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-nine: A long and hard effort
After waking up in the Pokémon Center in Celadon City, Kanto, Dawn and Kenny did some party rotating before starting on serious discussions on how to tackle the Celadon City gym. "You got any idea what the Celadon City gym will be like, my main man?" Kenny asked.
"Yeah, it uses grass Pokémon," Dawn replied, "Hence why I kept Chi-Chi and Coupins in my party and also rotated Cyrus back in."
Kenny couldn't help but let off a bit of an amused smirk. "...The same three Pokémon that you used to take on the last grass Pokémon gym you faced. Amusing." The two reborn trainers then took off from the Celadon City Pokémon Center to head on over to the Celadon City gym. Along the way, the two of them passed by a perfume shop. They both stopped when they caught the varied powerful scents coming from the shop.
Kenny, after sniffing about the air without approaching the perfume shop, said, "Wow, I'm at least a dozen feet away and I can smell it."
Dawn, despite not knowing too much of the anime prior to Sinnoh, did vaguely remember that, in the anime in her previous life, Ash had trouble challenging the Celadon City gym because he had been badmouthing the perfume. Granted it wasn't entirely nice of him, but the gym barring him from being able to challenge them because he badmouthed their perfume is unarguably worse given that they were supposed to be professionals. An issue from the anime Dawn didn't like, almost as bad as that Samurai kid from near the beginning of everything.
Looking at Dawn, Kenny said, "You think we should check it out?"
"I've never been much of one for perfume," Dawn began, "But it might be seen as weird if I turned down a visit to a perfume store, given that I'm a girl." Dawn still hated how she had changed gender upon being isekai'd into this world she now lived in, given who she was prior to being reborn. Regardless, Dawn proceeded to follow Kenny into the perfume store, figuring that acting opposite of how Ash acted when he was there might make things go smoothly for her and Kenny.
Inside of the perfume store, Dawn was looking around at the shelves of products. Mostly perfumes, but Dawn was surprised to also find potpourri, air freshener sprays, and even a product sprayed into a toilet to help eliminate smells from downloading a brownload. As Dawn browsed the selections, her attention was gotten by a blonde girl dressed up in a kimono. "And how can I be of service to you, young lady?" asked the kimono girl.
"I'm actually looking around to burn time because my friend Kenny wanted to come here to look for something," Dawn explained, "Although I did find a product here that I not only wasn't expecting to find here, but was actually looking for."
"Oh, the Kenny boy who's looking for a perfume for his mom as a gift," the kimono girl said, "Yes, he's rather sweet. It's pretty rare to see a boy take that kind of leap." Offering Dawn a mildly amused look, the kimono girl added, "Rarer still when the boy in question drags a girl in with him."
"The last time I dealt with perfume, it made my Pokémon freak out," Dawn lied, but was straight faced enough to bluff flawlessly.
The kimono girl nodded in understanding. "That's fair. It must have been the inexperience of the clerk using perfume on your Pokémon, unless you were the one who tried putting perfume on your own Pokémon."
"It was the clerk, who forced the matter even though I told her no as politely as possible," Dawn explained.
Shrugging, the kimono girl said, "Wow. I have a co-worker here who was nearly fired for forcing a perfume sample on a customer who came in with her ten-year-old daughter and said daughter's Pichu. Both the daughter and Pichu freaked out when the perfume was spritzed onto them." Looking at Dawn, the kimono girl said, "So what product was it that you were going to ask about, young ma'am?"
Dawn grabbed a small box that held a spritz bottle of the spray-before-you-go product. "I was interested in this product here," Dawn explained, "Given that I saw commercials for it back in-"
"Hey, we got a problem here!" another kimono girl, this one a redhead, called out, cutting Dawn off and getting both her and the blonde kimono girl to turn to face her.
"What's up?" asked the blonde kimono girl.
Gesturing to the blonde kimono girl, the redhead kimono girl began, "You know how some Pokémon were found being given away as prizes over at the local game corner, and all of them were being moved to a wildlife preserve after Kanto's government ruled that giving Pokémon out as prizes like that was illegal?"
"Yes, I did hear about that," the blonde kimono girl replied, "But what does that have to-"
"One of the Pokémon being moved like that escaped after raising a ruckus," the redhead kimono girl interrupted, "And all of the other Pokémon escaped in the confusion! There's now dozens of wild Pokémon loose in the streets of Celadon City!"
Dawn immediately came to attention at that, and Kenny chose at that moment to wander on by where Dawn and the two kimono girls were at. "Yo Dawn," Kenny began, "What's going-"
"Dozens of wild Pokémon are on the loose in the streets of Celadon City," Dawn explained dryly, "We'll get more details in a bit since we're both volunteering to help subdue the wild Pokémon and round them back up."
"That's great!" the redhead kimono girl said, "Erika is already trying to rally as many trainers as possible to help with subduing and rounding up the wild Pokémon! You two can join the rally that'll meet outside of the Celadon City gym!"
Looking to the redhead kimono girl, Kenny said, "The Celadon City gym, you say? Well my main man Dawn and I were going to head on over there anyway so we can both try challenging the gym leader to see if we can earn our respective fourth Kanto gym badges."
"Then you two will be wanting to see Erika after this crisis has been taken care of," the blonde kimono girl said, "Given that Erika is the gym leader."
