Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter twenty-nine: Festival Festivities
The heroes were continuing to eat lunch outside with Johanna and Noelle when Cara and Izzy came over. "Johanna, there you are," Cara said, "We need your help to determine the placement for the food booths at the festival."
"We're also a little short handed, so some extra pairs of hands would be much appreciated," Izzy pointed out.
Sighing, Johanna said, "Very well." Looking to the heroes and Noelle, Johanna asked, "Would any of you mind pitching in here?"
"I'd be glad to help out, mom," Dawn replied, eliciting cries of agreement out of her Pokémon. In a similar vein, Ash, Kenny, and Brock all volunteered to help out as well, with Noelle saying she'll assist Johanna in helping getting the last of the festival set up. That all meant that the heroes, Noelle, and Johanna had to wrap up lunch quickly, so they quickly ate and drank everything before they all got up and got going with Cara and Izzy.
...
With the heroes pitching in with their Pokémon, the labor setting up the festival was more or less trivialized. The large, bulky Pokémon were helpful in hauling loads, and Zarbon's strength made clearing stuff to the side a breeze. Cara was particularly amused to see Leni float stuff using Psychic, to which Johanna, in a 'mother bragging about her child' kind of manner, attributed to how Dawn had raised the named Lucario.
Within short order, all of the booths and other attractions for the festival had been set up. All that was left was to stock a lot of the booths, but that could be handled by the individuals running the booths. After the heroes recalled their Pokémon, they plus Johanna and Noelle were approached by Cara and Izzy. "Thanks for helping us get the booths set up," Cara said, "Now we're ready for the Twinleaf Town festival tomorrow."
"No problem," Johanna replied. Looking up into the skies above, Johanna said, "Hmm, it's getting a tad late. I was actually hoping for-"
"Has anyone seen Nathaniel?" a woman called out suddenly as she came running by, cutting Johanna off, "I can't find him anywhere!"
Johanna turned to look at the woman, a hint of concern in her expression. "Your son is missing?"
"I can go look for him," Dawn volunteered, raising a hand.
Seeing her daughter take initiative like that, Johanna couldn't help but smile in pride over how her daughter was growing up. "...Could you please hurry in finding the young boy, Dawn?" Johanna asked. Dawn nodded in the affirmative. Asking Nathaniel's mom if she could provide a picture of what Nathaniel looked like, the woman pulled out a photograph of her son and handed it over to the reborn trainer. Dawn called out her Honchkrow, Boss, and had him fly overhead as eyes in the sky to help look for the lost young boy.
A short while later in some forests near Twinleaf Town, Dawn was walking along with Boss flying overhead. As the reborn trainer looked around, she heard Boss cry out before seeing him fly down to check something out. Seeing this as a sign that her named Honchkrow saw Nathaniel, Dawn ran right on in that direction in order to try and locate Nathaniel.
Sure enough, when Dawn ran out into a clearing, she spotted Boss fighting a wild Heracross as a young boy who looked like Nathaniel in the provided photo was yelling at what he thought was a wild Pokémon attacking the Heracross he lured in by putting honey on a tree. Sighing, Dawn walked on over and got Nathaniel's attention by calling out, "Boss, hit that Heracross with Drill Peck, then keep it pinned."
Acting as Dawn ordered, Boss spun in a drill like manner as he pecked right at the Heracross, knocking it out and laying it on the ground where it was kept pinned by the named Honchkrow. As Dawn walked up to him, Nathaniel said, "Hey, I was hoping to catch that Heracross!"
"I could tell that much," Dawn said, surprising the younger boy a bit, "You came out this far and smeared honey on that tree over there, and then you set to hiding to keep an eye on the tree in the hopes that a Pokémon would show up."
Nathaniel looked down a bit. "...Yeah. I was especially hoping for a bug Pokémon, because bug Pokémon are the coolest."
Gesturing to where Boss still had the Heracross pinned, Dawn went on, "Do you have any Pokémon of your own yet?"
Seeing the surprised, mildly stunned look on Nathaniel's face gave Dawn all the answer she needed from him. "...No. I don't even have any pokéballs."
"So you came out here hoping to catch some Pokémon," Dawn began, "Without any Pokémon already to help you battle and weaken wild Pokémon you came across, or without any pokéballs to catch wild Pokémon with." Sighing gently in an understanding tone, Dawn went on, "I can't blame you for getting excited, Nathaniel, I-"
"Hey, how do you know who I am?" Nathaniel asked, interrupting Dawn.
