Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter thirty-one: Galactic Climax, part one
Dawn and Kenny found themselves in the Pokémon Center in Floaroma Town after a few days of traveling. Letting out a content sigh as he stretched his arms into the air, Kenny relaxed in his seat as Dawn came walking over, having done a party rotation. "What's up, my main man?" Kenny asked.
"I just swapped Boss out of my party so I could swap Nobunaga in," Dawn explained, "I was able to pick up a King's Rock, so I gave it to Nobunaga to hold on the basis that it'll up the flinch rate of his attacks."
"And he knows Extrasensory," Kenny commented, "Although I believe the bonus from King's Rock doesn't stack perfectly evenly with the other flinch rate bonuses." Dawn nodded in the affirmative as she sat down with Kenny. Sighing, Kenny said, "I can't believe we're back in Floaroma Town. This is where you and I first ran into one another."
Dawn nodded along. "...Yeah. I originally came here in the hopes of using the honey trees to attract a male Burmy because I wanted a Mothim." Giving her friend a wry, mildly amused look, Dawn went on, "And in addition to that, I met up with a close friend who I wasn't expecting to see ever again."
The other reborn trainer was about to speak up, but he got cut off when the doors leading into the Pokémon Center opened, and in walked Ash and Brock. "Speaking of meeting up with friends," Kenny said upon seeing Ash and Brock. He got up and walked over to greet the two heroes, with Dawn getting up to go with him.
"Dawn, Kenny!" Ash said, "How have you guys been?"
"We spent the last few days since we last saw you and Brock traveling and training," Dawn said, "Even helping a young boy along the way. How about you?"
Smirking a bit in amusement, Ash said, "My Grotle evolved into Torterra, for starters." To show this, Ash called his Torterra out to show Dawn and Kenny. This surprised Dawn as, remembering from the anime in her and Kenny's previous life, Ash's Grotle didn't evolve into Torterra until the group reached the area of Sunyshore City. Recalling his Torterra, Ash said, "His deceased speed and agility still bothers me a bit, though."
"Ash, Ash, Ash," Kenny said as he walked over and put an arm over Ash's shoulders in a casual friendly manner, "Torterra as a species aren't agile speedsters. They're more towards being big and bulky tanks who can not only dish out hard hits but also take them. If I were you, I'd invest some effort into training Torterra with that in mind."
Ash looked to be considering what Kenny said. "...That might be tough."
"Well luckily for you," Kenny went on, "I got Roshi with me. I can have him show your Torterra the ropes when it comes to being a Torterra. Hey, does your Torterra know Earthquake?"
"No," Ash replied, looking a little curious, "You're saying Torterra can learn Earthquake?"
"Roshi learned Earthquake upon evolving from Grotle into Torterra," Kenny explained, "I'm sure your Torterra, if you want him to, can very easily learn the move himself. Given that we're expecting the gym in Sunyshore City to use electric Pokémon, it might help."
The Kanto region native nodded in agreement. "Yeah! That sounds like a great idea, Kenny!"
"Luckily for you, between the lot of us here," Kenny continued, "We got multiple Pokémon who all know Earthquake, so they can help out by giving your Torterra some pointers." Ash agreed, and thus with plans to help Ash's Torterra learn Earthquake for the gym battle in Sunyshore City, the reborn trainers joined back up with Ash and Brock.
Later after all of their respective Pokémon were fully rested, the heroes took off along Route 205. "So guys, did you hear?" Brock began as he spoke to Dawn and Kenny.
The two reborn trainers gently shook their heads, with Dawn saying, "No, what?"
Ash had a hint of mildly amused pride enter his expression. "...I got it that Paul's attempt to clean his act up is going nicely so far. As far as I'm aware, the only person he's wronged who hasn't accepted Paul's apology yet is Maylene, and that's more due to how he hasn't gotten to her yet."
Dawn and Kenny both perked up at the mention of Paul making progress in his aims to clean his act up. "...I take it you were informed, Ash?" Dawn asked.
