Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter eleven: The villain of Veilstone
Dawn spent some time getting through Routes 210 and 215 in order to reach Veilstone City, getting in some training along the way. Eventually, she had reached the location of the third gym that she would be challenging in Sinnoh. She recalled, from watching the anime in her previous life, that anime!Dawn had challenged Maylene to help rebuild her confidence after she suffered a bad loss to Paul, and anime!Dawn had lost but her plan did the intended job.
But here, Dawn had no intention of losing. As such, after resting for the night upon reaching Veilstone City, Dawn the next morning went out to Route 214 in order to do some training to get ready to earn her third badge. During this training, Dawn got some work done on all of her Pokémon, rotating her party as need be. As a result of this, she was able to get Luna, Souji, Shadow, Lynn, Otohime, Dio, and Germany to evolve, resulting in Dawn getting Luxray, Rampardos, Gastrodon, Floatzel, Electabuzz, Lopunny, and Gabite.
Those came as a result of pure training. With all of her Pokémon in her rotation at roughly the same level of training, Dawn felt ready to use various evolutionary stones to evolve a few of her Pokémon. As such, Dawn evolved Jack, Akiza, Boss, Lucy, and Fena into Gallade, Roserade, Honchkrow, Mismagius, and Leafeon. Now that she had a respectable assortment of Pokémon in her rotation, Dawn felt ready to figure out the best course of action for taking on Maylene's gym to earn her third Sinnoh gym badge.
...
Dawn was taking a break from training on Route 214, having a picnic of sorts with Chi-Chi, Cyrus, Coupins, Boss, Lucy, and Marquess. She figured that the Pokémon she had on hand at the moment gave her the best odds to work with against Maylene. As Dawn relaxed, she heard a familiar male voice call out some ways away, "Kermit, don't let up on that Houndoom!"
"Poliwhirl!" replied the cry of what's clearly a Poliwhirl.
Recalling all of her Pokémon aside from Chi-Chi who she gestured to have follow her, Dawn went in the direction of the shouting. When she reached the source of the commotion, Dawn came upon the sight of Kenny, with his Poliwag Kermit clearly having evolved into a Poliwhirl, facing off against a wild Houndoom who very clearly had a friendly expression on his face; Dawn could tell that it was a male Houndoom due to the horns.
Pointing at the wild Houndoom, Kenny said, "Kermit, hit 'em with Bubblebeam!" Acting on cue, Kermit spewed a forceful beam of bubbles at the wild Houndoom, making him reel back and stand there shaking a bit while trying to get over the hit. As the wild Houndoom stood there reeling, Kenny took out a pokéball and threw it at the Houndoom while shouting out, "Go pokéball!" The pokéball flew at Houndoom, took it inside, then fell to the ground and shook around for a bit until it made a ping sound, indicating capture.
With a smile, Kenny went over and collected the pokéball that held his new Houndoom, checking it with his pokédex. "And another cool bro joins the cringe posse," Kenny remarked aloud to himself, "I shall name him Goofy."
"Figures you'd name him that," Dawn spoke up, spooking Kenny a bit if the way he jumped was any indication.
"Holy shit, Dawn," Kenny said, "Don't go sneaking up on a bro like that."
Dawn shrugged a bit. "Sorry about that." Walking over to Kenny, Dawn gestured to Kermit and said, "I see you've evolved another one of your Pokémon."
"Oh yeah, I got the guys in my posse as evolved as possible through just leveling up," Kenny explained, "Aside from Kermit evolving into Poliwhirl, I got Roshi evolved into Torterra, Zarbon's a Machoke now, I got Slick evolved to Snorlax, and Moista Fista is now an Ursaring. I'm feeling that Shallot's ready for the Ice Stone to evolve into Glaceon, and as for the ones still not at their final stage, I need to do some trading with someone who will trade them back to me."
Dawn let out an understanding breath. "Let me pack up my picnic sight, then we can head to Veilstone City's Pokémon Center and we can do trading there." Kenny nodded in thanks as he went with Dawn to pack up her picnic sight before heading on back to Veilstone City to do the trading necessary to evolve some of Kenny's Pokémon.