"Your mom is looking for you, and I volunteered to track you down," Dawn explained, "She gave me a photo of you so I'd know what you looked like. Now that I found you, we'll be heading on back to Twinleaf Town. But first..." Dawn, with a sly hint of knowing entering her expression, turned to face where Boss still had the Heracross pinned. "...You're going to catch that Heracross."
Nathaniel looked surprised. "Really? But I have no Pokémon to weaken it with in bat-"
Gesturing to where Boss had the Heracross pinned, Dawn pointed out, "I did the weakening of the wild Heracross for you. Now all you need to do is catch it." Dawn took out ten spare pokéballs and handed them to Nathaniel. "You know how to use these?" Dawn asked. Nathaniel said no, so Dawn walked him through the process. Soon, Nathaniel expanded a pokéball and threw it at the defeated Heracross as Boss got up from it.
Heracross went into the pokéball before the pokéball fell to the ground. It shook for a moment before it made a ping sound, indicating capture. "I... I did it," Nathaniel said, "I caught a Pokémon." The young boy went over to collect the pokéball that held his newly caught Heracross.
"You can keep the extra pokéballs," Dawn replied, "Consider it a gift. Now, let's get going back to Twinleaf Town." Nathaniel nodded in agreement before he proceeded to follow Dawn and Boss out of the forest.
As Dawn and Nathaniel walked into Twinleaf Town, they soon came across a sight that took Dawn by surprise; Kenny was battling Johanna. The battle saw Johanna using her Glameow and Umbreon against Kenny's named Machamp and shiny Sandslash. "Oh, you found Nathaniel," Nathaniel's mom said as she ran over and hugged her son.
"Yes, but why is my mom battling Kenny?" Dawn asked.
Looking over, Nathaniel's mom explained, "Apparently, Johanna wanted to have a practice contest battle with you, but you had volunteered to go find my little Nathaniel. So your friend Kenny decided to accept the challenge in your place."
Dawn, with Nathaniel and his mom, turned to look at the battle as it was unfolding. "Glameow, use Attract on Sandslash!" Johanna called out, "Umbreon, use Attract on Machamp!"
"Elay, dodge by using Dig on Glameow!" Kenny said, "Zarbon, use Dynamic Punch on Umbreon!" Elay quickly burrowed underground, avoiding the Attract flying his way. As for Zarbon, he got hit directly by Unbreon's Attract but it failed to sway him as he went in and punched Umbreon squarely in the face, knocking it out.
Johanna, looking confused, said, "Hey, Umbreon is a girl, and your Machamp is a boy. How come Umbreon's Attract failed to work on Machamp?"
Shrugging, Kenny replied, "Even I can't figure Zarbon out sometimes, Mrs. B." Dawn, who saw and heard all of this, gently face palmed, having a good idea why Zarbon, a male Machamp, was immune to a female Pokémon's Attract despite how by all rights it should have worked. Shortly after Zarbon had shrugged off an Attract and knocked out Umbreon, Elay burst out of the ground and slammed up into Glameow, knocking it out and winning Kenny the battle.
After Kenny won, Dawn came walking over with Nathaniel and Nathaniel's mom. "What did I miss?"
"Oh Dawn, you found Nathaniel," Johanna commented, "And to answer your question, I need to brush up on my contest skills. I got some serious work ahead of me, even after the Twinleaf Town festival is over. As such, I ended up having a contest battle against Kenny, who won due to knocking out my Pokémon before the timer was up."
"Even after the festival is over?" Dawn repeated in a curious tone. Deciding to put that aside for now, Dawn and the others saw Nathaniel and his mom off before heading back to the Berlitz residence for the night.
The following morning, the heroes were helping Johanna and Noelle with a few last minute touches before the festival is kicked off. As they were working, they were approached by Cara and Izzy again. "Hey, Johanna," Cara began, "Professor Oak still hasn't shown up yet. He needs to get here soon so he can give the lecture on the relationship between Pokémon and evolutionary stones."
"Professor Oak is coming?" Ash spoke up. Turning to look at the other heroes, Ash said, "I can go look for him."
"...Actually, Ash," Dawn said suddenly, "You ought to wait here. I can go out with Brock, while you and Kenny hold down the fort here."
Ash gave the notion a bit of thought before saying, "Alright then." Ash proceeded to stick with Kenny while Dawn and Brock took off to go find Professor Oak. After Dawn and Brock were gone, Ash turned to look at Kenny. "You think we ought to look for Professor Oak around here, in case he comes by while Dawn and Brock are out?"
Shrugging, Kenny replied, "It wouldn't hurt."
...
