Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai

Chapter seven: On the case and earning badges

"Nando?" Ash said in a surprised tone as Officer Jenny brought up Nando, the supposed suspect who was in cahoots with the rest of the thieves. Despite his situation, Nando was being rather calm and understanding.

Dawn and Kenny turned to look at Ash, with Dawn remembering that, due to how things have gone since she was reborn into this new world, this is her first time meeting Nando. It's also Kenny's first time meeting Nando as well. "I take it you know this person, Ash?" Dawn asked.

Ash nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. He's a Pokémon trainer aiming to both win gym badges and contest ribbons. He's a pretty good guy if you asked me. I even had a battle with him once."

Nando smiled and nodded in confirmation to what Ash said. "Indeed. Even though I lost that battle to you and you Pikachu, it was still an enriching experience since my Budew evolved into Roselia in the process. Thanks again for the battle, Ash."

"Enough reminiscing," Officer Jenny said, "He's clearly part of the group who tried to steal the Adamant Orb earlier!"

"And with all due respect, I must insist that I am innocent," Nando replied, "I simply came here to learn more about the history of Sinnoh."

Gardenia nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm inclined to believe him. I battled him earlier, so I got a feel for his real character. I have no doubt he's telling the truth."

Waving away Gardenia's reason, Officer Jenny said, "It has to be him! The crooks had a Sunflora, and this guy here also owns one! I even have a picture of the Sunflora carrying the Adamant Orb!" Jenny then pulled out and showed a photo of what's clearly Meowth of Team Rocket dressed up in a Sunflora costume carrying the Adamant Orb.

"...That's clearly a Meowth dressed up in a rather crummy Sunflora costume," Kenny said dryly, "Heck, you can see the little coin thingy right in the center of the quote unquote 'Sunflora's forehead. Also, it's got those little pointy teeth coming down from the upper jaw. Sunflora typically don't have teeth period from what I remember. Nor do they have coins affixed to their foreheads."

"We ought to listen to them," A female voice called out, making everyone turn to see an Officer Jenny dressed casually come walking over.

The local Jenny gave the visiting one a suspicious look while Croagunk jabbed Brock to keep him from acting up. "...You're the officer from Viridian City," remarked the local Jenny.

The visiting Jenny nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, it's my day off. Anyway, we ought to investigate every trainer who has a Sunflora, not just automatically assume the first person found with one has to be involved."

"This is my jurisdiction, so don't get involved," the local Jenny replied as she waved the Viridian Jenny off, before taking Nando away for questioning. Soon, police and investigators surrounded the museum, making it virtually impossible for anyone to get out without being noticed. Seeing this, the Viridian Jenny let out a sigh.

"...Well, at least the real crooks won't get away," remarked the Viridian Jenny, "Now if only we can find where they went off to."

...

In a storage room in the museum, Jessie, James, and Meowth still in their disguises were hiding out. "Drat, the place is surrounded," Jessie scowled, "And to make matters worse the Sinnoh twerp girl foiled our caper by snatching the Adamant Orb back from us!"

"Our best bet is to get away from the museum and report to our employers that our job here unfortunately ended in failure," Meowth said, "But getting out of here is easier said than done. With all of the law enforcement surrounding the place, sneaking away is impossible."

"Then our best best to get away is to wait for a weak opening we can take advantage of," James began, "Force our way through it, and run away before we have a chance to be surrounded!" Jessie and Meowth both nodded in agreement with James, and proceeded to hide out until they saw the perfect opening for them to take advantage of.

Meanwhile, in a main area of the museum, the Viridian Jenny was talking with Dawn, Kenny, Ash, Brock, and Gardenia. "So what exactly do any of you know about the item that the crooks tried to make off with?" asked the Viridian Jenny.

"It's called the Adamant Orb," Gardenia began to explain, "It's a relic connected that's to the legends of the Pokémon Dialga and Palkia.

Dawn turned to look at the the metal case that the Adamant Orb was placed into, with said case guarded by two officers. "...I've got some idea about the legend, believe it or not," Dawn remarked, "If I correctly recall what I've learned about it, then the Adamant Orb is more directly linked to Dialga."