Over at the Veilstone City Pokémon Center, Dawn and Kenny did some back and forth trading to evolve Zarbon, Kermit, and Cell into Machamp, Politoed, and Scizor; this used up the King's Rock and Metal Coat that Kenny got earlier in the process. After he and Dawn had gotten their original Pokémon back, Kenny used the Ice Stone he had and successfully evolved Shallot into a Glaceon. "Sweetness!" Kenny cheered as he pumped his fists into the air, "Now I'm ready to take on Maylene!"
"She uses fighting type Pokémon," Dawn pointed out, "And a fair number of the Pokémon in your quote unquote cringe posse are weak to fighting."
Kenny relented a bit at that, but then put on a serious face. "...Then it's time to plan."
...
Considering that he'd be limited to three of his Pokémon as gym battles here ran on anime rules, Kenny selected Roshi, Kermit, and Zarbon to use. As for Dawn, she picked Lucy, Marquess, and Boss as her three. With the two reborn trainers having picked their respective lineups for taking on Maylene, the two of them went over to the Veilstone City gym. Heading inside, Dawn and Kenny asked a Black Belt if he knew where the gym leader was.
The gym leader had a mildly troubled look on his face, which concerned Dawn and Kenny who both caught it. "I'll go see if Maylene can rouse herself up for another challenger," the Black Belt said, clear concern in his tone, "But I have to ask that you guys be understanding of her. Something... bad happened recently." Dawn and Kenny were now even more worried about what all might have gone down before they had come to the Veilstone City gym.
They were further worried when Maylene came out to greet them; she looked just as she did in the games and anime from their previous life, but Dawn and Kenny saw that Maylene looked troubled, with signs that she had been crying recently although she wasn't crying now. "...You both came here looking to challenge me?" Maylene asked.
"We... are looking to get our third badges each, yes," Dawn replied, not sure what to make of what was going on. She had a bad feeling that she had missed something terrible, but she still needed to earn her third badge.
Maylene sighed, then nodded once in understanding. "...Follow me to the dojo. It'll be sufficient for our battle there." Following along behind Maylene and the Black Belt, Dawn and Kenny went to the dojo, although both were still feeling unsure about what was going on.
"This is an official battle between Maylene, the leader of the Veilstone City gym, and the challenger Dawn Berlitz," the Black Belt, who was acting as a referee, called out, "Each trainer may use three Pokémon each, and the battle is over when all of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Also, only the challenger may substitute Pokémon at any time. Let this battle... BEGIN!"
"Meditite, I choose you!" Maylene said as she sent out her first Pokémon, her Meditite. Dawn took note of how Maylene was clearly forcing herself to sound ready for the battle.
Shaking her concerns away for the time being, Dawn tossed up a pokéball as she called out, "Alright, Marquess! Let's get goin'!" Dawn's named Spiritomb came out and landed on the floor in the dojo with a mildly interested cry of excitement.
Maylene seemed nervous about Marquess, but knew that she had to battle anyway. "Meditite, use Meditate!" Maylene ordered.
"Marquess, use Shadow Ball!" Dawn called out. Meditite, similar to its trainer, seemed nervous and a little upset, but proceeded to use Meditate regardless. However, partway through using Meditate, Meditite was hit by the Shadow Ball which exploded into it, sending it flying back until it landed on the floor on its back, clearly knocked out.
Holding a hand up, the Black Belt said, "Meditite is unable to battle! The winner is Spiritomb!"
Maylene was clearly putting on a brave face as she recalled her defeated Meditite. Tossing up another pokéball, Maylene said with some uncertainty in her tone, "Machoke, I choose you!" The second Pokémon used by the Veilstone City gym leader, Machoke, came out to fight, although Dawn also noticed some uncertainty in the Machoke. Sighing in a way that made it clear she knew that it was pointless, Maylene pointed forward and said, "Machoke, use Dynamic Punch."
