Sinnoh Journey

Chapter 11 - Flowering Glory

Gardenia, the Eterna City Gym Leader, was doing the last bits of training before facing any new challengers today. Yesterday had proven to be an absolute disaster when a trainer had completely aniahlated her chances of winning with the help of a Buizel, and an Aipom.

"I'm sorry about yesterday, I know I apologised last night and you hate me being like this, but I can't help it. Barry was just too strong. That Buizel took two of you out with ease, and although we defeated him in the end, Aipom managed to finish off the battle before we could land a single hit on him. If we lose again today, I don't know what I'll do," Gardenia ranted, apologising to her three pokémon once again for their loss.

Turtwig, Cherrim, and Roserade could see their trainer needed cheering up, but they didn't know how to help. They were just as upset about losing, this was the first time Gardenia had been this broken over a loss.

When three challengers walked in with Cynthia and Lucian to boot, Gardenia began to worry even more. Had Cynthia already heard about her loss yesterday and was coming to strip her title of Gym Leader.

"Cynthia, please give me another chance. I know I battled horrendously yesterday, it was all my fault and I should have done better. There are three challengers here, I can prove to you I'm still a good Gym Leader. Just please, please give me a chance," Gardenia begged, hoping Cynthia wouldn't be too upset with her.

Cynthia was taken aback at what Gardenia was saying, she had never seen Gardenia so worked up like this before and it was worrying her slightly. "Gardenia...what happened? You're never like this. A loss happens to all of us, why has this one affected you so badly?" she asked.

Gardenia sighed, "A trainer called Barry came to take me on yesterday, he managed to defeat Turtwig and Cherrim with only his Buizel, then used Aipom to take Roserade down before she could land a single hit. I thought you would have been disappointed in me," she explained.

"Barry? So he gave Piplup up for a Buizel?!" Kyra exclaimed.

"You know him? Is he a friend of yours?" Gardenia asked, hoping the answer would be no.

"Not a chance. That jerk abandoned Piplup for no reason besides being selfish," Willow replied.

Nate nodded, "Anyone who just gives up a pokémon since they can't be bothered to train them is automatically a red flag. We don't take kindly to trainers like that," he agreed.

Gardenia was relieved that it wasn't just herself who had caught bad vibes from Barry, but at the same time, she was worried that Kyra, Nate, and Willow would cause her yet another humiliating defeat.

"Gardenia, relax. Cynthia and I are just here to see how Kyra, Nate, and Willow battle. If you lose again, then that's fine. Everyone loses, just because you lost to an awful trainer who doesn't care for his pokémon, doesn't mean you're a bad trainer," Lucian encouraged, reminding Gardenia that she wasn't a bad trainer.

Gardenia took Lucian's encouragement on board and agreed to battle Kyra, Nate, and Willow. As usual for the Eterna City Gym, battles were three on three with only the challenger being allowed substitutions.

Willow battled Gardenia first, using the trio of Monferno, Buneary, and Misdreavus. Misdreavus and Turtwig ended up taking each other down. Buneary came out to take on Cherrim, and although it was a close bout, Cherrim ended up winning. Willow's last hope was Monferno, again it was close due to Monferno having to take on Cherrim and Roserade by herself, but she managed to pull off a win in the end.

Nate battled next since Kyra wanted to give Lucario a bit more of a break after having battled Garchomp. He ended up using the trio of Gastly, Onix, and Shellos. Having a team which didn't look too strong against Gardenia's made all that more challenging for him, leaving him backed into a corner by the time Roserade came out due to Gastly being his only pokémon left. As a last ditch effort to impress his trainer, Gastly evolved into a Haunter and ended the battle in a draw. Gardenia had been impressed by Nate's technique and gave him his Gym Badge despite the draw.