Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter fourteen: Celestic Struggles, part one
Dawn and Kenny, the two reborn trainers, decided to spend the time until Ash and Brock made it to Celestic Town training out on Route 210. Kenny said that Juan was staying as a Pikachu for obvious reasons, but Wigglytuff the Jigglypuff was going to evolve as soon as Kenny got a Moon Stone because a lot of Wigglytuff's good moves are base moves it gets as a Wigglytuff. Dawn supplied Kenny with a Moon Stone from the selection of evolutionary stones she got from her stint in the grand underground, and within very short order, Wigglytuff the Jigglypuff soon became Wigglytuff the Wigglytuff.
While Kenny worked on getting Juan and Wigglytuff up to snuff, Dawn worked with her newer Pokémon as well. She wanted to get Minato, Froppy, Scorpion, Rapparatta, and Nobunaga all up to the same level of training as the rest of her rotation. During the days spent training as she and Kenny waited for Ash and Brock to show up, Dawn saw Minato, Froppy, Scorpion, and Nobunaga evolve into Yanmega, Toxicroak, Drapion, and Togetic (Dawn sped up friendship with the Soothe Bell she got a while ago). Using a Shiny Stone, Dawn evolved Nobunaga further into Togekiss.
Looking to Dawn as she managed her Pokémon, Kenny said, "Hey dude, which Pokémon do you plan to use against Fantina when you try for the Relic Badge?"
Dawn sat down, held a hand to her chin as she gave the matter some serious thought. "...I think I'll use a mix of Scorpion, Boss, and Souji." Looking to Kenny, Dawn asked, "How about you?"
"Well Fantina uses ghost Pokémon," Kenny said, "So I'll throw in Goofy. I think I'll try Shallot because he knows Shadow Ball, also he knows Ice Beam so he'll give Fantina's ghost flying type Pokémon a heap of hurting."
Pointing to Kenny, Dawn said, "It should be a Drifblim by the time we can go for the Relic Badge."
Kenny nodded in understanding. "As for my third Pokémon, I'm not too sure yet who to use. I guess it'll be a case by case basis."
"Well I'm sure you'll do fine," Dawn said, "Especially if you remember to have your Pokémon hold Chesto and or Lum berries before beginning the gym battle." Dawn then gathered her stuff while Kenny gathered his, then they headed back for Celestic Town to rest their Pokémon.
Back in Celestic Town, Dawn and Kenny end up walking past the local contest hall. As they walked, they overheard Ash and Brock talking, with Brock saying that Ash ought to take a break from training, but Ash adamantly refused on the grounds he hasn't come up with a way to deal with how Fantina's Pokémon like to spam Hypnosis. "Sweetness, the dudes are here!" Kenny said as he ran right over to where he and Dawn heard Ash and Brock talking.
Sighing, Dawn jogged to meet back up with Kenny, who by that point had met up with Ash and Brock. "Great to see you guys again," Dawn remarked, "So what's up?"
"I'm just trying to convince Ash here to take it easy a bit since he's been training like crazy," Brock explained.
"It's just that I still haven't come up with a way to deal with Fantina's Pokémon using Hypnosis a lot," Ash said, "How can I beat her if she keeps putting my Pokémon to sleep?"
Holding up a hand at shoulder level with the palm facing Ash, Dawn said, "I have an idea, but first you really ought to take Brock's advice." Pointing to the Celestic Town contest hall, Dawn said, "Why don't you watch the contest that's going to happen here?"
"Are you going to watch it?" Ash replied, "I mean, I never figured you to be one for contests, Dawn."
"I... actually considered being a coordinator a long time ago," Dawn remarked, "But I ended up finding my true calling pursuing the Pokémon League instead. Even so, I still don't mind simply watching contests." Giving Ash a wry look, Dawn went on, "And who knows? You might very well end up seeing something that'll give you an idea on how to counter Hypnosis."
