Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter fifty-seven: Cerulean Sisters
Dawn and Kenny woke up early the following morning in Cerulean City, Kanto. They had both gotten their respective first Kanto gym badges yesterday, and were now looking to continue the trend with snagging badge number two. "The Cerulean gym uses water Pokémon, right?" Kenny asked as he and Dawn went over their Pokémon before heading on over to the gym to see if the gym leader was available to take a challenge from one of them.
Dawn nodded once in the affirmative. "It is, yes."
Shrugging, Kenny asked, "So why did Ash suggest we use bug Pokémon instead?"
Dawn was actually a bit surprised that Kenny forgot that, in the anime in their previous life, Misty who is the Cerulean City gym leader is very much afraid of bug Pokémon. Since they were alone, Dawn explained things to Kenny, as well as what was probably Ash's reasoning to prompt them to use bug Pokémon against Misty. Kenny chuckled a bit before replying, "Oh yeah, now I remember. Heh, this'll actually be kind of funny."
Dawn rolled her eyes at Kenny going along with Ash's idea of a joke on Misty. Still, Dawn herself wasn't one to talk to be completely honest; her Pokémon who had fainted during the course of both the Lily of the Valley Conference and Dawn's battle against Cynthia had all indicated a desire to avenge how they had been defeated. That includes Dawn's Mothim Coupins, who went down in the battle against Ash in the Lily of the Valley Conference.
Plus, Dawn kind of wanted to see if Misty really was still as afraid of bug Pokémon as Ash's little prank would suggest.
...
The two reborn trainers soon made their way over to the Cerulean City gym, after having rotated their respective parties to better help them slash make Misty freak out. Upon entering the Cerulean City gym, Dawn and Kenny were greeted by the site of Misty's three older sisters talking to Misty herself. "And as I was saying, we really ought to invite that Zoe girl from Sinnoh over here," Daisy said, "A talented performer like her is bound to help draw in crowds."
"One, we're supposed to be a Pokémon gym, not a show stage," Misty said, "And two, that Zoe girl does entirely different performances compared to what you, Lily, and Violet try to do!"
The two reborn trainers, not even noticed by the three sisters, turned to look at one another, shrug, then turn back to look at the four sisters. At Dawn's prompting when she patted him on the back of his right shoulder, Kenny said, "Umm, excuse me but is this the Cerulean City gym?"
The four sisters, having heard Kenny speak up, turned to face him and Dawn. "Aha, challengers!" Misty said. Turning to look at her older sisters, Misty said, "See? These guys know what business we really do around here!"
"I... overhead you girls mention a Sinnoh girl named Zoe," Dawn spoke up, "My friend here and I know her. How is it that you girls heard of Zoe?"
"Oh, she's the coordinator who won the Sinnoh Grand Festival that had to be rescheduled due to protection for a visiting royal," Violet explained, "We're hoping to invite her over because we want to try to get her as a guest star performer for one of our shows."
Dawn and Kenny both looked a bit surprised by the info they had just gotten; the Sinnoh Grand Festival did have to be postponed because the Sinnoh region government wanted to avoid bad relations with Princess Salvia's country because she was in close proximity to Team Rocket more than once. Salvia must have returned to her country, meaning the Sinnoh Grand Festival was held, and as it turned out that Zoe won.
Dawn was about to say something, but Kenny spoke up by saying, "Wait, I thought that this was a gym. My main man here and I were hoping to earn our respective second Kanto gym badges each."
"This IS a Pokémon gym," Misty replied, "And I'll be glad to battle either one of you right now to see if you can earn the Cascade Badge."
Gesturing to Dawn, Kenny said, "Well I think that I ought to go first. My cringe posse is itching for some action."
Lily looked confused by what Kenny had just said. "Cringe posse?"
"That's what Kenny refers to his team of Pokémon as," Dawn translated, both her expression and tone mildly dry. With everything else out of the way, the two reborn trainers followed the four sisters into the gym's stadium, so that Kenny could be the first to try for a second Kanto gym badge.