There was no hint of excitement, even forced, in what Maylene said just now, which really put Dawn and Kenny on alert. Dawn especially, as she was currently in the middle of battling Maylene. She wanted answers after this battle, and hoped that it wouldn't be too big of an issue. "Marquess, use Psychic," Dawn ordered.
The named Spiritomb's eyes glowed with psychic energy, which soon blasted right into Machoke and sent it flying back until it fell onto and rolled on the floor a bit. When it landed face up, Machoke was clearly out of it. Holding a hand up, the Black Belt said, "Machoke is unable to battle! The winner is Spiritomb!"
"Something's very wrong," Dawn thought in a concerned, worried tone. Maylene even shed a tear as she recalled her defeated Machoke. The gym leader held the pokéball that contained her last Pokémon for the gym battle. Maylene winced slightly, which Dawn saw as a sign that Maylene was actually worried about sending out her last Pokémon, worried that it might get hurt. Dawn wasn't sure what happened, but surly a Pokémon as good as Lu-
"Riolu, I choose you!" Maylene said, sending out her last Pokémon which, to the surprise of Dawn and Kenny, was a Riolu.
"A Riolu?" Dawn thought, now sufficiently alarmed, "Why is Maylene using a Riolu? Shouldn't her last Pokémon be a Lucario?" Dawn then heard Maylene try to stifle a shuddering breath; looking from the battle to Maylene by just moving her eyes, Dawn saw that Maylene looked like she could freak out at any moment, a worried and mildly fearful look on her face. Dawn was worried that she could end up making Maylene freak out, so she decided to play the things cautiously.
Pointing forward, Dawn said, "Marquess, use Dark Pulse."
"Riolu, use Endure!" Maylene cried out, as if worried she might not be acting quick enough. Riolu quickly braced itself for whatever attack could come its way. The Dark Pulse that hit it, despite not being very effective, still did a lot of damage. But Riolu was able to take it, being at roughly forty or so percent left afterwards. "Riolu, use Endure again!"
"Marquess, use Dark Pulse again," Dawn said calmly and cautiously. Marquess fired another Dark Pulse at Maylene's Riolu, who tried to use Endure but failed. As such, when it was hit by Marquess's Dark Pulse, it got hit hard and thrown back, where it landed on its back on the dojo floor, defeated.
Holding a hand up, the Black Belt began calling out, "Riolu is-"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Dawn, Kenny, and the Black Belt all went wide eyed in surprise when Maylene cried out at the top of her lungs, screaming out of fright as if she had literally just witnessed something as bad as a murder. She promptly ran to where her Riolu laid on its back on the dojo floor, kneeling down next to it as she gently nudged it with both her hands, as if she were trying to rouse it. Dawn and Kenny both ran over, feeling a little freaked themselves.
The two reborn trainers were really alarmed when Maylene actually started crying as she begged Riolu to be okay. The Black Belt came over, just as alarmed by Maylene's freaked behavior, and looked at where Riolu laid on the floor. After a quick casual look, the Black Belt sighed in relief. "It's alright, Maylene," the Black Belt said in a reassuring tone, "Riolu just needs to rest at the Pokémon Center. It's nothing too serious."
Maylene let out a few shuddering breaths as she tried willing herself to calm down. After a few moments, Maylene scooped her Riolu up, cradling it in her arms, before standing up. "...Sorry for the unprofessional behavior on my part just now," Maylene said, still crying a little but was now able to function calmly enough, "You won the battle fair and square, Dawn. I'll give you your rightfully earned Cobble Badge later, but first..." Sniffling a bit, Maylene then said, "...But first just let me get Riolu to the Pokémon Center! Please!"
"...Would you like some company?" Dawn asked, clearly worried about Maylene. The gym leader could tell Dawn was offering an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on if need be. She nodded in thanks, then proceed to go to the Pokémon Center, with Dawn (who recalled Marquess first) and Kenny following along after her.
Later over at the Veilstone City Pokémon Center, as Maylene's Pokémon were being treated after Marquess was treated with an Elixer, Dawn and Kenny sat with Maylene at a table in the general waiting area while the Black Belt stood nearby, leaning against a wall. "...What happened?" Dawn asked as she looked directly at Maylene, her tone firm but sounding with concern.
