again how smart her starter was, how good at battling he was. Pin missile was super effective and he could use it from a distance, not risking any retaliation.
"Leech seed."
Except for that.
"Don't get hit with that!" However, her warning was futile as the green blob hit Reign straight on and immediately took root. Like poison it consistently drained it's opponent's health -ignoring type resistance- effectively putting a timer on the battle, unlike poison the caster also recovered energy from this move, getting stronger as time went on.
The only downside this move had is that it worked relatively slow.
"How many pin missiles can you shoot in rapid succession?" It was a question that Yun knew would have gone over Twinkle's head, but not Reign. The answer was a lot.
The leech seed implanted on his back only pulsed a vibrant green once before he took Cherubi out by bombarding it with that one move. After his opponent fainted, the green blob dulled in color and fell off.
Turtwig was next, a classic Sinnoh starter. While not Yun's favorite, that spot firmly belonged to Piplup, she was still awed by the little creature, having seen enough Torterra's wreck havoc in the league to earn her respect. However, in the end the Turtwig was nothing like it's evolved form and was quickly poisoned and then bombarded with pin missile. Neither grass knot nor magical leave did much against her armored starter and the outcome of the battle became clear very early on. Turtwig sunk through it's legs when the poison took too much of a toll, and that was it.
Roark was right, she did have an easier time against Gardenia.
With three of her Pokémon still in fighting shape, the grass Gym leader's last and strongest Pokémon was released. However, Yun decided to recall Reign for this one and thanked him gently for his efforts before releasing Tenno in her arms, his sprained leg dangling below him. Between the Roserade and her Skorupi, the grass type was the better poisoner with two different toxins available to it and an ability like poison point to drive the advantage home. Oddly enough, poison types were not automatically immune to all poisons, just more tolerant than other Pokémon as true immunity was only achieved by steel types. The one poison that could not harm Reign was his own.
With that in mind she had always planned to pit her bird against Gardenia's last challenge. Tenno had fought a very similar battle in Oreburgh city, before he evolved. And though that felt like a lifetime ago to Yun, his eyes lit in recognition as he clenched his good claw around her arm, body tense with anticipation. She smiled while the woman before her frowned.
"You know I'm not exactly a fan of kids who make their injured Pokémon fight."
Me neither, she wanted to say, but she recalled the fight against Roark when she had returned Tenno before he could get hurt and how angry that had made him. Then his more recent fight to the death against a larger, stronger opponent. Tenno would not quit, would not pass up a fight because of something as irrelevant as a sprained leg and he would not be happy with being left out.
So she simple nodded, accepting the Gym leader's concern for what it was. Then she took a step forward, bend through her knees and threw her flying type as high as her sore arms allowed her to. The effort was rewarded by a pounding in her head, particularly around her swollen left eye and she prayed the battle would be over quickly so she could go back to the center and maybe ask for some painkillers.
The first few seconds of his flight was wobbly as he beat hings wings hurriedly to right himself but then it smoothed out as he eyed his current opponent. He spat out an ember, the glowing ball of fire moving so fast Yun could barely track it with her eyes. So her surprise was palpable when the Roserade twirled out of the way, barely missed by the fire that landed harmlessly on the ground right next to it. It wasn't, Yun noted, a fluke. The Roserade looked completely undaunted, even a bit bored, for it to have been a close call.
Her suspicions were confirmed when the same thing happened twice more. The Roserade always a mere step away from being hit but not once looking like it was concerned that that might actually happen.
Tenno looked as frustrated as Yun felt. She wished he had a long distance attack with more coverage like air cutter or hurricane. Ember required him to be precise in his attacks, which has never been a problem for him before, his accuracy spot on, but now with facing a much faster opponent that was clearly used to his kind of tactic, they ran into a wall.
