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-eight: Vermilion Voltage
Dawn and Kenny, having heard talk of what the Vermilion City gym leader Lt. Surge was up to, decided to head on over to the gym. They were going to do so either way as they were both looking to challenge the gym because they needed to earn their respective third Kanto gym badges each, but hearing that Lt. Surge was up to his old habits from the anime in their previous lives, and with a seemingly contrasting attitude, told the two reborn trainers that something was up.
The two of them walked into the gym, and right away were greeted by a female gym trainer. "Can I help you kids with something?" asked the gym trainer.
"Uhh, yeah, we're both looking to challenge the gym leader here," Kenny replied, "Although we'll probably have to take turns."
The female gym trainer shrugged, offered a mild sigh. "I'll go tell Lt. Surge that he's got more challengers to beat. Excuse me." After the gym trainer left to go get her boss, Kenny turned to look at Dawn.
"What's with her, thinking we're going to lose to Lt. Surge?" Kenny asked.
"In her defense," Dawn began, "We did see a lot of evidence at the Pokémon Center before coming here that would support her belief that Lt. Surge would win against whichever one between us ends up facing him in battle first."
Kenny folded his arms over his chest as he boasted, "Well I'd like to see Lt. Surge try to beat me! The power of cringe cannot be taken down easily, I assure you!"
"Mmm hmm," Dawn replied, right before the female gym trainer came back out with Lt. Surge. He looked just as he did in the Kanto anime, right down to how absurdly tall he was.
"Oh, more challengers," Lt. Surge said, not sounding annoyed or cocky or confident he'd beat them. Rather, he sounded genuinely surprised and being courteous. Offering a small smile, Lt. Surge said, "I take it one of you wants to try taking me on?"
Holding up a hand, Kenny said, "Yo!"
The mountain of a man chuckled in good humor. "Well now, aren't you confident! Here's hoping you'll be at his level when I battle you!"
"His level?" Dawn muttered quietly under her breath as she followed Kenny, Lt. Surge, and the female gym trainer into the stadium of the Vermilion City gym, to watch it as Kenny tries for the Thunder Badge.
"This official Vermilion City gym battle will be between Lt. Surge, the gym leader, and the challenger Kenny," the female gym trainer, who was acting as referee, announced, "Each trainer may use only one Pokémon each, and the trainer with the last Pokémon standing wins! Now then, begin!"
Lt. Surge, smirking confidently, tossed up a pokéball as he called out, "Raichu, I choose you!" As what was expected, Lt. Surge was going with his signature Raichu.
"Alright," Kenny said as he reached for Roshi's pokéball, "I got just the-" Kenny was cut off when one of his other Pokémon came out on its own, having clearly sensed Lt. Surge's Raichu and wanting to face off against it. To Kenny's surprise, it was his Pikachu Juan, who was wearing the Libre wrestler outfit. "Juan?" Kenny said, "Sorry dude, but I'm planning to use-"
"Pika!" Juan said after turning back to look at Kenny, his Latino cry and tone making it clear that he wanted to do this.
Seeing the determination in Juan's expression, Kenny relented. "...Alright, change of plans!" Kenny said, "Okay, Juan! Let's make it cringe!"
Lt. Surge seemed surprised that Kenny was going to stick with his named Pikachu in the wrestler outfit. "...A Pikachu..." Lt. Surge muttered, looking like his hopes for a good battle were already going up. Looking more amused, Lt. Surge said confidently, "Now this is starting to look interesting! Raichu, use Thunderbolt!"
"Juan, counter with your Thunderbolt!" Kenny called out.
The two Thunderbolts collided into one another, blasting each other away and leaving things at a stalemate. Lt. Surge looked elated with how things were going so far, surprisingly enough. "Alright, you're at his level for sure, kid!" Lt. Surge said to Kenny, "Let's see if you can keep it up! Raichu, use Take Down!"
"Juan, use Grass Knot!" Kenny ordered.
Raichu tried rushing in to slam itself hard into Juan, but the Latino Pikachu conjured some tied up blades of grass that tripped up Raichu as it tried to reach him. As Lt. Surge's Raichu laid on the ground and tried pushing itself back up, Kenny said, "Quick, Juan! Use Disarming Voice!" Juan then sent a pinkish sound wave that flew into and struck Raichu, hitting hard but was helpful in pushing Raichu back onto its feet.