Maylene, obviously shaken emotionally, looked up and right into Dawn's face. The Veilstone City gym leader clearly looked troubled, and there was a hint off red puffiness to her eyes, showing that she had been crying a bit since arriving at the Pokémon Center. "...I was beaten terribly by a trainer who had challenged my gym."
"Beaten terribly?" Dawn repeated, making a mental note of that, "Care to elaborate?"
Gulping nervously, Maylene shuddered a bit before she proceeded to regale Dawn and Kenny with the tale nonetheless. "...A few days before you and your friend here came to my gym looking to challenge me," Maylene said, "A serious looking boy who obviously had a cruel streak in him came to the Veilstone gym to challenge me."
Dawn had a sneaking suspicion in her stomach about who said boy might have been, but she had decided on waiting to ask for the name for the time being. "...Go on."
"You see, a while ago the gym leader over in Oreburgh City, Roark, suffered a terrible loss to that very trainer," Maylene said, "He phoned me about it after he had to award that trainer the Coal Badge since he did lose to him in a gym battle. Roark gave me a general description of the trainer with a cruel streak, which gave me an idea on who to look out for. Roark also told me that his Rampardos suffered particularly bad during that battle. Last I heard, Roark's Rampardos is still at the Pokémon Center being treated for a leg injury."
"Wait a minute," Kenny spoke up, a look of confused curiosity on his face, "Why would Roark phone you of all people about it?"
Right away, Maylene's face reddened a bit as she said, "It has nothing to do with how I phone Roark all the time, I assure you!" Maylene's quick declaration of that told Dawn and Kenny that there was something going on, but they decided to stow that something away for now.
Relenting a little bit, Maylene went on, "Anyway, upon Roark telling me about that cruel trainer, I dedicated lot of time to training with my Pokémon, in case that cruel trainer came. That training, the determination to be ready for that cruel trainer should he come, actually helped me to get more into synch with all of my Pokémon, which was a bit of a problem for me as I was beforehand a little bit unsure of myself due to having recently been made the gym leader here in Veilstone City."
Dawn remembered, from the anime in her previous life, that Maylene had some synch issues with her Pokémon, and wasn't exactly surprised that the Maylene here had them. But Dawn was a little surprised that Maylene was able to overcome those synch issues so soon. "...Anyway, after all of that training I did," Maylene said as she went on with her tale, "The day came where that cruel trainer had come to my gym to challenge me. I could tell it was him based off of what Roark told me."
"And it was in the resulting gym battle where he beat you terribly," Kenny assumed.
To the surprise of the two reborn trainers, Maylene shook her head in the negative. "No, actually. I beat him on his first try at me. My Meditite, Machoke, and Lucario were able to net me a win against the cruel trainer's Honchkrow, Magmar, and Gliscor. Albeit barely just, as I only had Lucario left by the time I had won."
"You beat him when he challenged you?" Dawn said, sounding surprised.
"Oh yes," Maylene replied, sounding like having done what she said she had done was a terrible mistake on her part, "And he wasn't happy. I could easily tell. He growled that he'd be back for a rematch when I was ready, and I replied that he had better of fixed his attitude by the time he came back." Maylene sighed, gently shook her head. "...He clearly didn't like losing. And I could tell now that me telling him off for him having an attitude was the equivalent of me trying to douse a fire with a gallon of gasoline."
Dawn could tell where this was headed. "He beat you terribly in his rematch with you."
Maylene nodded in confirmation, wiped a tear from her eye. "He wiped the floor with all of my Pokémon with the beasts he brought with him for the rematch. His Torterra in particular was totally merciless on my Lucario, beating him without holding anything back."
"You say you have a Lucario, but you didn't use it against Dawn in the battle she had with you," Kenny said, "Is it alright?"
Maylene pointed a shaky finger at the doorway leading further into the Pokémon Center. "...Lucario still hasn't woken up," Maylene said, "He was beaten that badly. The Nurse Joy says that she's not all that certain if and when Lucario will come out of the coma he was beaten into."