Since there were two challengers at once, the sisters decided that one of the three who made up the sensational sisters trio would battle Kenny, while Misty who the three sensational sisters had all agreed was the overall best battler of the four sisters overall would battle Dawn. As for which of the sensational sisters it would be who would battle Kenny, it was decided that Daisy would be the one to battle Kenny due to being the oldest of the girls.
"This official Cerulean City gym battle will be between Daisy, acting as the gym leader, versus the challenger Kenny," Lily said as she was acting as referee, "Both trainers may use two Pokémon each, and the battle's over when both of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Additionally, only Kenny can switch Pokémon out at anytime." Throwing a hand up, Lily cheered, "Alright! Let's get this battle started!"
Dawn, who sat in the bleachers with Violet and Misty, was a tad surprised by how casual Lily was when announcing the start of the gym battle; it was the most casual start she recalled seeing since she was reborn into this world. Either way, it didn't bother Dawn, and actually came as a bit of fresh air to her. All that Dawn was focused on was watching the battle between Kenny and Daisy, to see if Kenny would be earning his second Kanto gym badge.
"Luverin, I choose you!" Daisy said, sending out her named Luvdisc first.
Kenny looked a bit surprised. "Huh, so Dawn and I aren't the only ones who nickname our Pokémon. Fair enough." Tossing up a pokéball, Kenny said, "Okay, Spider-Frog! Let's make it cringe!" The first Pokémon that Kenny sent out was Spider-Frog, his named shiny Ariados.
Right away, Dawn noticed that Misty tensed up. "...Is there a problem?" Dawn asked, already having an idea what might be up.
"Why is he using a bug Pokémon?!" Misty complained, "Doesn't he know how creepy they are?!"
Shrugging, Dawn said, "It's his choice of Pokémon, not yours. He's not doing anything against the rules, so let him do things his own way."
Down on the battlefield, Daisy pointed forward and said, "Luverin, use Water Gun!"
"Spider-Frog, counter with Psychic!" Kenny called out.
Luverin fired her Water Gun attack, but it was deflected by Spider-Frog's Psychic, as if the Water Gun hit a wall. "Now use Leech Life!" Kenny commanded. Spider-Frog, right while Luverin was just getting out of having used Water Gun, rushed at the named Luvdisc and bit down hard on her before draining her health.
Daisy was a bit worried, so she decided to go on the defensive. "Luverin, use Agility!"
"Spider-Frog, use Night Slash!" Kenny called out.
Luverin proceeded to loosen herself up while swimming around in order to boost her speed. But after she finished doing that, she was struck by Spider-Frog's Night Slash, getting hit with a critical hit that knocked her out and left her floating in the water. Holding up a hand, Lily announced, "Luverin is unable to battle! The winner is..." Turning to look at Kenny, Lily asked, "What's the name of your Ariados again?"
"His name is Spider-Frog," Kenny explained.
Lily nodded in understanding. "Alright, it's just that here in the Cerulean City gym, if a Pokémon with a nickname is used, they're referred to by their nickname."
"We're one of the few gyms who affords that courtesy," Daisy informed Kenny.
Kenny nodded along in mild amusement. "Dope."
"Indeed," Lily said, "Well anyway, the winner here is Spider-Frog!"
Daisy recalled her named Luvdisc before tossing up another pokéball. "Dewgong, I choose you!"
"Spider-Frog, return!" Kenny said as he swapped his Pokémon out, "Okay, Cell! Let's make it cringe!" Kenny's second Pokémon was his other shiny bug type, Scizor. Again, Misty was uncomfortable at seeing a bug Pokémon appear on the battlefield, even though Misty wasn't the one battling. That made Dawn wonder how Misty will react upon seeing Coupins when she and her had their battle after Kenny and Daisy finish their battle.
Pointing forward, Daisy said, "Dewgong, use Headbutt!"