"...It's got a diverse move set, too," Lt. Surge remarked. Smirking, Lt. Surge declared, "I better end this quickly! Raichu, use Mega Kick!"
"Juan, use Surf!" Kenny called out.
Raichu jumped up and seemingly flew at Juan with one of its feet leading the way, but Juan conjured up a large wave of water that he rode over and into Raichu, crashing the wave right down onto Raichu and making it cry out it pain. Raichu was slammed into the battlefield as some water from the Surf attack washed over it, and when the water receded, everyone saw it that Raichu had been knocked out.
Holding up a hand, the female gym trainer said, "Raichu is unable to battle! The winner is Pikachu!" Gesturing over to where Kenny stood, the female gym trainer announced, "Victory of this battle goes to the challenger, Kenny!"
The reborn trainer pumped both of his fists into the air, cheering, "Woot! I just won against the third Kanto region gym that I took on!"
Dawn, from where she sat in the bleachers, looked over to where Lt. Surge was standing, only to see him hang his head as his shoulders shook. She heard him chuckling under his breath, only for said chuckling to become full blown booming laughter as he threw his head back. "That's it!" Lt. Surge cheered, "That's what I want to see more of in the trainers who come here! You've sure taken a page from his book, young man!"
Curious about what Lt. Surge was going on about, Dawn got up and left the bleachers to meet up with Kenny as the two of them confronted Lt. Surge. "Who are you talking about, sir?" Dawn asked, not remembering anything from the anime in her previous life that could answer this because, even though she watched pretty much all of it, she remembered the Sinnoh anime the best. Content from the Kanto anime was a bit tougher for her to get exact.
Giving Dawn and Kenny a curious look, Lt. Surge said, "Oh, I guess that I ought to explain myself."
"You're talking about Ash Ketchum?"
Dawn and Kenny were both surprised by the revelation that Lt. Surge was talking about Ash of all people. The mountain of a man nodded in the affirmative. "He had shown me that my previous ways were wrong, and even held me back," Lt. Surge said, "Ash Ketchum is a good trainer, one who I feel others need to try to reach the level of. The world will be a better place with more trainers like Ash going about the place."
"And all of those trainers at the Pokémon Center..." Dawn said, trailing off in a manner showing she expected to be filled in.
"I went full force on them partly because I wanted to see if they could measure up to the rematch that I had with Ash where he beat me," Lt. Surge began, "And partly because I owe it to challengers to be respectful by holding nothing back."
Dawn and Kenny turned to look at one another before turning back to look at Lt. Surge. Although he and his Raichu held nothing back when facing challengers, they legitimately held no ill will or anything of the sort, sincerely only wanting to push others to be the best. Ash defeating him in their rematch really did bring the best out in Lt. Surge, it would seem.
There's still the problem of what all Lt. Surge's actions were doing, though.
...
Lt. Surge was brought to the local Pokémon Center to see the exact extent of all of the defeats that he had dealt in recent events. "Thanks for giving me no shortage of stuff to do today, Lt. Surge!" the local Nurse Joy said in a clearly sarcastic tone, "You know, it wouldn't hurt you or your Raichu to at least try to hold back! Not every trainer can battle at your level or higher! One girl's Pokémon almost flat lined because of your inability to go easy on newer trainers!"
Lt. Surge visibly cringed when he was told he and his Raichu not apparently knowing the meaning of sand-bagging could have gotten some rather tragic results. "Aww geez," Lt. Surge said, clearly sounding apologetic, "I didn't mean to have done so much harm. I was only meaning to push other trainers to reach greater heights, like that Kenny boy who defeated me at my gym a few min-"
"Someone actually defeated you?" Nurse Joy interrupted, looking and sounding genuinely surprised.
Kenny nodded once in the affirmative. "Yo. It was me and my Pikachu Juan who ended the apparent winning streak that Lt. Surge here had going."
Nurse Joy looked as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. It wasn't until she saw Lt. Surge's Raichu, clearly being defeated, that Nurse Joy thought Kenny's claim to be validated. "...Wow, that's actually pretty impressive," Nurse Joy said.