Ash looked a bit surprised, but ultimately agreed to what Dawn suggested. The four trainers ended up going into the Celestic Town contest hall together to go watch the contest that was going to be taking place there today.
...
As the heroes waited for things to get started, Kenny asked how Ash did against Crasher Wake in the Pastoria City gym battle. Ash said that he won the Fen Badge on his first proper attempt. "Wait a minute," Kenny began, "First proper attempt? What do you mean first proper attempt?"
At that prompting, Ash proceeded to go into the whole tale; as it turned out, when Ash and Crasher Wake had their first actual battle, where each had just sent their first Pokémon (Pikachu for Ash and Gyarados for Crasher Wake), an alarm system went off before either Pokémon could use its first move in the battle, and a gym worker rushed in to tell Crasher Wake that some criminals were trying to stir up some trouble by kidnapping Pokémon from random people in Pastoria City.
As a prominent person living in Pastoria City, Crasher Wake had to go deal with it and, apologizing to Ash, had to cancel their battle. Ash, understanding the situation, was okay with it and even offered to help out, which Crasher Wake accepted. The group all left the gym and saw that the criminals that were up to no good were Team Rocket, so with Ash's help, Crasher Wake was able to drive away Team Rocket and save the day.
However, Crasher Wake's Floatzel was exhausted afterwards and he took a good hit, meaning he wasn't in tip top shape for a gym battle. Crasher Wake said that Floatzel would be back up to snuff by later in the evening, so Ash could try again then. He did, and in his second actual try at Crasher Wake (first that wasn't scuttled by criminal elements), Ash won against Crasher Wake and earned the Fen Badge. From how Ash described his battle, Dawn felt it went more or less the same as it did in the anime in her and Kenny's previous life.
"And now I need to worry about how to deal with Fantina's Pokémon using Hypnosis," Ash said. Looking to Dawn, Ash asked, "Are you sure that I could find an idea watching the contest?"
"You'd be surprised where inspiration can come from," Dawn remarked, "I mean, when I was-"
"Hey, are you Johanna's daughter?" a female voice called out, cutting Dawn off. Dawn and the boys were then approached by a woman who Dawn recognized as Lila, a character from the anime in her and Kenny's previous life who was a rival to Dawn's mom Johanna. Dawn remembered that Lila, who is a Pokémon stylist, was the only person to defeat Johanna in a contest. Dawn here, however, had to act a bit lost because she didn't remember if she would know who Lila is or not.
Nodding along, Dawn said, "Yes, Johanna is my mom." Gesturing to Lila, Dawn said, "Who are you?"
Smiling a bit, Lila replied, "My name's Lila. You know, I think it's in your blood that you'd come here to take part in the Celestic Town contest. After all, your mom is a contest legend."
"Actually, Dawn is taking the Pokémon League challenge instead," Kenny explained. At Kenny's urging, Dawn took out her badge case and showed her four badges she's earned so far.
Putting her badge case away, Dawn explained, "I'm here to take a break from training and simply watch the contest." Jerking a thumb at Ash, Dawn went on, "I suggested to Ash here that he do the same, maybe also find some inspiration in watching the contest to help him come up with an idea to help him win against Fantina in the Hearthome City gym."
Smiling a bit, Lila replied, "Just as well. I once tried contests myself in the past, and I was able to break your mom's winning streak. But I realized that contests weren't my thing, and so while your mom continued with contests, I became a Pokémon stylist, designing outfits for Pokémon and their trainers ali-"
"You design outfits for Pokémon?" Kenny said, cutting Lila off. After a bit of explanation and taking out his sketch pad, Kenny went on, "I need to find someone who can help me make this outfit that I had an idea for."
Looking at the sketch, Lila said, "It looks like a Pikachu wearing a libre wrestler outfit."
Nodding in confirmation, Kenny said, "Yeah, my Pikachu Juan is going to wear it."