"Cell, counter with Iron Head!" Kenny ordered. The two Pokémon rushed one another, with their headbutting attacks colliding into one another. Neither was super effective against the other, but while Cell resisted the normal type Headbutt due to being part steel, Dewgong who was part ice took regular damage from Iron Head. That advantage allowed Cell to throw Dewgong back, giving Kenny an opening to score a serious hit.
Gesturing forward, Kenny called out, "Cell, use X-Scissor!"
"Dewgong, use Aurora Beam!" Daisy commanded.
Dewgong was still recovering from being thrown back by the collision of headbutting attacks, but recovered just in time to see the opposing shiny Scizor rush at it, Scizor's metal pincer claws raised to be ready to deal an X-shaped slashing attack. Cell struck Dewgong from above on the back, right as Dewgong was able to fire off its Aurora Beam attack which, as Dawn sort of wasn't surprised by, actually struck Cell on his abdomen.
Cell flew back and clearly was hissing in pain while covering his abdomen with his metal pincer claws, like a guy covering his wounded secret treasure with his hands. However, Cell wasn't in too much pain because the Aurora Beam from Dewgong only scored a grazing, clipping hit and not a solid direct hit. As Cell tried to power through the pain, everyone looked back to see that Dewgong was barely still in the battle.
Pointing forward, Daisy said, "Dewgong, use Headbutt!"
"Cell, return!" Kenny said as he swapped his Pokémon out, "Okay, Spider-Frog! Let's make it cringe!" Wanting to avoid letting his Scizor take hits while he was still mildly stunned from his abdomen getting hit, Kenny swapped Spider-Frog back in, who took a Headbutt from Dewgong but didn't go down quite yet. "Spider-Frog, use Cross Poison!"
"Dewgong, use Aurora Beam!" Daisy called out. As Dewgong tried charging up its attack, Spider-Frog rushed in and hit it with Cross Poison, dealing a solid hit that sent Dewgong reeling back. When it fell back into the water and laid floating on the surface, it was clear to everyone that it had been knocked out.
Holding up a hand, Lily announced, "Dewgong is unable to battle! The winner is Spider-Frog!" Gesturing to Kenny, Lily went on, "Victory of this battle goes to the challenger, Kenny!"
Kenny pumped both of his fists into the air as he cheered. "Woot! I just won against the second Kanto region gym that I took on!"
...
As Daisy awarded Kenny his Cascade Badge that he had rightfully earned, Violet remarked, "Beating Daisy is no small feat. Out of me, Daisy, and Lily, I'd have to say that Daisy is the strongest. And your friend tells me that you didn't do much training with your shiny Ariados since you caught him."
"Yeah, this gym battle was a bit tough for me," Kenny said, "Given that I used one Pokémon I didn't get to do a lot of training with yet and another Pokémon who was trained but he got hit right on the shmeat so he got stunned for a bit."
Violet nodded in understanding. "Yes, Daisy is the strongest of us three sensational sisters." Gesturing to Misty, Violet went on, "But Misty here, the youngest of us four sisters overall, has got to be the strongest that the Cerulean City gym has to offer."
"Well never let it be said that I wasn't up to the challenge," Dawn replied, a hint of knowing in her tone. Misty picked up on it and smiled a bit in amusement. As such, the two girls went on and took their places on the battlefield, while Daisy joined Violet and Kenny in the bleachers while Lily went back to acting as referee.
"Alright, this official Cerulean City gym battle will be between Misty, acting as the gym leader, versus the challenger Dawn," Lily announced, "The same rules for the previous battle between Daisy and Kenny will apply here, meaning only Dawn can switch Pokémon out whenever. Alright then, begin!"
"Staryu, I choose you!" Misty said as she sent out her first Pokémon, which was her Staryu.
Tossing up a pokéball herself, Dawn said, "Alright, Coupins! Let's get goin'!" Just as Dawn had been planning, the first Pokémon she used was her named Mothim. And just as Dawn had predicted, Misty looked scared by the appearance of the bug type Mothim.
"Geh!" Misty exclaimed, "You use bug Pokémon too?!"