"Yeah, makes me wonder how I'll do when I have my challenge against Kenny's friend here later," said Lt. Surge while gesturing to Dawn, "I mean, if Kenny and his Pikachu was able to give Raichu and I a sound whooping, who knows how far his little friend here and her Pokémon can go?" Nurse Joy, hoping that Lt. Surge can be reasoned with to hold back on newer trainers while his Raichu gets treated, looked to Dawn.
Nurse Joy was actually a bit worried for Dawn's sake, seeing her in a similar light to the other young ladies who came in with injured Pokémon due to Lt. Surge going full force and not knowing what the phrase 'sand bagging' means. Giving the reborn trainer a sympathetic look, Nurse Joy said, "You better be ready for one tough battle against Lt. Surge later, young lady. As you can see by all of the injured Pokémon in the Center, he's a tough trainer, his surprise loss to your friend notwithstanding."
Later that evening, after Lt. Surge's Raichu was fully treated, Lt. Surge went to his gym to have an official gym battle against Dawn to see if she can earn the Thunder Badge. Lt. Surge's Raichu ended up being one-shot by Dawn's Garchomp Germany, who used Earthquake first thing. Nurse Joy, upon being told that Dawn defeated Lt. Surge's Raichu with only one attack, was nearly floored out of surprise that the local gym leader of Vermilion City lost two challenges to his gym in a row.
Lt. Surge was actually amused by how he actually lost to some challengers on their respective first tries at his gym. Dawn and Kenny, like Ash before them, restored Lt. Surge's hopes that there were indeed some talented Pokémon trainers out there. While Lt. Surge was grabbing some quick dinner outside of the Pokémon Center, Dawn and Kenny were looking at their respective Kanto gym badge cases, each one now holding a Boulder Badge, a Cascade Badge, and a Thunder Badge.
"Today was yet another victory for Juan Carlos Santiago Dominguez Hernandez de la Santa Cruz," Kenny said as he closed his Kanto gym badge case and put it away.
Dawn gave Kenny a mildly weirded out look. "...There's no way that's your Pikachu's full nickname. It can't fit."
"I know, that's why his full nickname is just Juan," Kenny replied, "But when I introduce him, I might like to give that at his full name, to raise the hype about him."
Rolling her eyes, Dawn said, "Whatever. So anyway, the next gym we ought to look into is the one over in Celadon City."
"Do you know what Pokémon type is used there?" Kenny asked.
Right before Dawn could speak up, she was cut off when the front doors to the Pokémon Center slid open, with Lt. Surge coming in and seeing the two reborn trainers. He made his way right over to the both of them. "Hey kids!" Lt. Surge said, "Glad that I caught you while you're still here in Vermilion City!"
The two reborn trainers turned to look at Lt. Surge as he came up, with Dawn asking, "What do you need, Lt. Surge?"
"I'm actually going to be visited at my gym by a class from Pokémon Technical Institute tomorrow," Lt. Surge explained, "You know, like they're taking an educational field trip or something. I was kind of hoping that you two could stay here to see them, sort of tell them about your experiences as Pokémon trainers." Folding his arms over his chest, Lt. Surge went on, "I mean, you kids are pretty good, especially given that you were both able to not only beat me, but on your respective first tries against me each."
Dawn had some vague memories from her previous life of what Lt. Surge might be talking about here, but she needed a bit of a refresher. "...Pokémon Technical Institute, huh?"
"It's called Pokémon Tech for short," Lt. Surge said, "It's basically a Pokémon school for rich kids who can do classes there rather than go about collecting gym badges in order to qualify for the Kanto Pokémon League."
The reborn trainer now had a good idea what Lt. Surge was talking about, remembering from her previous life the events of an early episode of the Kanto anime where Ash and company stumble upon a super strict and competitive Pokémon school. "...You really think that we can do something to give those students a good experience on their field trip?" Dawn asked.
"And if any of them get a little cocky because they're doing well in their classes," Lt. Surge said with a bit of mischief in his eyes, "Don't be afraid to trounce them in a battle."
"Ah, I see," Kenny remarked, "Very well. My main man here and I will show those elite rich prep school kids that practical experience trumps book smarts if need be." Lt. Surge nodded once to the reborn trainers in thanks before taking off. Turning to look at Dawn, Kenny asked, "Yo Dawn, you think we can show those kids what's what?"
"It... might be an interesting side distraction, sure," Dawn replied before she and Kenny both turned in for the night.