"You caught a Pikachu, Kenny?" Ash said, looking surprised and mildly amused.
Taking the sketch pad from Kenny, Lila said, "...This looks good for a Pikachu. In fact, it's given me a drive to come up with a whole line of outfits just for Pikachu." Handing the sketch pad back to Kenny, Lila asked, "Can you see me after the contest? I'd like to give creating that outfit a try. It's a really interesting concept."
"No problem," Kenny replied as he took his sketch pad back. The heroes went on to find some good seats to watch the contest, while Lila herself got ready to compete in the actual contest. Dawn, as she remembered from the anime in her previous life, recalled how anime!Dawn won against Lila and got the ribbon there. But as Dawn herself here was aiming for the Pokémon League, thus not even touching contests, she felt Lila was going to have this in the bag.
To the utter shock of Dawn and the boys, Lila lost the final battle stage match to Jessilina, who Dawn knew full well was actually Jessie of Team Rocket in a crummy disguise. Surprisingly, Jessie's Seviper was able to knock out Lila's Delcatty outright. As the disguised member of Team Rocket collected the ribbon for winning the contest, Dawn and the boys greeted Lila after she had wrapped up her business at the contest hall. "Sorry that you had lost the contest, Lila," Dawn remarked in an apologetic tone.
Lila gently shook off the disappointment, not actually bothered by the loss at all. "Yeah, contests really aren't my cup of tea. I'm much more suited to making others look good than trying to do so myself. Speaking of." Turning to look at Kenny, Lila said, "If you'd like, you can come with me to my shop here in Celestic Town so I can get started on working out that outfit you came up with for your Pikachu. I'll also need your Pikachu's help as a mannequin of sorts." Looking to Ash next, Lila asked, "Would you be okay if I asked for your Pikachu to help as well?"
"Sure, I got no problem if Pikachu has no problem," Ash replied. Ash's Pikachu gave a happy cry of agreement before all of the heroes went with Lila to her shop in Celestic Town.
...
Late that evening, Lila presented to the heroes two Pikachu, one wearing the Pika-Libre outfit and the other wearing the Pika-Pop Star outfit. "I have Kenny's named Pikachu wearing the outfit that Kenny had come up with," Lila explained, "And Ash's Pikachu is wearing one of the outfits that I had come up with on my own."
Dawn was surprised that Kenny prompting Lila to craft the Pika-Libre outfit would also prompt the early appearance of another one of the cosplay outfits for Pikachu. The reborn trainer wondered if the other three would follow suit soon. "Well it's... certainly a very interesting concept," Dawn said, "An entire line of outfits just for Pikachu."
"Oh, I've done way more out there ideas," Lila remarked casually. To the heroes, Lila said, "I was able to make four of each outfits that's on display right now counting the outfits being worn right now, plus another four each for the other three. By around noon tomorrow, I'll have made a few more copies of each, but given the time I think it's best we pack it in for the night. You all are free to stayed the night if you wish."
The heroes took Lila up on the offer, and thus they all stayed the night with Lila. In that time, Ash explained an idea he got from seeing Lila's Delcatty use Shock Wave to defend itself while at the same time attacking Jessilina's Seviper. Ash said that he wanted to work on the idea a bit first, but he said that he felt confident it could help out against Fantina when he tries for the Relic Badge. Ash then thanked Dawn for urging him to watch the contest, citing that not only did it give him a good bit of inspiration like she told him it would, but he also had a little bit of fun.
Dawn, happy to see that Ash somehow started coming up with the Counter Shield idea anyway, nodded once before she wished everyone a good night before turning in.
The next morning, Dawn and the boys were having breakfast outside as Ash was practicing his idea for the technique he came up with to deal with Fantina's ghost Pokémon spamming Hypnosis. "Wow, he's really going at it, huh?" Kenny asked.