"Hey, Coupins is adorable," Dawn countered, "I won't be hearing anyone talk any smack about him!"
Scowling, Misty said, "Fine, I'll just have to take your bug Pokémon down then! Staryu, use Tackle!"
"Coupins, counter with Giga Drain!" Dawn ordered.
Staryu flew right at Coupins in preparation to strike him, but Coupins countered by shooting red beams of light at Staryu that struck it and drained its energy. After Coupins's attack was over, Staryu fell down into the water and laid floating there as its gem core flashed. "Staryu is unable to battle!" Lily announced, "The winner is Coupins!"
Misty scowled a bit as she recalled her fainted Staryu. Tossing up another pokéball, Misty called out, "Starmie, I choose you!" Dawn sort of expected Starmie to be Misty's second Pokémon, so it was a good thing that Coupins had more than one move that could deal with the evolved opposing Pokémon. Pointing forward, Misty ordered, "Starmie, use Water Gun!"
"Coupins, use Bug Buzz!" Dawn commanded.
Starmie fired its Water Gun attack right at Coupins, who unleashed a violently vibrating buzzing noise soundwave that blasted away the Water Gun and went on to slam right into Starmie, making it cry out in pain and sent it reeling back until it hit the water, where it floated as its gem core flashed. Seeing this, Lily raised a hand, announcing, "Starmie is unable to battle! The winner is Coupins!" Gesturing to Dawn, Lily went on, "Victory of this battle goes to the challenger, Dawn!"
Dawn breathed a calm sigh of relief as she was announced as the winner. Immediately after that, she was rushed by Coupins who was cheering happily before he nuzzled his face into Dawn's right shoulder area. Dawn was surprised by this due to how sudden it was, but after calming down she realized that Coupins was happy he was able to get some revenge on his falling in battle during the Lily of the Valley Conference against Ash's team.
'"You... you are a braver girl than I, I will admit," Misty said to Dawn as she approached the reborn trainer, "I'd probably faint if a bug Pokémon rushed me like that, even if it had no malicious intent and only wanted to be affectionate like yours here."
Dawn, after Coupins backed out from nuzzling affectionately and took to flying in place on Dawn's right, turned to regard Misty. She offered the water Pokémon user a wry smile. "...Coupins here is a lot tougher than what people might give him credit for."
"I suppose you're right," Misty replied, "Well anyway, I suppose I ought to hand you this." Misty then took out and handed to Dawn a Cascade Badge.
Pumping a fist into the air, Kenny cheered, "Alright! Now both Dawn and I earned our second Kanto gym badges each! Wait until Ash and Brock hear about this!"
Right away, Misty's attention was caught. "Wait a minute, you two know Ash and Brock?"
Dawn nodded in the affirmative. "Kenny and I met them while traveling in our home region of Sinnoh. We... have some stories about our time with Ash and Brock, if you're interested."
With the supply of medicines that were at the Cerulean City gym, all of the Pokémon that took part in the two battles today were restored fully, from the big cases of the fainted water Pokémon used by Daisy and Misty, to the light case of Coupins only needing some Leppa Berries, to Cell getting an ice pack for his struck abdomen. As the Pokémon rested, Dawn and Kenny told Misty and the three sensational sisters about all of their adventures in Sinnoh.
"Oh, I thought I recognized you!" Violet said to Dawn, "You're that Dawn Berlitz girl who fought a disguised member of Team Rocket in that contest in Arrowroot Town!"
"Wait, I thought that she's the girl who just became the champion of Sinnoh," Lily remarked.
Dawn nodded in confirmation. "That too. Kenny and I are now currently on a tour of the regions to challenge the gyms there to earn badges in the other regions. We came to Kanto first because Ash and Brock were headed back here after they were done in Sinnoh."
"How are Ash and Brock doing?" Misty asked.
"Brock's now studying to become a Pokémon doctor," Dawn said, "And Ash went to the Unova region with his mom and Professor Oak. Ash says he intends to challenge the gyms there."