The following day, Dawn and Kenny were back at the Vermilion City gym, this time standing in front of a large group of students from Pokémon Tech. "Hey, where did Lt. Surge go?" one of the students asked, "Kind of irresponsible of the hosting gym leader to not even be here to lecture us during the field trip, even though that's what we were told he'd be doing to explain how being a gym leader in the Kanto region works."
"Lt. Surge had to download a brownload," Kenny explained casually, when went on to the students while gesturing to Dawn, "But he left me and my main man here behind to speak with you guys. We're traveling trainers who so far have earned three Kanto gym badges ea-"
"Oh ha ha ha ha ha!" one girl laughed, "Only three badges? The students in the intermediate class at Pokémon Tech have the qualifications of trainers with four badges!"
Dawn and Kenny both turned to look at the girl who had just dissed them; she wore the girl's uniform of Pokémon Tech, and had an overall look that signified her as a brainy beauty with a bit of a queen bee complex going, with her long honey blonde hair in twin pigtails that reached past her shoulders. "...And who are you to boast that book learning is a guaranteed trump to practical experience?" Kenny asked.
Gesturing to herself, the girl explained, "The name's Chloé, and I'm the top student in the Beginner class at Pokémon Tech."
"...You boast that the intermediate class students are better than me and my main man here," Kenny began, "Yet you yourself are only in the Beginner class."
Planting a foot forward, Cholé said, "Hey, I'll have you know I'm good enough to get into the Intermediate class if I wanted!"
"Oh really now," Kenny replied, taking a step forward. Taking a pokéball out off of his belt, Kenny went on, "You're good enough to be in the Intermediate class of your school, which you boast gives one the qualifications of a trainer with four badges. Therefore, it can be reasoned that you think yourself above me, a guy with only three badges so far."
Cholé looked smug as she regarded Kenny. "You're darn right I think so."
Kenny expanded the pokéball he had taken out, revealing it to be an Ultra Ball. "Then perhaps you'd be interested in putting your claims to the test, hmm? A battle, you versus me. All of your Pokémon that you have on hand, but one at a time, versus just Black here."
"...I assume that Black is a nickname that you've given to the Pokémon you got there," Cholé said, "In which case I'm even more assured that I can beat you, as only we-" Cholé was cut off when another girl stepped forward and bopped her on the back of the head. This girl was dressed similarly as Cholé was, but she had long dark hair that she didn't have up in any sort of style, instead opting to just let it flow down her back.
"Sorry about my junior student here," the girl apologized to Kenny and Dawn, "She's just a little bit on the overconfident side because she's been doing really well as of late at Pokémon Tech."
The girl who was apologizing to the reborn trainers on Cholé's behalf looked vaguely familiar to Dawn, but she still didn't quite remember who this girl was. "...At least the older students of your academy can be counted on to uphold the school's integrity," Dawn said wryly, "Might Kenny and I get your name?"
The girl smiled, nodded once while gesturing to herself. "I'm Giselle," the girl explained, "A student at Pokémon Tech who's recently tested into the Intermediate level class." Gesturing to Cholé, Giselle explained, "I'm trying to get my junior students at Pokémon Tech, such as Cholé here, to do more out of the box thinking, because I had learned that there's more to being a Pokémon trainer than a lot of book learning." Giving Dawn a knowing look, Giselle said, "Isn't that right, Dawn?"
"Wait a minute, Giselle," one stout blonde boy said, "You know that girl?"
"And her companion Kenny here," Giselle said to her schoolmates, "They're both trainers from the Sinnoh region who I saw on TV competing in the recent Lily of the Valley Conference. They're both well above any student at our school in terms of experience." Giselle returned her knowing gaze to Dawn. "...Dawn here especially so." Turning back to look at her schoolmates, Giselle went on, "These two both know what they're doing, and I saw that they have both the skill and power to back it up. So I say it's best that we don't ruffle their feathers."
Dawn was starting to remember Giselle better; she was mainly antagonistic in the episode she was in but mellowed out and became better after Ash put her in her place. Dawn here was glad to see that not only did Ash's work on Giselle stick, but Giselle herself is trying to teach others about how to go about doing things based off of her personal first hand experience. The reborn trainer gave a nod of acknowledgement to Giselle.