"Oh yeah," Brock said, "If there is one thing that Ash is known for, it's-"
Brock stopped short when Lila came running out into the backyard in something of a hurry. "I just heard on the news that some goofs calling themselves Team Galactic just stole the Adamant Orb as it was in route to transfer to the Celestic Town Historical Research Center!" Lila exclaimed.
Immediately, all of the heroes got up, and Ash dropped what he was doing as he recalled his Buizel and had Pikachu hop onto his shoulder. "We encountered Team Galactic before," Ash said, "Back in Veilstone City. They tried to steal some meteors but we were able to stop them. Brock's Croagunk and Dawn's Gabite teamed up to take down the Toxicroak used by the guy leading that raid."
"Why was the Adamant Orb on its way to the Celestic Town Historical Research Center?" Brock asked.
Gently shaking her head, Lila replied, "I have no clue. But we ought to go see." Everyone collected all of their Pokémon before taking off for the Celestic Town Historical Research Center, to see what was going on exactly.
Over at the Celestic Town Historical Research Center, Lila and the heroes walked in and ended up meeting up with Cynthia, the champion of Sinnoh. With her was an older woman dressed as a scientist who Cynthia introduced as her grandmother, Professor Carolina. "Oh, I remember you," Kenny said while pointing to Professor Carolina, "You're the chill lady who I gave that Old Charm to as a favor for Cynthia."
Professor Carolina smirked a bit in amusement as she regarded Kenny. "Well thanks for the vote of confidence, young man." Turning to look at Dawn, Professor Carolina went on, "And I recognize you from the news report about how the initial attempt to steal the Adamant Orb was foiled. You're the hero who stopped the thieves that day, Dawn Berlitz."
Dawn nodded once in the affirmative. "I am, yes."
"Then perhaps you could help with guarding the Adamant Orb's counterpart, which we have here at the Center," Professor Carolina said, "The Lustrous Orb."
"Yes, I do believe a hero who helped to save the Adamant Orb the first time can be of service in protecting the Lustrous Orb," a male voice spoke up, making everyone turn to see who Dawn and Kenny both knew was Cyrus, the boss of Team Galactic. However, they knew they couldn't reveal him, so they both kept calm for now. Cyrus was dressed in a business suit, and he was introduced to the heroes by Professor Carolina as a world famous businessman responsible for a lot of good will work in Sinnoh.
Seeing the shock on some of the faces of those there, Cyrus said, "Apologies for the scare just now, but I literally just got here and wanted to see what was going on."
"That's fair," Professor Carolina replied. She then gestured for everyone to follow her over to the room where the Lustrous Orb was being kept.
...
The heroes passed through a hallway on their way, and Dawn and Kenny spotted Team Rocket disguised as police officers; they saw Dawn give them a firm look that made it clear without need to speak actual words that they better not try anything. Eventually, they all reached the room where the Lustrous Orb was being kept. Professor Carolina used a keycard and palm scanner to open the door to the room where the Lustrous Orb was being kept.
It was there that Dawn and Kenny saw it; the Lustrous Orb, the special held item for the legendary Pokémon Palkia. The Lustrous Orb sat on a cushion inside of a square glass display case. "The Lustrous Orb," Professor Carolina said, "Similar to the Adamant Orb which had been stolen by those Team Galactic fools, is connected to the mythology surrounding the Sinnoh region. To be specific, it's connected to the legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia."
Dawn nodded in understanding, remembering from the games in her and Kenny's previous life that the Lustrous Orb was connected directly to Palkia, who Dawn had in her team during both her Pearl and her Shining Pearl play throughs. The reborn trainer thought about how that legendary primordial space deity had saved her skin multiple times, as well as played a role in notable wins she scored in the video games back in her and Kenny's previous life.
But this world that she and Kenny had been reborn into was playing out more like the anime rather than the games. Dawn very much highly doubted that she would be able to fully reconstruct the all-star team that she had in the Sinnoh games back in her and Kenny's previous li-
*KABOOM*
"What in the name of whatever entity is worshipped here was that?!" Kenny explaimed in a panic.