The others all turned to look at Dawn. "...Hmm," Gardenia said, holding a hand to her chin as she looked down to the floor with a look of contemplation on her face, "That does sound like it makes a little bit of sense, since the statue of Dialga has some sort of gem like thing in the plate over the chest, and said gem kind of reminds me of the Adamant Orb."

"Either way, we need to find the crooks," the Viridian Jenny said. At that prompting, Dawn, Kenny, and Ash called their Pokémon out to help with the job. This saw Ash call out his Staravia, Turtwig, Chimchar, Buneary, and a Buizel in addition to Pikachu who's already out.

Seeing Ash call out the Buizel, who Dawn was able to identify as male due to the markings on its back, as well as seeing its attitude, told Dawn that Ash had naturally caught the aggressive Buizel that anime!Dawn normally would have caught. Buizel was even naturally obeying Ash without issue, which told Dawn that either Buizel was made to see things the way he was in the anime from Dawn and Kenny's previous life, or Ash's and Buizel's shared affinity for battles made the two of them get along right off the bat.

Dawn, as well as Kenny, decided that it was a line of questioning for later. Either way, they called out their Pokémon to help out as well; this saw Dawn call out Chi-Chi, Cyrus, Coupins, Boss, Dio, and Lucy, while Kenny called out Roshi, Kermit, Zarbon, Slick, Cell, and Moista Fista. Kenny went on the move with Ash to look through the museum, while Dawn said that she'd stick by the Adamant Orb to help protect it from another theft attempt; the officers already guarding the Adamant Orb, knowing that Dawn was the one who saved it the first time, gladly accepted the offer of additional security.

Seeing all of the effort to protect the Adamant Orb and to track down the real crooks, the Viridian Jenny couldn't help but smile. "We'll bring the real crooks to justice," said the Viridian Jenny, "There's no way we can't."

...

In the room where the local Jenny was interrogating Nando, she was refusing to believe any plea of innocence he gave. "I keep telling you, there is no way that I am involved," Nando calmly insisted.

"Look, I know full well you're guilty," the local Jenny said, "So until you confess, we aren't going anywhere."

Giving the local Jenny a mildly resigned look, Nando replied, "Well then I hope you're ready to get comfortable here, because I will not stop insisting that I am innocent." The local Jenny sighed, being able to see that this will be a long day.

Later, some guards went into the room that Team Rocket was hiding in. But since Team Rocket was hiding along the ceiling, the guards failed to notice them. After the guards left, Team Rocket had dropped from the ceiling, breathing a collective sigh of relief. "Whew, that was a close one," Jessie said, "Now we can try to make our getaway."

The boys nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's get out of here," James said, "I think we can easily get out by going through the rear."

"MAAAAAACHHHHOOOOOOOP!" the aroused, sensually pleasured cry of a Machop called out, making Team Rocket turn to see a Machop standing there in the doorway into the room they were hiding in. A few seconds later, Kenny came running on in with the rest of his Pokémon in tow.

Pointing directly at Team Rocket, Kenny exclaimed, "Aha! The jig is up! Good job finding the real crooks, Zarbon!"

Zarbon the Machop gave an amused hum before saying, "Machop chop."

"Drat! We've been spotted!" Jessie said, throwing off her disguise to reveal who she truly was; likewise, James and Meowth did the same. Tossing up some pokéballs, Jessie said, "Go Seviper and Dustox!"

"Go Cacnea!" James said as he sent his Cacnea out. The moment after Team Rockets' Pokémon had appeared, an air vent gate was busted open from within, and a real Sunflora plus a Buizel came out of it, with Sunflora striking Seviper with Cut and Buizel hitting Dustox with Aqua Jet. "We've been ambushed!" James exclaimed.

Seeing the new arrivals, Kenny cheered, "Alright, you two! Talk about coming in clutch!" Pointing right ahead, Kenny said, "Roshi, use Bite on Cacnea!"