"By Reggie, yes," Ash explained, "He's expressed brotherly pride in Paul for the work he's done. Oh, Paul also earned his eighth and final Sinnoh gym badge, so we can expect to see him at the Sinnoh league conference." The Kanto region native smirked in amusement. "I'm hoping to battle him there again, only this time we're both on good terms with one another."
Dawn nodded along. So Paul was making progress in his redemption. Good, Dawn was actually glad to see him recovering as a person. Paul still hasn't completely cleaned his act up, and Dawn still had the recorded video of him releasing Chimchar as insurance, but if Paul keeps up his current streak of good behavior and making amends, then Dawn might very well eventually delete that video. The reborn trainer was thinking about this when Ash's Pikachu perked up upon noticing something about the flowers nearby.
Ash's Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulder and ran over to check it out. To everyone's surprise, they found Meowth of Team Rocket, who looked badly battered.
...
After Dawn treated Meowth with a Full Restore that she had (surprising Brock with the quality of supplies she had), the heroes got Meowth to talk. "Jessie, James, and I were hungry," Meowth said, "So when we spotted a Team Galactic helicopter flying in one odd direction, we decided to trail it to steal food from Team Galactic, not only solving our hunger problem but also getting in a little bit of messing with Team Galactic at the same time."
"Criminals stealing from other criminals, huh?" Ash said, "Well at least you're on our side against Team Galactic." Given that Meowth said he, Jessie, and James were hungry, Ash took out a jelly filled donut (an actual one and not a rice ball Brock called a jelly filled donut) and offered it to Meowth, who eagerly snatched it up and tore into it. "What happened?" Ash asked.
"We chased the Team Galactic helicopter to an abandoned factory near here," Meowth said.
"Abandoned factory?" Brock said in a curious tone. He took out his Pokégear and used it to check out the nearby area. "...Must be the Fuego Ironworks which are nearby," Brock remarked as he looked at his Pokégear.
"The gang and I climbed a ladder and saw what was going on," Meowth went on, "That mean lady Jupiter was squaring off against that International Police guy who was nice to us and gave all of us those boxed lunches that one time on the train."
"You mean Looker?" Dawn asked.
Meowth nodded in confirmation. "We all decided to rush on in to help Looker out. James had his Carnivine stop an attack from Jupiter's Skuntank, but then Jupiter commanded a lot of Golbats to flock on in and attack. I alone was sent blasting off, and before I lost sight of that area, I saw Jessie, James, and Looker being surrounded." Meowth finished off the jelly filled donut that Ash gave him. Having eaten something and being healed, Meowth got up.
"I need to go back there," Meowth said in a determined tone, "I need to rescue Jessie and James and even that nice Looker guy. Please don't try to stop me."
"On the contrary, Meowth," Ash said, "We want to help you." Brock and the reborn trainers all nodded in agreement with Ash.
Meowth considered this for a moment. "...Despite how we're enemies normally?"
"We'd help regardless because Looker is in trouble," Brock pointed out, "And aside from that Team Galactic is an enemy we all share."
Meowth sighed a bit before relenting. "...Well the extra muscle you all are packing would be useful. And I'd be a fool to think I can brave this job solo." Meowth ended up joining with the heroes as they all changed course to head to Fuego Ironworks.
A short while later at Fuego Ironworks, Jessie, James, and Looker all sat bound in a cage. "So what is going on here?" Jessie whispered to Looker.
The members of Interpol gave a gentle sigh. "...Team Galactic is working on building something called the Red Chain," Looker began, "I'm not sure what it is exactly, but from what I've been able to gather, it's related to their activities on Mt. Coronet."
Jessie and James growled bitterly at the mention of what Team Galactic is up to. "We need to get out of here," James began in a whisper, "Find Meowth, and-"
"Hey prisoners, shut it!" Jupiter yelled, making Jessie, James, and Looker all turn to see Jupiter and Charon talking to a Galactic grunt. To the grunt, Jupiter said, "So what's this again about some sort of unidentified flying object flying right for the Fuego Ironworks?"
...