Professor Carolina tried to seal the room with the Lustrous Orb back up, but she found that the door wouldn't close. "That explosion must have compromised the security system for the Center," said Professor Carolina, her tone mildly worried and grim.
"We can't leave the Lustrous Orb here while there's danger afoot," Cynthia said, "We need to move it someplace safe!"
Acting quickly, Dawn called out her Mothim Coupins; prior to her and the others arriving at the Celestic Town Historical Research Center, Dawn rotated her party so that she had Chi-Chi, Cyrus (Dawn's Staraptor, not Cyrus the man with the heroes), Coupins, Germany, Akiza, and Souji as her on-hand party. Gesturing to Coupins, Dawn said to the others, "Give the Lustrous Orb to Coupins to hold, then I'll recall him to his pokéball. Once the chaos is over, I'll bring Coupins back out, retrieve the Lustrous Orb from him, then hand it back over."
Cynthia looked like she saw the reasoning behind that plan. "...It's simple yet brilliant. Most people I encounter don't make use of the fact that Pokémon can carry held items." Going through with Dawn's plan, Professor Carolina handed the Lustrous Orb over to Coupins, who was holding it when Dawn recalled him to his pokéball.
"If I recall correctly from the incident where the Adamant Orb was saved the first time," Professor Carolina began, "Your Mothim was used to save and protect the Adamant Orb, Dawn. And now the hero Mothim is stepping in once again but this time to help protect the Lustrous Orb."
As the heroes prepared to fight off whoever it was that was attacking the Center, an Officer Jenny came over with the disguised Team Rocket. "We're here to help with dealing with the attack," said Officer Jenny, "Just tell us what to do!"
"If I were a betting woman," Cynthia began as she held a hand to her chin, the look on her face serious, "Then given how those horrid Team Galactic fellows were able to steal the Adamant Orb as it was en route to the Center here, I'd say that Team Galactic are the ones behind this attack on the Center, and that they're after the Lustrous Orb."
"Then let us hold onto the Lustrous Orb," said the disguised Jessie, "My team here and I can protect it for the Center."
Gesturing to Dawn, Professor Carolina explained, "Dawn Berlitz here, who helped protect the Adamant Orb during the incident in Eterna City a while ago, is already protecting the Lustrous Orb. All that we need to worry about now is driving off whoever is attacking the Cen-"
Professor Carolina was cut off when Brock's Croagunk came out of his pokéball on his own and, with a look of anticipation on his face, took off down a hallway. "Ah! Croagunk, get back here!" Brock yelled as he proceeded to chase after his Pokémon.
Tossing up a pokéball, Dawn said, "Go, Germany! Help Brock and his Croagunk!" Dawn's named Gabite came out and proceeded to go along with Brock to help him deal with Croagunk wandering off on his own during the attack on the Center. Meanwhile, the rest of the group proceeded to head towards the main entrance way, hoping to get the Lustrous Orb out of there.
As the heroes and the others ran into the main entrance way, they were confronted when they ran into Saturn, a Team Galactic commander, and a bunch of Team Galactic grunts. There were many Golbat and a Bronzor flying in the air, and a number of police men all laid on the floor asleep. "You all are too late," Saturn said, "My Bronzor has already put everyone here to sleep, and my Toxicroak has taken care of any stragglers along the way."
"You criminals won't get away with this," Ash growled, "Pikachu, you ready?"
"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu cried in firm determination as he hopped off of Ash's shoulder and got ready to face off against Team Galactic.
"Juan! Let's double the Pika-power here!" Kenny said as he sent out Juan, who came out wearing one of the copies of the Pika-Libre outfit.
"Alright, Souji! Let's get goin'!" Dawn called out as she sent in her Rampardos.
"Go, Delcatty!" Lila, who went along with the group to visit the museum, said as she sent out her Delcatty.