"Grotle!" Roshi exclaimed as he rushed forward and bit down on Cacnea's head, making it cry out in pain before Roshi threw him away. As Cacnea was thrown right at James, Ash and Gardenia had appeared behind Kenny, with Pikachu pointing at Team Rocket and crying out at them.

"Alright, Pikachu! Thanks for leading us to Team Rocket!" Ash said. Looking into the room, Ash asked, "Hey Kenny! You need backup?"

"We can try flanking Team Rocket to cut off their route of escape," Kenny pointed out.

Growling in annoyance, Jessie yelled, "It's bad enough you twerps handed us off to the police once already! I refuse to let that happen again!" Seeing that Seviper had recovered from being hit, Jessie said, "Seviper, use Haze! We're getting out of here!"

Acting on command, Seviper spewed a large volume of smoke from its mouth, blocking the sight of everyone else in the room aside from Team Rocket. They smashed through the window in the room, jumped out through the opening, Jessie recalled Seviper, and then Team Rocket ran as fast as they could, ultimately getting away.

With the window being busted open, the smoke cleared from the room quickly. Looking around, the heroes saw that Team Rocket had gotten away. "They got away," Ash said bitterly.

Gardenia looked around the room, spotted a security camera in the one upper corner. "...But that camera ought to of caught those guys red handed," Gardenia said, "If anything, we can at the very least clear Nando's name." The heroes had to take that as their victory as they recalled all of their Pokémon and went with Gardenia to report what they saw.

Checking the security footage, the local Jenny saw Team Rocket take their disguises off, which included seeing Meowth take off his Sunflora costume. She also saw Team Rocket take a bit of a licking before they turned tail and ran. Although the criminals ultimately got away, they failed to take the Adamant Orb, which Dawn was still helping to guard when Ash and Kenny went to get her.

Sighing in a troubled tone, the local Jenny said as she released Nando, "I guess what the other officers here in Eterna City say about me having a 'guilty until proven innocent' mentality towards suspects might be right on the money. Sorry again about that."

Still being calm and understanding, Nando replied, "I'm simply happy that I've been cleared. Now I can focus on working both on my trek to earn the gym badges and trek to win more contest ribbons." Everyone was outside of the museum as the sun was setting, with everyone turning to look at the statutes of Dialga and Palkia that were outside.

Particularly, Dawn was looking up at the statute of Palkia. "I remember from my previous life how in the anime, the group eventually also helps protect the Lustrous Orb, which is Palkia's special held item in the games," Dawn thought, "I wonder if I'll be involved there as well." Turning to look at the others, Dawn said, "Well it's getting rather late, and if I recall correctly, Gardenia has a big day ahead of her starting tomorrow morning."

Gardenia nodded in agreement. "Yes. I'll be facing Kenny first at my gym, then after his first go I'll face Ash later after my Pokémon had rested. Then the day after that I'll take Dawn's first go."

"This is gonna be off the chain!" Kenny cheered, "Imma get my second badge before you know it!"

Dawn smiled at that in an understanding manner. "Well never let it be said you aren't confident." With all issues taken care of, the heroes went to the Pokémon Center to relax and rest for the rest of the night, with Kenny giddy with excitement over how he was gonna battle Gardenia first thing in the morning for his second Sinnoh gym badge.

The following morning, after the group had gotten breakfast, they made their way over to the Eterna City gym, where Kenny would battle Gardenia and the others would watch. "Well now, I hope you're ready for a real workout to work off breakfast," Gardenia said to Kenny, "Because our official gym battle here won't be like the unofficial casual battle we had back in Eterna Forest."

"Oh, we'll see about that," Kenny smirked as he and Gardenia took their places on the battlefield for their battle.

Once both were in place, the referee called out, "This official gym battle will be between Gardenia, the leader of the Eterna City gym, and the challenger, Kenny Harris from Twinleaf Town! Both may use three Pokémon, with the last one to have any Pokémon remaining able to fight at the end of the battle being declared the winner. Also, only Kenny may substitute his Pokémon out at any time!"

"His last name in this world is Harris?" Dawn thought in mild surprise.

"Let this official gym battle..." the referee said, "...BEGIN!"