The heroes and Meowth, the latter piloting the Team Rocket balloon everyone was riding in, were all flying for Fuego Ironworks. As they approached, they saw a large flock of Golbats come out to greet them. Ash had his Staraptor and Gliscor out, giving rides to Pikachu and Juan respectively, while Dawn had Cyrus and Nobunaga flying in the air as well.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on the Golbats!" Ash called out.
"Juan, you use Thunderbolt on the Golbats as well!" Kenny said.
"Cyrus, strike the Golbats down with Aerial Ace!" Dawn commanded, "Nobunaga, shoot them down with Air Slash!"
The Thunderbolts flew out and zapped many of the Golbats, while Cyrus struck at some of the other Golbats and Nobunaga shot others down himself. After taking many of the Golbats down, the heroes and Meowth land on the roof of Fuego Ironworks, only to be greeted by Jupiter who had her Skuntank out. "I have to admit," Jupiter said, "You brats sure know how to appear out of nowhere."
"Enough talk!" Meowth said as he stepped forward, his claws ready to use Fury Swipes, "Give back Jessie, James, and that nice Looker guy right now!"
Jupiter smirked a bit in dark amusement. "They're safe for now." Suddenly, a flock of Team Galactic's Golbat appeared out of nowhere, and Jupiter ordered them to attack. The heroes, with Meowth backing them up with Fury Swipes, took out a lot of the Golbats in quick order. Scoffing in annoyance, Jupiter pointed forward. "Skuntank, use Toxic!"
Skuntank spewed a large volume of toxic fumes, forcing those on the roof to cover their mouths while those who flew above had to get out of range. Seeing the heroes were distracted, Jupiter took her cue to get away from there, getting into a helicopter with Charon and escaping. The Galactic commander scoffed in annoyance as she looked down at where the heroes and Meowth still stood on the roof of Fuego Ironworks.
"I still can't believe those brats were able to give Team Galactic so much trouble," Jupiter scowled.
"Oh relax," Charon remarked, "At least the Red Chain is safe on board of the helicopter with us." The helicopter flew away, allowing for Jupiter and Charon to safely elude the heroes, much to the heroes' annoyance.
...
Inside of the warehouse, the heroes and Meowth were able to locate the cell that Jessie, James, and Looker were being kept in. Ash and Kenny had Pikachu and Juan bust the door with double Thunderbolts, freeing the rest of Team Rocket and Looker. Before the heroes could even ask them anything, Team Rocket zoomed off, declaring their intent to track down Team Galactic and get their revenge by any means necessary.
"We need to find out what Team Galactic was up to here with their plans," Looker said to the heroes as he took out his special goggles and used them to look around.
Brock, a curious look on his face, asked, "What are you looking for?"
"Anything and everything that could help," Looker replied as he led the group around. They eventually made their way to an elevator shaft where, going down it, Looker spotted a gleaming shard. "This could be big news," Looker said as he collected the shard, "Let's head back to Floaroma Town. The police station there can help." The heroes nodded in agreement with Looker before they all left the Fuego Ironworks.
Later back in Floaroma Town, the heroes stood by as Looker had the gleaming shard examined by the police in their lab. "We're transmitting things back and forth with Interpol HQ," Looker said, "They're helping us with getting this shard examined."
"What do you think it could be, Looker?" Ash asked.
Turning to face the others, Looker said, "It looks like it could be a piece of the Red Chain that Team Galactic is making for some unknown-" Looker stopped short when the gleaming shard he found glowed brightly before blowing up, ruining a lot of the examination equipment.
As everyone looked shocked at what had happened, Looker got a call on his phone. Answering the call, Looker said, "Yes? ...Oh, sir! What's going... you're saying what happened?!" The Interpol member gave a troubled sigh before replying, "...Yes, sir." After ending the call, Looker said, "Well that shard was actually some manner of data bomb. It wiped the whole of the database that we've got over at HQ."
"What?!" Ash exclaimed, looking shocked.
Looker was clearly frustrated, but he had to put that aside for now as he took off, leaving the heroes behind and looking concerned.