However, Cholé seemed to not be quite as receptive. "But Giselle, he's only got three badges," Cholé said, "You can take him eas-"
"I saw the Pokémon that he was threatening to use against you in the battle you had provoked him into challenging you to," Giselle said, "Saw him use it in a televised match from the recent Lily of the Valley Conference over in Sinnoh." The older student turned to face the younger. "...Believe you me, Cholé. By no means do I want to face that Pokémon of Kenny's if I can help it. No one at Pokémon Tech should willingly face that Pokémon of Kenny's if they can help it."
The other students from Pokémon Tech could only look on at Giselle, who obviously commanded respect from all of them. Enough so that all of them obeyed Giselle without question; even Cholé got the idea and backed down from ruffling Kenny's feathers, and apologized to him when Giselle instructed her to.
One of the boys spoke up, asking Dawn and Kenny, "So you two are both going around to earn badges here in Kanto, even though you've obviously already done so in Sinnoh. Did either of you two beat Lt. Surge?"
Dawn appreciated this change of subject, given the previous one was threatening to provoke Kenny into calling out his legendary Pokémon. "Actually yes," Dawn replied, "Both Kenny and I have earned badges from Lt. Surge. We have plans to try the gym in Celadon City next to see if we can earn our respective fourth Kanto gym badges." At Giselle's request because she wanted the junior students to see something, Dawn and Kenny took out and showed their respective Kanto gym badges.
"Pretty neat, huh?" Kenny said after he and Dawn put their badges away.
Cholé looked like she was about to say something, but got cut off when Lt. Surge entered the area. "Sorry kids, had a call that I had to answer," Lt. Surge said to the students from Pokémon Tech, "Now, I hope that you all hadn't given these two guests here trouble."
Pointing at Cholé, Giselle said, "She tried provoking Kenny into battling her but I made her back down, especially given what Pokémon I heard Kenny threaten to bring out against her should that battle have happened."
Looking at Cholé, Lt. Surge said, "Oh come on now, little lady, you don't have to go ruffling feathers all over now."
...
With their time in Vermilion City finished, Dawn and Kenny returned to the Pokémon Center to rest up until the dead of night, where they'll zoom over to Celadon City on the backs of their respective legendary Pokémon. "Hey Dawn," Kenny began.
Looking over to her friend, Dawn replied, "Yes Kenny?"
"What do you think would of happened," Kenny began, "If I did bring Black out against that Cholé girl who was talking all of that good stuff?"
Dawn shrugged, her eyes closed. "Dunno. Some might of screamed out of frightened surprise, some might of fainted. One or two might of soiled themselves."
Kenny chuckled in amusement to himself. "That would have been a hoot to see."
"Kenny, we're here to earn the gym badges in Kanto," Dawn pointed out, "Not make people use their pants as toilets." The two reborn trainers then proceeded to get as much rest as possible, because when they woke up in the middle of the night, they left the Pokémon Center, got out their respective legendary Pokémon, and took off for their next destination.
They got to Celadon City, went into the local Pokémon Center, and stayed there for the rest of the night, both dreaming about challenging the Celadon City gym to earn their respective fourth Kanto gym badges each. However, what neither of them were counting on was that they would be seeing a particular challenge tomorrow, a challenge that would hinder the both of them from challenging the Celadon City gym until said obstructing challenge was cleared first.
A challenge that only a particular Pokémon of Kenny's can clear.
END, CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
Author's notes;
This chapter covers Dawn and Kenny respectively getting Thunder Badges from Lt. Surge, who did indeed take what he learned from losing to Ash to heart and now tries to improve himself as well as try to push other trainers to Ash's level, although Lt. Surge still needs to learn to go a bit easier on the newer trainers.
Speaking of folks who became better from Ash trumping them, Giselle the girl from that Pokémon Tech episode shows up with some schoolmates on a field trip, and gets her schoolmate Cholé (not the one from Journeys but an OC based off of that one bitch from 'Miraculous Ladybug') to back down lest she makes the mistakes Giselle herself made long ago.
Anyway, the next chapter will see Dawn and Kenny have to deal with something involving the (infamous?) Celadon City Game Corner before either of them can make an attempt at the gym in Celadon City. I can't give too many/much of a spoiler(s), but let's just say that one of the Pokémon that Kenny's got will be needed to go in deep to help solve a problem.
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)