Things got worse when the Roserade starter using magical leaf unprompted, Gardenia watching on tight lipped, and took extra care to aim for Tenno's injured leg. The attack that would have been mostly ineffective thanks to Tenno's double type, now made him shriek when it hit and he dramatically dropped out of the air turning and picking up height again just before he hit the ground. Yun felt her stomach lurch at the sound of him crying out in pain and grabbed his Pokéball, wondering whether Reign would have been a better match after all. Or perhaps Twinkle, she was immune to poisoning and could get close to Roserade without trouble, but she was also slow for such an agile opponent.
Her musing was cut short when Tenno soared at her, nearly hitting Yun in her face, feathers ghosting past her injured eye. It startled her to the point she dropped his Pokéball. He send her a pointed look, eyes ablaze with determination.
Gardenia laughed. "I see." Something relaxed in her expression and posture when she gestured at her bird. "Quite the spitfire, isn't he?"
Yun squared her shoulders. "Yeah... well, he's more than just attitude. You'll see." Her words were bold, delivered with more confidence than Yun thought herself capable off. To cover her quickly reddening cheeks she bend down to pick up her fallen Pokéball as Gardenia chuckled, allowing her hair to curtain her face before standing back up.
In the interval Roserade had picked up where they left off and redoubled it's efforts to hit the bird with magical leaf. Tenno was responding with increasingly impressive aerial acrobatics, spinning and twisting in ways he hadn't managed since his evolution, only allowing the leaves to hit his back harmlessly. His body temperature raised so high that the leaves started burning to ash as they got stuck between his feathers.
He would need to get close, Yun realized but was unwilling the voice the thought out loud as it would give the Roserade time to prepare itself for the attack. With flame body there was a good chance the physical contact would hurt his opponent which would be a bonus if he also managed to land a hit. The only trouble would be Roserade's poison point, making the tactic a double edged sword. However with Tenno's type advantage, he would do a lot more damage than he would receive.
Tenno came to the same conclusion just seconds after Yun, a feat considering he had to juggle dealing with his current predicaments and strategizing ahead, at the same time. But sure enough, he dove for the grass type, spinning as he did so to dispel the leaves still aimed at him.
"Stun spore!"
Wasn't that just familiar. Unfortunately for her opponent, the flying type's fast movement blew most of the spores away from him as he hit the Roserade with a move Yun hadn't seen before. A glow formed around his wings as he hit the grass type with them several times in rapid succession, shifting his body and changing his direction of flight in the blink of an eye.
"Poison sting!"
The thorns of the rosebushes on it's hands started to grow, extending beyond the petals with sharp ends. It swiped at her bird, trying to create distance but Tenno was having none of it. He latched on the Roserade with his good claw, nails digging in it's body making it shriek in outrage. Crudely, it clubbed Tenno with it's flowered hands as her bird retaliated by spitting out an ember straight in it's face.
When his opponent's body went limp, Tenno let go, beating his wings quickly to gain altitude again. He circled a bit, eyeing the Roserade to make sure it stayed down until Gardenia recalled it.
She whistled. "Well done."
When Yun recalled Tenno, showering him with praise, the older woman stepped forward and motioned for her to follow.
"Let's heal your team, and make sure that bird of yours isn't poisoned. An while we're at it, maybe you can tell me a story, like how you got here looking like... that."
Yun nodded mutely, not feeling like it but figuring she probably owned the Gym leader some sort of explanation. So while her badge was being engraved, she gave the woman an abridged version of events. Gardenia listened attentively only occasionally intervening to ask a question or two.
Then after she was done it was silent for a while before the Gym leader spoke up again.
"You don't like battles, do you?"
Yun froze and gave the woman a guarded look. What was that supposed to mean?
"My Pokémon do." She said as if that answered everything. And to Yun, it did.
AN: For the record (since I feel the need to defend her from myself) Twinkle is not stupid. She's a recluse who hasn't had much human interaction aside from the occasional Ranger passing by. It's a miracle she knows as much 'human language' as she does.
So poison types take damage from poison moves but can not get the status condition... I didn't know how to write that out in a way that makes sense so I simply went for increased tolerance. In nature venomous animals often compete with, and poison other venomous animals, they can be affected by it as there are thousands of different types of venom out there.