Meanwhile, Team Rocket was hiding in some nearby bushes, overhearing what the heroes had said. "A renowned Pokémon expert like Oak-y boy would be a Pokémon magnet," Meowth said, "If we had a fake Oak, we could use him to convince people to trust us with their Pokémon, then send those Pokémon right to the boss!"
"A good thing I saved James's Oak costume from last time," Jessie said as she took out a costume and forced it onto James, despite his protests.
With James dressed up as Professor Oak, Jessie and Meowth were set to send him out, but luckily for them Cara and Izzy came by. "Oh, there you are, Professor Oak!" Cara called out, "About time that we found you!" Before James could utter even a single word of protest, Cara and Izzy took him by his arms and carried him off.
"Remember, Professor!" Jessie called out in a knowing tone, "If someone asks you for advice on their Pokémon, don't be afraid to see what's up with the Pokémon in question!" After Cara and Izzy had taken the disguised James out of sight, Jessie and Meowth did a high five, eager to see the success of their plan.
A short while later at a conference hall, Cara and Izzy took the disguised James inside and right over to see Johanna. Seeing 'Professor Oak', Johanna greeted him with a warm smile. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Professor Oak," Johanna said, "I'm looking forward to the talk you're going to be giving on the relationship between Pokémon and evolutionary stones."
"Oh, umm, ah yes," James stammered, trying to keep straightened, "Well I do have quite the-"
"Hey, Mrs. B," Kenny called out, cutting off the disguised James and making everyone turn to look and see Ash and Kenny walk in, "Have Dawn and Brock come ba-"
"Oh, Professor Oak!" Ash said, cutting Kenny off and making him turn to see 'Professor Oak' was in the room already.
Seeing that Ash was right there, James had to play it cool. "Oh, pleasure to see you again, young man," James said somewhat nervously, knowing full well that Oak was familiar with Ash, "How are you doing?"
Ash regarded 'Professor Oak' with a curious and mildly confused look. "Are you okay, Professor Oak? You seem a bit out of it."
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," James said as he continued to fake being Oak, "It's just that I literally got here and I'm in a bit of a jumble at the moment."
Kenny eyed 'Professor Oak' with a certain degree of suspicion. "...Say, Professor Oak," Kenny began, "I was wondering if you could give me some advice on a shiny Pokémon that I own."
"Oh, those assistants that were with Oak earlier told him to have at it if anyone asks him for advice on their Pokémon," Cara said, "Go right ahead, young man!" At that prompting, Kenny called out his shiny Sandslash, Elay.
The moment he spotted 'Professor Oak', Elay said to him, "Sandslash slash Sandslash?"
"Oh, umm, what is your Sandslash here saying, young man?" James asked, hating how he was stuck dealing with the shiny Sandslash who seems to have a habit of harassing him, Jessie, and Meowth.
"Elay had asked you if you know da wae," Kenny explained, "Learning da wae is a pathway to achieving enlightenment. Come, let Elay sing for you the song of his people." Looking to his shiny Sandslash, Kenny said, "Elay?"
"SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!" Elay cried out as loud as loud and as long as possible, drawing confused looks out of everyone there aside from Kenny.
"...Uhh," James said, "That's a very... entertaining song, I su-" James was cut off when Kenny reached forward and pulled off his wig, exposing him.
Ash jumped back, surprised to see that it was James dressed up as Professor Oak all this time. "James of Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed, "What are you doing here? And where's the real Professor Oak?!"
"Look, Jessie and Meowth put me up to this on the pretense of getting a lot of Pokémon from unsuspecting people," James said, "I didn't even want to dress up like this at all!"
"Good job, Kenny," Johanna said, "Exposing this criminal! How could you tell he wasn't the real Professor Oak?"
Kenny, his gaze narrowing, explained, "He looked like he recognized Ash but wasn't comfortable seeing him, which was a sign. We've run into disguised Team Rocket before, and Elay always can tell when someone is really Team Rocket in a disguise. The way that Elay reacted the moment he saw James here was a dead giveaway."
"*click*" Elay made a tongue clicking noise.
As Ash, Kenny, and the others there had James surrounded, Dawn and Brock came over, followed by the real Professor Oak, who was accompanied by an assistant and Delia Ketchum, who is Ash's mom. "It's James of Team Rocket!" Brock exclaimed, "He's dressed up like Professor Oak!"
"I should have known Team Rocket would try to besmirch the good name I've developed over the years to their own gains!" Professor Oak remarked bitterly.