...
Meanwhile, at an undisclosed location, Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic, stood before Pokémon Hunter J, who was wearing the standard orange prison jumpsuit. "...Your four men who were able to elude capture were wise to seek out Team Galactic," Cyrus said to the liberated J, "You can consider me springing you from that prison transport as part of the payment for the job I have for you."
J, looking mildly annoyed that she clearly owed a favor, looked like her interest was piqued by the boss of Team Galactic. "...A job, you say."
"Your men who had saved all of your vehicles and extra equipment will be of big help to you on this job, J," Cyrus informed the Pokémon hunter, "Tell me, how do you feel about capturing the legendary Pokémon Uxie, Mespirit, and Azelf for me?" J, despite the situation she found herself in, couldn't help but smirk in amusement.
Oh, this job that Cyrus was putting her on sounded fun indeed.
To her amazement, Dawn found herself in a dream like world. Looking around, Dawn saw Ash and Kenny floating next to her. "...Guys?" Dawn asked, "Do either of you have any idea what's-"
The three heroes were suddenly blinded by a flash of light, and when the light died down, they were greeted by Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, who went to greet Kenny, Dawn, and Ash respectively. "...Heroic trainers of Pokémon," Mespirit spoke using telepathy, "All of Hisui shall soon be in peril, for dark plottings are aiming to tear everything asunder."
Ash looked confused. "Hisui?"
"Long ago," Azelf began to explain, speaking through telepathy much like Mesprit, "The land you all call Sinnoh was once known as Hisui. Forgive us, our preference for the olden terms has confused you. We shall address Hisui by its current name of Sinnoh to spare you the confusion from this point moving forward."
"What would you ask of us, mighty magic fairies?" Kenny asked.
Gesturing to all three of the heroes, Uxie said telepathically, "You have encountered those who would tear Sinnoh asunder many times already. You are the most prepared to stop them."
Dawn, with a grim look on her face, nodded once. "...You mean Team Galactic."
The three lake guardians nodded in unison before Uxie flew to Kenny, Azelf flew to Ash, and Mesprit flew to Dawn. The three of them touched the foreheads of the trainers they went to respectively, and then everything began glowing with psychic power, lighting everything up until everything had been whited out.
...
In the room they were staying in at the Pokémon Center in Floaroma Town, Dawn, Ash, and Kenny all woke up with a start. "...We need to help them, Kenobi," Kenny said, "We're their only hope."
Dawn wanted to growl in annoyance, but she knew Kenny had a point. The lake guardians had reached out to them, begging them for their help. Looking out the window, Dawn saw that the sun was just beginning to rise, so they decided to get an early start on the day.
Later during an early breakfast, the heroes sat and ate as Ash and the reborn trainers gave Brock the lowdown on their shared dream. "Wait, you're telling me three legendary Pokémon spoke to you three in a dream to warn you that Team Galactic is up to trouble that could tear Sinnoh apart at the seams?" Brock asked.
The other three heroes all nodded in agreement. "I know Brock," Dawn said, "Crazy, isn't it?" Dawn remembered, from the anime in her previous life, that it was Dawn, Ash, and Brock who were connected to the lake guardians, but here Kenny took Brock's place. Dawn figured that it was a change that came with Isekai.
Gently shaking his head, Brock said, "Actually Dawn, it's not as crazy as you'd think. This wouldn't be the first time Ash and I encountered a villainous organization aiming to manipulate legendary Pokémon for some nefarious scheme in ord-"
"AHHHHHHH!" Ash screamed suddenly, clutching the sides of his head as he cried out in pain.
Seeing this, the others quickly tended to Ash. "Yo man, you okay?!" Kenny said, looking freaked like Dawn and Brock both did.
Ash, panting in pain, said, "Azelf... Azelf is in trouble."
...
Meanwhile, over at Lake Valor, an orb of blue light was revealed by J dropping a Galactic Bomb into the waters below and detonating it. Seeing this, J smirked as she rode out on a Pidgeot; although J herself was freed from the prisoner transport, the folks who got her out of there couldn't get back any of her Pokémon, so she was making due with Pokémon loaned to her by Team Galactic.