"Garchomp, I choose you!" Cynthia said as she sent out her Garchomp.
As the heroes proceeded to face off against Team Galactic, they heard a woman's voice call out, "Do you fools really think you can stop Team Galactic?" The heroes turned around, and saw that Mars, another Team Galactic commander, had cut off their path of falling back with a bunch of Team Galactic grunts under her command.
Saturn smirked in amusement. "Thanks for the assist, Mars. Having you and your regiment here will make collecting the Lustrous Orb from these fools a snap." Looking around, Saturn looked a little bit confused in a curious manner. "...However, I'm failing to spot the Lustrous Orb. You would think that these would-be heroes would be transporting the Lustrous Orb by-"
*CRASH*
Saturn was cut off when his Toxicroak, Brock's Croagunk, and Dawn's named Gabite came crashing through the skylight above. Both Croagunk and Toxicroak had to scramble a bit to get back up, but Germany landed on his feet and was able to rush Saturn's Toxicroak with Iron Head, making it flinch as he threw it back. With that opening, Croagunk was able to get up and strike Toxicroak in the face with Poison Jab, able to knock Toxicroak out and sending it flying where it landed on the floor a foot away from Saturn on his right.
Up where there was a hole in the skylight, Brock peeked down. "Hey, is everyone alright?"
Saturn looked up after recalling his fainted Toxicroak, scoffed in annoyance. "Stupid meddling fools."
"Looks like I'm going to have to pick up the slack," Mars said as she sent a Pokémon out, "Go get 'em, Purugly!" Mars's Purugly came out crying out angrily in a challenging manner towards all of the Pokémon the heroes had out.
"Germany, use Rock Tomb on the Golbats!" Dawn said. Turning around, Dawn pointed at Mars's Purugly as she said, "Souji, use Iron Head on Purugly!"
"Juan, use Grass Knot on Purugly!" Kenny commanded.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on the Golbats!" Ash called out.
"Garchomp, use Brick Break on Bronzor!" Cynthia ordered.
"Delcatty, use Shock Wave on the Golbats!" Lila exclaimed.
"Purugly, use Shadow Ball on that Pikachu in the weird outfit!" Mars ordered.
"Bronzor, use Hypnosis on the Pikachu not wearing an outfit!" Saturn commanded.
The grunts all called out various orders to their Golbats, and soon the ensuing chaos unfolded. Garchomp rushed Bronzor and knocked it out in one hit before it could do anything. Pikachu and Delcatty unleashed waves of electricity that struck many of the Golbats, and a few more of those Golbats were struck by boulders hurled at them by Dawn's named Gabite. As a result, many of the Golbats went down in quick order.
Purugly began conjuring a Shadow Ball attack, but it got tripped up by Juan who made it fall over using Grass Knot. As Purugly got up, it took an Iron Head from Souji right to its face, making the fat cat Pokémon cry out in pain as it was thrown back by the force of the attack from the named Rampardos. Purugly was barely hanging in there, and there was still a good few Golbats to deal with from the grunts. The heroes knew that this was by no means over.
END, CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Author's notes;
Here we cover the episode where Johanna's rival Lila showed up; doing research on Lila, I learned she made outfits for trainers and Pokémon, which delighted me as it would allow me to get Juan into the Pika-libre outfit way sooner than what I was expecting. Aside from that, I moved onto the two parter involving trying to stop Team Galactic from stealing the Lustrous Orb. The battles that will take place will turn out differently due to different parties and more people, so keep an eye out for how that will go down.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Coupins (male Mothim), Germany (male Gabite), Souji (male Rampardos), Akiza (female Roserade)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Zarbon (male Machamp), Shallot (male Glaceon), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Wigglytuff (male Wigglytuff), Juan (male Pikachu)
Ash's Pokémon: Pikachu (male), Turtwig (male), Monferno (male), Staravia (male), Buizel (male), Buneary (female)