Dawn and Kenny were horrified by what had happened before they had come here. If what the two of them thought was true, then a certain someone is far worse than either of them had assumed. "Did you report him?" Kenny asked, "Deny him the badge because of how brutal he was?"
"He never said anything that I heard which would warrant reporting," Maylene said sadly, "All he said during our rematch was telling his Pokémon what to do. And he never told them from what I heard to be as brutal as possible. I gave him the gym badge he had earned, he chided me for being weak and that I shouldn't run my mouth, then he took off."
"Quick question," Dawn said as she got her smartphone out. She pulled up the recorded clip she had previously filmed in secret catching Paul in the act of releasing Chimchar. Showing Maylene the clip, Dawn asked, "Is the boy in this clip releasing the Chimchar the cruel boy you're talking about?"
Maylene's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "...Yeah, that's him, alright." Looking up at Dawn, Maylene asked, "What are you-"
"I'm trying to gather sufficient evidence to build a case against Paul to take him down," Dawn explained, "If need be, would you be willing to offer testimony against him? His actions against you would really help to take him down."
The gym leader of Veilstone City looked surprised, but she soon relaxed. "...At the very least, Roark's Rampardos is awake. I can't say the same about my Lucario. The reason why I can't say that is all on that cruel trainer Paul." Some renewed determination entered Maylene's eyes. "If it can help put a stop to Paul's cruelty, then yes. Just tell me what to do."
"Well for starters, I'd like to get your number so I can contact you if anything comes up," Dawn began. Maylene nodded in agreement and gave her number to Dawn. "...Second, how willing are you to face a few more challengers to your gym?"
Maylene looked a bit surprised. "...Well I can guess your friend here next to you wants to challenge me as soon as I'm ready. Who's the other person or persons?"
"A boy by the name of Ash Ketchem," Dawn answered, "He's the complete and total opposite of Paul in terms of personality and character. He's a good person who enjoys battling but isn't cruel about it. He, like Kenny here and I, is aiming to get enough badges to qualify for the league."
The Veilstone gym leader nodded once in understanding. "Fair enough. I'll face him and Kenny enough times for each of them to respectively earn the Cobble Badge off of me. But after that I'm going to want to take time off from my gym leader duties. Given what had happened, I don't think I'm in the right state of mind to give challengers the respect they deserve. Oh, before I forget." She reached into a pocket, pulled out a new Cobble Badge, and handed it to Dawn. "This is yours."
Dawn received the Cobble Badge from Maylene, nodded in thanks. "I'm sorry about what Paul had put you through. But I believe that, with enough evidence, he can and will be made to answer for all of his behavior."
"I would certainly hope so," Maylene replied, "I wish you the best of luck, Dawn." Turning to face Kenny, Maylene said, "And as for you Kenny, I'll be ready to face you when-"
"Dawn! Kenny! Is that you guys?" the familiar voice of Ash called out, cutting Maylene off and making her plus the reborn trainers turn to see Ash and Brock walk into the Pokémon Center.
Pointing to the new arrivals, Dawn said, "Ah, there's Ash now. He's the one wearing a hat and has a Pikachu on his shoulder."
"Who's your new friend here, guys?" Brock asked.
"This is Maylene, the gym leader here in Veilstone City," Dawn explained, "I had a gym battle with her earlier and won, but it turned out that, umm..." Thinking best how to put things, Dawn said, "Maylene here can offer some invaluable testimony to help build the case against Paul, if that help clears up things for you."
Ash scowled right away. "What did that jerk do this time?"
"Promise you'll keep your voice down?" Kenny asked, "Because let's just say that our odds of throwing the book at Paul have significantly gone up." Ash, as well as Brock, were worried about what all might have happened, but agreed to Kenny's worried request as they sat down with the rest of the group at the table.