"Look, I didn't even want to do this!" James said, "The others forced me into-"
James was cut off when Delia forced her way through and placed her left hand on his right shoulder, her eyes burning with fury. "That's my baby you are harassing!" Delia snarled, sounding near demonic as her voice sounded legion, "I haven't seen him in ages, and you are harassing him!" Delia then dragged James out of the room and proceeded to try beat him up.
Try being the key word here because James, rightfully afraid due to having gotten between a mom and her child, immediately got loose and ran away, screaming for dear life as he fled. After James had fled, Delia turned to face Ash, rushed him, then threw her arms around him as she pulled him in close. Delia was gently crying as she stroked the back of Ash's head, her tone very clearly fearful for her child's well-being.
The others watching were touched by this display, as well as some concern being reopened for Ash. As the others watched, Dawn said, "Yeah, Professor Oak brought Ash's mom along when they heard that Ash would be in Twinleaf Town for the festival."
"Well I can't blame her for how she's acting," Johanna remarked, putting a hand on Dawn's shoulder, "I'd be acting much the same way as Delia is acting right now if I caught a criminal harassing you."
Kenny let out an amused huff. "No force is more powerful than a mom trying to get to her child." The others all nodded in agreement with Kenny as they continued to watch Ash being held by his mom like that as she cried out of relief.
The festival kicked off with Oak's lecture on the relationship between Pokémon and evolutionary stones. There was even one point where a boy asked for help with his Tyranitar, and Oak was able to quickly figure out that there was a thorn in its foot. Oak took the thorn out, and the Tyranitar was feeling perfectly happy again afterwards. Everyone cheered as they saw the awesome expert on all things Pokémon in action like that.
Watching Professor Oak from backstage were the heroes, plus Johanna and Delia. "He figured out what was up with that Tyranitar in next to flat," Brock remarked in an amazed tone, "Professor Oak really does know his stuff."
"What's a boy that age doing with a Tyranitar?" Kenny asked.
"What's a girl my age doing with a Garchomp?" Dawn asked her friend in a knowing tone, shooting him a likewise look.
After Kenny relented, Ash nodded as he and the others continued to watch Professor Oak at work. "Yeah, Professor Oak really is a great guy. He's the one who set me up with Pikachu and sent me off on my journey as a Pokémon trainer." Pikachu nodded in agreement and then nuzzled against Ash's face on the right side. With Professor Oak kicking off the Twinleaf Town festival like that, the heroes all had a feeling that things will go smoothly.
...
The next day, the heroes are following along behind Johanna and Delia as they were walking around and enjoying the festival. "Oh kids," Johanna said, "I got it that there will be a battle tournament in the festival. Any of you interested in competing?"
"You can count me in!" Ash declared firmly, "I'll be in it to win it!"
Dawn, remembering that part of the anime from her and Kenny's previous life, gently shook her head. "I want to check out more of the festival as a whole. I also wanna look into buying one or two things I feel I'll be needing on my journey." Dawn remembered the tournament in the Twinleaf Town festival from the anime in her previous life, and that Ash ultimately won it. She didn't want to risk messing that up, so she decided to refrain from entering. She still wanted to look into finding slash buying certain held items anyway.
"That lady who is Nathaniel's mom actually needs someone to babysit her kid," Kenny said, "So she got me to do it."
Brock smiled. "Guess it'll be just me and Ash, then."
"Actually, I heard from Palmer's wife Patty that her and Palmer's boy, Barry, was looking into entering the tournament," Johanna began, "But Palmer immediately shot that idea down due to how Barry got into a bit of trouble a while ago over harassing some trainers."
Kenny and Dawn both turned to look at Johanna. "...Is he a blonde boy," Dawn began, "Wears some orange and white striped shirt, very energetic and excitable, and prone to not sitting still?"
Johanna turned to look at Dawn, a surprised look on her face. "...You're familiar with Barry?"
Gesturing to herself and Kenny, Dawn explained, "Because Kenny and I are the trainers who Barry had harassed." Dawn, with Kenny backing her up, proceeded to tell the whole story to Ash, Brock, Delia, and Johanna, about how Barry harassed them with accusations that they had both cheated against Paul in the Hearthome Tag battle competition on the basis that Paul in no way could ever be defeated in a battle ever.
After Dawn capped the story off by describing how Barry was escorted away by a police officer, Johanna with a very firm look in her eyes declared, "Well we're going right over to see Patty and demand that her boy apologizes to you for how he harassed you over a battle you and Kenny won fair and square! No little demon harasses my daughter and calls her a cheater like that and gets away with it!" Johanna then led the way right to where Barry's family lived, in order to demand an apology from Barry.