"Cherubi, I choose you!"

"Okay, Cell! Let's make it cringe!"

The first two Pokémon in the battle appeared on the field, Gardenia's Cherubi and Kenny's shiny Scyther. Pointing right at Cell, Gardenia said, "Cherubi, use Magical Leaf!"

"Cell, use Swords Dance!" Kenny called out. Cell closed his eyes and focused as sword shaped lights danced around him, strengthening him in the process. He was then hit by Cherubi's Magical Leaf attack, but it didn't do much to the dual bug flying type. "Cell, let's bust another move by using Swords Dance again!" Kenny ordered.

"Cherubi, use Magical Leaf!" Gardenia ordered. The same dance was repeated, Cell getting off Swords Dance and then getting hit by Magical Leaf but taking little damage. "Cherubi, use Magical Leaf again!" Gardenia said.

"Cell, one more Swords Dance ought to do it!" Kenny called out. For a third time in a row, Cell used Swords Dance while getting hit by Cherubi's Magical Leaf.

As the battle went on, Ash said, "I wonder why Kenny's letting his Scyther take those hits like that. Why isn't he fighting back right away?"

While Ash looked confused, Dawn could tell full well what Kenny was up to. "He's taking advantage of how Scyther, being a dual bug flying type Pokémon, has a times four resistance to grass attacks by having Cell tank those Magical Leaf attacks while maxing out his attack with multiple Swords Dance attacks," Dawn thought, "Well he's used it three times, so he's maxed out now."

Kenny, with a smirk, looked towards Gardenia. "It's my time to shine now," Kenny said. Pointing forward, Kenny went on, "Cell, use Fury Cutter!"

"Cherubi, use Solarbeam!" Gardenia called out. Cherubi began gathering energy to fire a powerful attack, but Cell ran in and swiped at Cherubi with his right blade arm, striking Cherubi and sending it reeling back until it hit a wall, where it fell down and landed on the ground, clearly knocked out.

Seeing this, the referee announced, "Cherubi is unable to battle! The winner is Scyther!"

Gardenia recalled her fainted Cherubi, then turned to look at Kenny. "Man, that Scyther of yours is something else, Kenny. But I won't let that stop me!" Tossing up another pokéball, Gardenia called out, "Turtwig, I choose you!" After Turtwig came out, Gardenia pointed right on ahead and said, "Turtwig, use Bite!"

"Cell, use Fury Cutter again!" Kenny called out. Gardenia's Turtwig rushed in and bit Cell on the green edge of his left blade arm, making Cell hiss in pain before he swiped at Turtwig with Fury Cutter, hitting Turtwig harder than how Cherubi was hit. Turtwig let go and fell away from Cell due to how much that Fury Cutter hurt. Turtwig landed on the ground at Cell's feet, defeated.

Making the necessary call, the referee called out, "Turtwig is unable to battle! The winner is Scyther!"

As the others watched the battle, Ash said in an impressed tone, "Wow, Kenny is on a roll."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "He's using a mix of maxing out Cell's attack with three Swords Dance moves, and Cell's Fury Cutter which is a bug type move therefore super effective against grass types like what Gardenia uses. Also, Fury Cutter does more damage the more times Kenny uses it in a row and it successfully lands." Looking at Cell, Dawn could tell that he was panting a bit out of exhaustion. "...But tanking those Magical Leaf attacks earlier, along with how Turtwig landed that Bite attack, are starting to add up. Kenny had better wrap this up soon."

Over on the battlefield, Gardenia looked at the pokéball that held her last Pokémon. "...This is where I make my comeback, I'm afraid," Gardenia declared. Tossing up the pokéball, Gardenia called out, "Roserade, I choose you!" After Roserade appeared on the battlefield, Gardenia pointed ahead and said, "Roserade, use Weather Ball!"

"Cell, use Fury Cutter!" Kenny ordered. Cell rushed in and swiped at Roserade as it was conjuring up a ball shaped attack that it threw at Cell. Cell's Fury Cutter landed, striking Roserade and hitting it hard; Roserade barely toughed it out by the the skin of its teeth (if it had those). As for Cell, he took the Weather Ball attack, unfortunately getting hit right on his abdomen. Getting hit right there made Cell stumble around as he covered his abdomen with his blade arms.