Watching all of this was Gary Oak, the grandson of Professor Oak. He stepped out of hiding and sent out an Electivire. "Electivire, hit her with Thunder!" Gary called out.
Electivire cast its Thunder attack at J, but the attempt was intercepted and parried by a Toxicroak using Poison Jab. As Saturn stepped forward, he said to Gary, "Meddling fool. Do you really think that you can impede Team Galactic, especially given how close we are to our goal?"
While Saturn and a bunch of Golbats kept Gary occupied, J was free to continue on with her work. Calling out a Flygon loaned to her by Team Galactic, J said, "Flygon, use Hyper Beam on that blue orb of light down there!" Seeing where J was pointing, Flygon charged up a Hyper Beam and fired it at the orb of blue light at the bottom of Lake Valor. After the orb of blue light was hit by the Hyper Beam, it glowed before disappearing, and the legendary Pokémon Azelf came flying out.
Some of the Golbats tried firing attacks at Azelf, who merely deflected everything thrown at it before unleashing a wave of Extrasensory, striking down many of the Golbats. Azelf tried to evade, but it was confronted by J's borrowed Flygon. With the legendary Pokémon confronted, J put on a new petrifing bracelet and fired a beam that hit Azelf squarely, turning it to stone and completing J's job there at Lake Valor.
...
Over at the Floaroma Town Pokémon Center, Ash was kneeling on one knee as he clutched the sides of his head in pain. "Something really bad has happened to Azelf," Ash said, trying to fight through the pain, "We need to go help!"
"Yeah, but it's not like we'll get a quick ride over to Lake Valor," Kenny said, "As convenient as that would-" Kenny stopped short as he felt tremendous pain in his head, making him clutch the sides of his head. Similarly, Dawn also felt pain in her head and held a hand to the side of her head.
Opening one of her wincing eyes, Dawn saw that Kenny was also in pain like her and Ash. "...Don't tell me that Mespirit and Uxie are also in trouble as well." She had a feeling they would, due to the memories she had of the anime from her and Kenny's previous life. She had a feeling that they were soon going to be taking part in their most challenging adventure yet really soon.
...
Back at Lake Valor, Mespirit and Uxie, both having sensed that Azelf was in trouble, teleported over to try to save their fellow lake guardian. However, the moment they appeared, they had to dodge attacks from Purugly and Skuntank. "Skuntank, don't let Mespirit and Uxie get away!" Jupiter called out to her Pokémon.
"Same goes for you, Purugly!" Mars commanded.
The many Golbats proceeded to fire attacks at the two remaining lake guardians before launching a twin Future Sight into the skies above, letting the attacks dissipate. J, seeing a chance she wanted to jump on, took aim with her petrifing bracelet and shot at Mespirit, successfully petrifing it. Uxie, seeing this, fired an Extrasensory at J, which she was able to dodge by making Pidgeot fly out of the way of the attack.
Uxie grimaced as it had failed to strike J, who proceeded to successfully petrify it with her bracelet. "Mission complete," J said as she collected the statues that the lake guardians had been frozen into, "This had better get me out of debt for the rescue." J then handed the lake guardians over to Team Galactic as Gary could only look on helplessly.
After she handed the lake guardians over to Team Galactic, J flew back into her ship which was still flying above Lake Valor. However, after J flew into the ship and it closed behind her, the ship was hit by the twin Future Sight attack fired by Uxie and Mesprit earlier, sending it crashing down into the lake below, where it was swallowed up by the waters of Lake Valor. Although J and her ship had been taken down, Team Galactic in their helicopter managed to get away.
With the lake guardians in their possession.
Meanwhile, the heroes were racing to Lake Valor in an SUV being driven by Cynthia, who picked them up from Floaroma Town. As Cynthia drove, she said to them, "Looker is on Mt. Coronet, kids! We need to contact him to see what's going on!"