A short while later at Patty's place, Johanna knocked on the door. A few seconds later, a woman around the same age as Johanna and Delia answered the door; she looked like an adult female Barry, but with her blonde hair combed and brushed straight into a hime-style that reached down her back to reach the ends of her shoulder blades. She also wore a long sleeved blouse and ankle length skirt that basically had the same color scheme as the outfit Barry wore when he harassed Dawn and Kenny a while ago.
The woman was surprised to see Johanna, as well as the heroes behind her. "Patty," Johanna said in a firm tone, "I just learned that it was my daughter and her friend Kenny who your son had accused of cheating and overall harassed."
Patty looked a bit troubled, mostly out of embarrassment. "...Yes, because of that Paul boy that I heard about from Barry." Gesturing for everyone to come on in, Patty went on, "I've been meaning to make my son apologize for his actions anyway, so come on in." Patty then let everyone inside in order to get the apology from Barry for his actions.
...
In the dining room area, Patty and Barry sat on one side of the table while Johanna and Dawn, with Kenny standing behind them, sat opposite of Barry and his mom. Barry had a clearly embarrassed air about him that seemed wholly uncharacteristic of him. "...Yeah, sorry again about how I had acted back then," Barry said, "I still can't believe that I had let myself act like such an idiot."
"Due to said actions," Patty spoke up as she addressed Johanna, "Barry here had been disqualified from the Sinnoh league for the rest of this year for his act of harassing your daughter and her friend. But that's all he got. Barry's Sinnoh gym badges he's earned thus far haven't been rendered void and revoked, meaning that when he can try again next year, he won't have to try to earn eight badges again."
Dawn nodded in agreement with that. "Considering that all Barry did was harass me and Kenny with cheating accusations and tried to force us into a battle, it's appropriate that he get as light of a sentence as he got."
The heroes all looked at Barry, who still clearly looked embarrassed for having been such a doofus. But then again Barry, due to his near blind admiration of Paul, now has a criminal record technically. That will be sticking for a while, regardless of how light it is.
Seeing that Barry needed to be cheered up a bit, Ash spoke up. "...Would you still be allowed to have a practice battle with me?" Ash asked Barry. Everyone turned to look at him in surprise. "I plan to enter the Twinleaf Town festival tournament, and I could use someone to have a practice battle or two with to help me get ready," Ash said, "That being said, would it be alright if you battled me for that?"
"If... if my parents don't object, then I don't see why not," Barry replied, "But I'm surprised you'd want to have me help you practice. I mean, given how much of a screw up I am-"
"Paul is undoubtedly a bigger screw up than you." Barry stopped short when Ash spoke up. "He's actually done things that make your simple act of harassing Dawn and Kenny look tame. But Paul has come to realize that he was wrong, has come to realize his faults. He's currently actively working on trying to make amends and clean up his act. He can't be totally forgiven right off the bat, but his sincere desire to make up for his overall being a jerk should afford him the benefit of the doubt, at an absolute minimum."
Ash then held a hand out to Barry. "If Paul of all people can straighten up and fly right, then you can too." Turning to look at Patty, Ash said, "Provided that you're okay with it, ma'am."
"I'll have to talk it out with Palmer," Patty said to Ash, "But I think he won't be too resistant to the idea of Barry helping you train." Ash nodded in thanks, and everyone seemed to be in a bit of a better mood thanks to Ash trying to lighten things up in his own way. Even Barry was appreciative of Ash's efforts to lighten the mood. As for Dawn and Kenny, they both chalked this up to Ash being Ash.
Clearly still one of the greatest characters out there.
END, CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Author's notes;
This chapter sees part of the Twinleaf Town festival taken care of. Professor Oak and his assistant brought Delia along because they knew Ash would be at the festival, and Delia, wanting to see her child, basically demanded that she come along, not of course was Oak going to object. The episode covering the psychic Pokémon in the tent was mostly skipped over due to events playing out differently, with light shed on Barry after he was escorted away by a police officer a few chapters ago. Barry has to clean his act up a bit, but if Paul is being given a chance, then so should Barry.
Anyway, the next chapter will conclude the Twinleaf Town festival stuff. After the festival, Dawn and Kenny will head out on their own again because there's an episode that I really want to adapt here, especially considering how important one of the characters in said episode will be later on down the line. Take care.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Leni (female Lucario), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Akiza (female Roserade), Germany (male Garchomp), Boss (male Honchkrow)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Zarbon (male Machamp), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Goofy (male Houndoom), Juan (male Pikachu), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny)
Ash's Pokémon: Pikachu (male), Gardevoir (female; obese), Swampert (female), Infernape (male), Grotle (male), Ambipom (female)