As Cell gave out a gasping cry of pain, Kenny said, "Oh, now why'd your Roserade have to go and hit Cell right in his shmeat?"

"I... didn't exactly order the attack to be aimed there," Gardenia said in a mildly puzzled tone, "It just sort of happened." Shaking her head, Gardenia said, "Roserade, use Weather Ball again!"

"Cell, try one more Fury Cutter!" Kenny called out. Cell, while covering his abdomen with his left blade arm, rushed in as quick as his pain would allow to swipe at Roserade who was conjuring another Weather Ball attack. Both Fury Cutter and Weather Ball landed on their respective targets, sending both Cell and Roserade reeling back. By the time both landed on the battlefield, Cell and Roserade were clearly out of it.

Raising both hands, the referee announced, "Both Scyther and Roserade are unable to battle! This is a double knockout!" Gesturing to Kenny, the referee went on, "However, since he still has two of his allocated Pokémon remaining, victory of this gym battle goes to the challenger, Kenny Harris!"

Kenny pumped both of his fists into the air as he cheered, "Woot! I just won against Gardenia!"

Smiling calmly, Gardenia recalled her fainted Roserade as she approached Kenny, who recalled Cell to his pokéball. "You did excellently, Kenny, and won fair and square. As such, I present onto you the Forest Badge." Gardenia then handed to Kenny his second Sinnoh gym badge. Turning to face Ash, Gardenia said, "My Pokémon will need to rest, but I will let you know as soon as we're ready to take your challenge, Ash."

Ash smiled and nodded. "I'm looking forward to it, Gardenia." The group then went to the Pokémon Center, so that Gardenia could rest her Pokémon and Kenny could rest Cell, for whom he requested an ice pack from the Nurse Joy to put on Cell's abdomen. While the heroes relaxed, Dawn gave a bit of thought on how she'd tackle Gardenia's gym. She had a game plan in mind already, and she had it figured that so long as she was careful, she'd do just fine.

Later that evening at around six-thirty, Gardenia was ready to face Ash so he could try for the Forest Badge. Similar to how Dawn remembered from the anime in her and Kenny's previous life, Ash won on his first go against Gardenia. However, Ash had used Pikachu, Staravia, and Chimchar in his battle against Gardenia; only Staravia remained the same from the lineup Dawn remembered Ash using in the anime.

Staravia made quick work of Cherubi, then did some decent damage to Turtwig before going down to a few Tackles and Bites. Chimchar came out next, and managed to take Turtwig out with an Ember. Then Gardenia sent Roserade out, and Chimchar did some decent damage to it. His Ember even ended up turning into Flamethrower in the process, making Ash express pride in Chimchar for how he learned a new move. Chimchar, surprised that his new trainer was proud of him, looked happy and jumped up while cheering.

However, when he landed Chimchar flinched a bit in pain, having taken a few attacks from Roserade. Ash recalled Chimchar and sent Pikachu out. Despite the type disadvantage as his electric attacks wouldn't do much to a grass type like Roserade, Pikachu was still able to take out his opponent with a mix of blitzing Roserade with Quick Attack before striking it across the face with an Iron Tail.

With Roserade defeated, Ash won his second battle against a Sinnoh gym leader. Gardenia, smiling a bit, congratulated Ash on the win and handed him his rightfully earned Forest Badge. "After my Pokémon rest for the night," Gardenia said to Dawn, "I'll be ready to face you first thing tomorrow morning, Dawn."

Nodding in understanding, Dawn said, "I look forward to it. Good night, Gardenia." The rest of the group said their goodbyes to Gardenia as they took off for the Pokémon Center for the night.

Over at the Pokémon Center in Eterna City, Dawn was busy feeding Chi-Chi, Cyrus, Coupins, Boss, Dio, and Lucy. Looking to the evolved Pokémon that were in her party, Dawn said, "Alright, I hope you three are ready for a real challenge tomorrow morning," Dawn said, "We got another Sinnoh gym badge to win.