"Speaking of Ash and challenging gyms," Kenny said, "He told us that if Dawn and I challenged the gym here in Cerulean City, that we ought to use bug Pokémon."
"He told you WHAT?!" Misty exclaimed angrily, slamming the table everyone was sitting at with her hands as she forced herself up from the table, "Ohh, I just knew that something was up when I saw you guys use only bug Pokémon! Ash put you up to it as some form of cruel prank on me since he knows I can't stand bug Pokémon!" Misty could already imagine Ash sticking his tongue out from his open mouth as he make the rocker hand gesture to mock her.
Dawn gave Misty a wry look. "...In Ash's defense, you being as afraid of bug Pokémon as you are gives challengers facing you a way to win against you by exploiting your fear to psyche you out. Also, your Starmie is part psychic type which makes it weak to bug attacks, thus making my use of Coupins in our battle more valid."
Lily nodded in agreement. "She's right, Misty. You need to try to better control your fear of bug Pokémon."
"Especially since there are species of Pokémon that are dual water bug type," Kenny added.
Misty looked shocked by what Kenny was implying. "No way! There's no way that a type as beautiful as water is mixed with a type as creepy and ugly as bug!"
"Surskit," Dawn said, her tone as dry as her expression, "A species of dual bug water Pokémon that I hear can be found in the Hoenn region."
A look of dawning horror was starting to appear on Misty's face. "No... no way..."
Shrugging indifferently, Kenny went on, "I think there's a few in another region, but that's besides the point." Holding his hands behind his head, Kenny said, "Now that Dawn and I have gotten our second Kanto gym badges each, we're going to be looking into badge number three. I don't suppose any of you girls have any idea on what gym we can try challenging next?"
Daisy nodded once in the affirmative. "Yes, the gym in Vermilion City ought to be a destination that you ought to consider. Except..."
"Except what?" Dawn asked.
Daisy had a look of worried concern on her face. "...The gym over in Vermilion City uses electric Pokémon, and his headed by a large, intimidating mountain of a man."
"I was actually there when Ash challenged the Vermilion City gym," Misty said, "Both on his first try where he lost and on the rematch where he won. The gym leader in Vermilion City, Lt. Surge, only uses a Raichu, but it's very strong." Looking to Dawn and Kenny, Misty said, "If you two do intend to have goes at challenging the gym over in Vermilion City, then as a start you both ought to have some powerful ground Pokémon."
Dawn held up a hand to cut off any further arguments. "Thanks for the warning. I'll look into using my Garchomp when I challenge Lt. Surge."
"And Lt. Surge won't stand a chance against the awesome might of the legendary Elay," Kenny said, "Also, when I say that Elay is legendary, I don't mean his species as a whole, just Elay himself."
The three sensational sisters, as well as Misty, all looked confused. "Who's Elay?" Daisy asked.
"Kenny's shiny Sandslash," Dawn translated.
"He owns a third shiny Pokémon?!" Violet nearly exclaimed, "Holy geez! Just how lucky is he?!"
"Oh, you'd be very surprised," Kenny replied, hints of wry amusement in his tone.
...
Over at the local Pokémon Center, Dawn and Kenny were resting up before their plan to zoom over to Vermilion City in the night and rest there before one of them would be the first among them to challenge the Vermilion City gym in the morning. "From the sounds of it," Kenny said, "We're going to only be allowed one Pokémon each when we battle Lt. Surge for our respective third Kanto gym badges."
Dawn nodded in agreement. "Assuming that said assumption is correct, we ought to be prepared. I fully intend to use Germany."
"I also want to use Elay," Kenny said, "But Roshi is also a solid choice, and he's probably bulkier than Elay. I may end up deciding to go for Roshi instead."
Dawn nodded in agreement with Kenny. His Torterra would be a solid choice as, from what Dawn could remember from the Kanto anime from her previous life, Lt. Surge's Raichu knew only a base selection of electric and normal attacks. Germany and Roshi would both shut down the use of any electric attacks, and they're both durable enough to take the normal attacks and keep on going. The two of them would serve Dawn and Kenny well in their respective challenges to Lt. Surge.