To say that Ash was mad wouldn't be too accurate. He was just a tiny little itsy bitsy teenie weenie bit absolutely livid. He seemed more than primed to go to war after hearing what Paul's response to losing to Maylene on his first try at her was. The only reason why Ash didn't go out right at that instant to hunt Paul down was the fact Dawn pointed out that, technically, they had no proof that Paul had ordered his Pokémon in the rematch against Maylene to be as brutal as they were.
By the time that Maylene had finished recounting everything to Ash and Brock, the Nurse Joy alerted her to the fact that her Pokémon were now fully healed and rested. Maylene informed Ash that Kenny would get to challenge her next, but that he would get the first shot at her after Kenny's first attempt for the Cobble Badge.
Regardless, everyone got to watch Kenny's match with Maylene for his first try for the Cobble Badge. Considering that Paul had used a Torterra in the match where he horribly beat Maylene, the reborn trainer decided against using Roshi. He also decided to remove Zarbon from the planned lineup as well, and instead went in with Kermit as originally intended, but now with Cell and Shallot as the other two Pokémon.
Kermit had a moderately easy time against Maylene's Meditite, although he did take some hits. Cell was able to deal with Machoke and not go down despite taking a Brick Break to the abdomen; as a side note, Maylene expressed amazement in Kenny owning a shiny Scizor as Cell stumbled around with his metal pincer claws covering his abdomen, as if he were a guy who had taken a critical hit to his hidden treasure.
The final part of Kenny's challenge saw Maylene's Riolu face off against Shallot the Glaceon. Despite the type disadvantage, Shallot was able to overcome Riolu and win, thus earning Kenny the Cobble Badge. Maylene looked worried right away as Riolu went down, but she didn't freak as badly as she did when Riolu went down to Marquess earlier. Also, Maylene was able to land some solid hits on all of Kenny's Pokémon, so some of her lost confidence was restored.
The following morning, after all Pokémon had a chance to sufficiently rest and be healed, Maylene had her battle with Ash. It went more or less the same as Dawn remembered from the anime in her previous life, but rather than a draw between Ash and Maylene where she gave him the badge due to feeling he did well enough, Ash actually won straight up. Dawn also saw that Ash's Chimchar had evolved into Monferno prior to the battle; something else that had occurred ahead of schedule.
...
"...I'm going to have to report that I need to take time off from my gym leader duties," Maylene explained after she gave Ash the Cobble Badge, "I'll have to come up with an excuse, but I know that I can do it."
"After what Paul had put you through, you deserve a good vacation," Ash said, a serious look on his face, "There was no need for him to have done what he did." Letting out a breath, Ash looked up into the sky as he said, "Now I wish I knew where to go for my next gym badge."
"Oh, Pastoria City," Maylene spoke up, "I'd recommend Hearthome, but the gym leader there is still out at the moment. Pastoria is your next best bet."
Ash nodded in understanding. "Pastoria City. Thanks."
"Yeah, I'll be heading there as well," Dawn replied, "I'm also aiming for badge number four." Before anyone could ask him anything, Kenny took off running, claiming that he would reach Pastoria City before anyone else. With that, the group went their separate ways, with Dawn taking off from Ash and Brock to travel alone again. A lot has happened, much of it being different from what she was able to recall from the anime in her previous life.
She just hoped things won't reach a breaking point before too long.
END, CHAPTER ELEVEN
Author's notes;
Here we see more development for the sub plot involving Dawn trying to gather sufficient evidence to take Paul down, with his actions in Veilstone being worse due to losing to Maylene the first time, coupled with the other losses he's suffered here that he normally didn't suffer. Those losses will get to him, and play a role in how he develops here. Anyway, the next chapter will have Dawn and some of the others stay stuck in Veilstone due to some shenanigans from a certain villainous group, so look forward to that.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Monferno), Cyrus (male Staravia), Coupins (male Mothim), Boss (male Honchkrow), Lucy (female Mismagius), Marquess (male Spiritomb)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Kermit (male Politoed), Zarbon (male Machamp), Shallot (male Glaceon), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny)
Ash's Pokémon: Pikachu (male), Turtwig (male), Monferno (male), Staravia (male), Buizel (male), Buneary (female)