"Right," Ash replied, before he turned to look at how badly Dawn and Kenny were in pain. Given his reaction to how he felt Azelf was in trouble, Ash suspected that Mespirit and Uxie were likewise also in trouble.
As the heroes and Cynthia made their way to Lake Valor, Professor Rowan contacted them via the video phone in Cynthia's SUV. "How's it going, everyone?" Rowan asked, "Team Galactic got away with the lake guardians according to Oak's grandson Gary, who was at Lake Valor trying to confront Team Galactic."
"Gary's there?!" Ash nearly exclaimed, "Is he alright?!"
"Gary is fine, young man," Rowan assured the Kanto region native, "But we have more pressing issues in the form of the lake guardians being taken by Team Galactic."
Cynthia nodded grimly in agreement with Professor Rowan. "...The Red Chain that Looker had mentioned, the three lake guardians, not to mention the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs. There's no doubt about it, Professor Rowan." The champion of Sinnoh gently sighed in a troubled tone.
"Team Galactic aims to summon Dialga and Palkia into this world."
"Summon Dialga and Palkia?" Brock asked, "Cynthia, what do you mean by-" Brock stopped short when Ash, Dawn, and Kenny all cried out in pain as they held their hands to the sides of their heads. Suddenly, before anyone knew what was going on, all of the heroes were teleported out of the SUV, leaving Cynthia to stomp on the breaks as she saw the heroes all vanish.
"...This isn't good," Cynthia said as she made a turn to go in a different direction.
...
The heroes found themselves having been teleported into Team Galactic's Headquarters, surprising everyone there. "Where are we?" Kenny asked as he and the others looked around.
"You're trespassing is what you're doing," Saturn said as he, Mars, and Jupiter stepped forward, sending out Toxicroak, Purugly, and Skuntank.
Before Brock could even do anything, his Croagunk came out, clearly aiming to fight its rival, Saturn's Toxicroak.
"Zarbon!" Kenny called out as he sent in his Machamp, "Keep Purugly off of Brock's Croagunk so he can fight Toxicroak!"
"Germany, you keep Skuntank occupied!" Dawn called out as she sent out her Garchomp.
Looking around, Ash soon spotted the stasis cells that the lake guardians, now freed from being petrified, were in as, to his surprise, Cyrus came forward, clearly dressed as a high ranking member of Team Galactic. "Cyrus!" Ash yelled, "Don't tell me you're a Team Galactic commander too!"
"I am more than that, boy," Cyrus said, "I'm the leader of Team Galactic!" Holding his hands up, the now revealed boss of Team Galactic said, "I have to admit, you and your friends made gathering everything needed for my ultimate plans a lot hard than I was expecting them to go. I even had to help directly when it came to collecting the Lustrous Orb!"
Dawn glared bitterly at Cyrus. "...You knew which pokéball I kept Coupins in and deliberately revealed him so that you guys could take the Lustrous Orb."
"There is too much to gain here to let things go to chance, children," Cyrus said, "We stand at the precipice of a new world! And I refuse to let anything stand in the way of that goal!"
Ash growled in annoyed anger. Gesturing to the stasis cells that the lake guardians were in, Ash said, "Pikachu, break them out of those pods with Thunderbolt!"
"Juan, use Thunderbolt as well to help bust those mighty magic fairies out of there!" Kenny yelled. The two Pikachus cast their Thunderbolts at the stasis pods, smashing them and freeing the lake guardians. But all three of them were under the sway of Red Chain fragments on their heads, with said fragments connected to a glove that Cyrus had on. The heroes, being surrounded, saw that this was going to be the fight of their lives.
END, CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Author's notes;
Here we're getting through the events that lead to the showdown on Spear Pillar, although it's keeping mostly to events from the heroes' point of view in order to keep the chapter from going on for too long. The next chapter will see things reach a climax as the fate of Sinnoh, of all of the world, is at stake.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Leni (female Lucario), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Akiza (female Roserade), Germany (male Garchomp), Nobunaga (male Togekiss)
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), Staraptor (male), Swampert (female), Infernape (male), Torterra (male), Gliscor (male)