"How do you think we'll do when we challenge the rest of the gyms here in Kanto, my main man?" Kenny asked, "I mean, the two of us are only two badges in each, and we're gearing up for badge number three over in Vermilion City tomorrow."
"We just need to be careful with how we go about challenging the gyms is all," Dawn replied, "It's just like when we went through the gyms over in the Sinnoh region."
Kenny nodded in agreement with his fellow reborn trainer. "Yeah, we'll just work the magic that we worked over in Sinnoh here in Kanto, and we'll be fine just fine." The two reborn trainers then went to sleep, despite how it's not exactly late enough to warrant going to bed. When they later woke up sometime in the middle of the night, they brought out Tsukune and Black to ride them right over to Vermilion City, where they would recall them and rest at the local Pokémon Center until morning.
...Little did either of them know that, upon waking up, they'd be in for a bit of a surprise.
The morning following their respective wins in the Cerulean City gym, Dawn and Kenny woke up in the Pokémon Center in Vermilion City. Upon walking out into the main area of the Pokémon Center, they were greeted by the sight of many trainers with injured Pokémon. "...What the hell is all of this, dude?" Kenny whispered to Dawn as the trainers cried out in complaint while the Pokémon all cried out in pain.
"...Looks like Lt. Surge is on a winning streak, I'd say," Dawn whispered back, before approaching the Nurse Joy who was running all around with her Chansey trying to care for all of the Pokémon who were injured. "Excuse me, but what happened here?" Dawn asked the Nurse Joy when she was able to get her attention.
Before Nurse Joy could speak up, a random trainer replied, "Lt. Surge happened, that's what! He's way to strong and brutal!"
Nurse Joy looked a but concerned by the trainer's complaint, but decided not to argue the point. "...He's right," Nurse Joy said to Dawn and Kenny while pointing at the trainer who complained, "The local gym leader here in Vermilion City, Lt. Surge, is a very powerful trainer with a very powerful Raichu. He also tends to be a bit more brutal than what's necessary against challengers. At the rate he's currently going, I'm afraid that Lt. Surge might end up being sanctioned by the Indigo League Commission for his brutal ways." Nurse Joy shook her head. "And to think he was showing some humility a while ago."
"What do you mean?" Kenny asked.
To Dawn and Kenny, Nurse Joy said, "A while ago, this one boy named Ash defeated Lt. Surge in a rematch after losing on the first go to him. That loss to Ash humbled Lt. Surge, so I was figuring that it'd temper his attitude." Gently shaking her head, Nurse Joy said, "But it's turning out that I was wrong, if what I see here is any indication."
"And that tall jerk has the gall to be all jovial and friendly when beating us!" said another trainer with an injured Pokémon, "Like we'd be on good terms with an overpowered jerk like him!"
Dawn was vaguely familiar with the Kanto episodes of the anime from her previous life, and at least knew enough about it to tell what was going on. It seemed that Lt. Surge was falling into old habits, but the claim that he was 'being jovial and friendly' threw a wrench in that line of thinking. With that in mind, Dawn knew that she and Kenny would have to see things for themselves in order to get a firm understanding of the whole of the situation here.
They were going to go see Lt. Surge either way, given that both of them were primed to earn their respective third Kanto gym badges.
END, CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
Author's notes;
Here we see Dawn and Kenny take on and defeat the Cerulean City gym, each of them facing a different one of two of the four sisters so that the second one doesn't have to wait, similar to what happened in Pewter City. But the next chapter will be different, given that it's just Lt. Surge on his own, not to mention how Dawn wants to investigate the talk of Lt. Surge looking like he was going back to old habits, which conflict with the supposed attitude he was showing.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Germany (male Garchomp), Coupins (male Mothim), Tsukune (Palkia), Muten (male Turtwig), Kowalski (male Piplup)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Spider-Frog (male Ariados; shiny), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny), Juan (male Pikachu; Libre), Black (Giratina)