As Dawn was getting her Pokémon ready, Ash, Brock, and Kenny looked on. "She's got some good Pokémon and she knows what she's doing," Kenny said, "I say that Dawn has it in the bag."

Turning to look at Kenny, Ash said, "Yeah, Dawn's really proven to be able to swing with the best of them." Giving Kenny a curious look, Ash asked, "So you're saying you're still looking to catch some more Pokémon?"

Kenny nodded in the affirmative. "Indeed, Ash. I still need to find and catch more Pokémon in order to perfect my cringe posse." Holding a hand to his chin, Kenny went on, "I'm just wondering what the next member of my cringe posse will be." Ash and Brock weren't quite sure what to make of Kenny, but they felt that he was still an alright person, and wondered with him what his next catch was going to be.

...

Team Rocket, after getting away from the museum, were resting outside of the entrance to Wayward Cave on Route 206. "I can't believe that we bungled the job like that," Jessie said in a clear tone of complaint, "Now we're bound to be on Team Galactic's bad side."

"Maybe if we come up with some manner of peace offering, they won't be as mad?" Meowth offered.

"But it's not like a peace offering is just going to fall right into our laps, Meowth," James pointed out, "So we're-"

James was cut off when he, Jessie, and Meowth heard some small rocks skip away from the entrance to Wayward Cave, a clear indicator that someone, or something, was coming out from the cave. To the surprise of Team Rocket, it ended up being a Sandshrew that was primarily a greenish color as opposed to yellow. Aside from how its eyes were looking crossed in opposite directions, it still looked perfectly fine.

"It's a shiny Sandshrew!" Meowth exclaimed in delight, "Oh, this'll more than make up for-"

"Sandshrew shrew Sandshrew?" the shiny Sandshrew said, cutting Meowth off and making him look confused.

As she and James looked at Meowth expectantly, Jessie said, "Well, Meowth? What did it say?"

"It... it just asked us if we know the way," Meowth said, still looking confused.

"Sandshrew shrew Sandshrew Sand Sandshrew?" the shiny Sandshrew spoke up again.

Meowth, looking even more confused, then said, "Now it said do you know the way my brothers."

With an amused smirk, Jessie said to the shiny Sandshrew while pulling out a large burlap sack, "Oh, we do know the way, Sandshrew, and it starts with you getting into this-"

*HACPTOOT*

"Ah!" Jessie screamed as she stumbled backwards while covering her left eye, dropping her burlap sack in the process, "That Sandshrew had just spat right into my eye!"

James and Meowth both turned to face the shiny Sandshrew, both of them looking mildly worried. The scene then zoomed in on the shiny Sandshrew's face; when it was close enough, Sandshrew made a clicking sound with its tongue.

END, CHAPTER SEVEN

Author's notes;

This wraps up the events of the episode where the Adamant Orb shows up; given how important it's going to be later on down the line, it had to be adapted. Additionally, Kenny and Ash both have their respective battles with Gardenia and win, with both of them netting Forest Badges and Dawn noting how Ash's win was different than it was in the anime of her and Kenny's previous life.

Additionally, Team Rocket appear near the end outside of the Wayward Cave area, as that's where Dawn has to go soon to make a very important capture. Additionally, the shiny Sandshrew that showed up will be important as well, given that it's going to start following Team Rocket around to harass them. You'll see what I mean later in future chapters. Until then, take care.

Dawn's Pokémon: Chi-Chi (female Monferno), Cyrus (male Staravia), Coupins (male Mothim), Boss (male Murkrow), Dio (male Buneary), Lucy (female Misdreavus)

Kenny's Pokémon: Roshi (male Grotle), Kermit (male Poliwag), Zarbon (male Machop), Slick (male Munchlax), Cell (male Scyther; shiny), Moista Fista (male Teddiursa)

Ash's Pokémon: Pikachu (male), Turtwig (male), Chimchar (male), Staravia (male), Buizel (male), Buneary (female)