Dawn, although she already knew that, acted as if she didn't. Nodding once in thanks to the blonde kimono girl, Dawn said, "Thanks for the tip. Now, if Kenny and I knew were to find the Celadon City gym so we can join the rally-"
"Oh, we can lead you right there," the redhead kimono girl said, gesturing for Dawn and Kenny to follow her and the blonde kimono girl out of the perfume store. The four of them then ran right over to the Celadon City gym, intending to join the rally being gathered to help subdue and round up the wild Pokémon that all got loose from the shipment taking them from the Celadon City Game Corner.
A short while later, Dawn and Kenny stood next to one another in a crowd consisting of dozens of trainers that stood outside of the Celadon City gym. The redhead and blonde kimono girls from the perfume store stood behind Erika, who was dressed as she was in the FRLG games. "Thank you all for coming here, trainers!" Erika called out, "Celadon City is in danger, no thanks to the cruel and greedy persons running the local Game Corner!"
Holding up a hand, a light cocoa skinned girl said, "Yeah, this is about those Pokémon getting loose while on transport to a wildlife preserve, isn't it?"
"Indeed," Erika replied while pointing to the girl. To the crowd as a whole, Erika went on, "Trainers, there are dozens of Pokémon from this incident who need to be rounded up and brought back in. More dozens than the lot of you combined. In fact, given the numbers that I had been given on the matter, I would say that each of you would have to take on and subdue an average of three separate Pokémon each."
Some of the trainers looked worried about the numbers that Erika had just presented. Gesturing to herself, Erika said, "Now, I myself, along with the girls who work in my gym, will also be lending our aid here, although that'll hardly do anything to give us better numbers against the loose Pokémon we need to bring back in."
Another girl in the crowd, this one a geeky looking redhead, raised a hand. "It was mentioned that these Pokémon we have to round up are all wild Pokémon, right? Would it be alright if some of us up and capture some of these Pokémon?"
"That is an option, yes," Erika replied, "But all of you who capture any Pokémon from the lot that got loose from the shipment from the Game Corner have to present them to the men in charge of the shipment, and if the men say so then you'll have to turn over the caught Pokémon." After a few more things were explained, Erika sent the trainers off to go help subdue and round up the wild Pokémon that got loose from the shipment from the Game Corner.
"So we have to turn over whatever Pokémon we catch from the shipment that got loose?" Kenny asked as he and Dawn looked around for the loose wild Pokémon.
"Erika said the men in charge of the shipment will decide if a caught Pokémon will be revoked," Dawn clarified, "If the men say a trainer can keep a Pokémon they caught in this event, then that Pokémon can be kept."
Stretching his arms into the air, Kenny said, "Man, I hope I find a Pokémon who'd be a good solid member to join the cringe posse, and what's more I'm allowed to keep it."
Dawn shrugged, before stopping short upon remembering something. "...Hey Kenny."
"Hmm?" Kenny replied.
"The girls at the perfume store said that the Pokémon from the shipment got loose because one of the Pokémon raised a ruckus and escaped," Dawn began.
Kenny could see where this was heading. "...You don't think that the roudy Pokémon in question could be dangerous, do you? What do you think it could be?"
Dawn had trouble remembering what all Pokémon were given as prizes at the Celadon City Game Corner in the games in her previous life; the only two that she remembered for sure were Porygon and Clefairy. Assuming that this life worked like that, then Porygon and Clefairy would be among the Pokémon who had gotten loose, but Dawn wasn't sure if either one of those two, with a single member of its species, acting on its own could cause the ruckus that was reported.
As the reborn trainer was trying to wrack her brain for more details, she and Kenny heard Erika and the two kimono girls from the perfume store cry out in frightened panic. "We got some girls to go save, my main man!" Kenny said as he ran in the direction that the cries came from. Fearing that the worst could happen, Dawn ran after Kenny, intending on backing him up.
...
Dawn and Kenny, with the latter leading the way, rounded a corner as they approached where the cries came from, only to see Erika and the two kimono girls back away slowly out of fright of whatever it was that was facing them. "It's... it's the Pokémon that raised the ruckus that led to all of the Pokémon from the shipment from the Game Corner getting loose!" the redhead kimono girl said out of fright, her and the others not even noticing Dawn and Kenny, their attention focused solely on the wild Pokémon before them.
Turning to see what Pokémon it was, Dawn and Kenny were surprised to see that it was, of all things, a Mr. Mime. It had an amused, savvy expression as it slowly approached Erika and the two kimono girls behind her. "Hey, you ladies need help?" Dawn called out.
Erika and the kimono girls all turned to look at Dawn and Kenny. "Kids, get out of here and go get as much backup as possible!" Erika screamed in a clearly rattled and frightened tone, "This Mr. Mime here is no joke! The men who were in charge of the shipment claim that this Mr. Mime is the one that raised the ruckus that resulted in all of the Pokémon escaping! It's gotta be frightfully strong, given that in order to escape like that, it had to of given the mens' Pokémon a hard pounding!"
"MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIMEEEEEEE!" the Mr. Mime cried out, sounding to Dawn and Kenny like it was crying out in aroused, sensual pleasure.
Dawn, upon hearing the Mr. Mime cry out like that, went dry and unamused in her expression. "...Oh you have got to be kidding me," Dawn muttered quietly as she face palmed.
Kenny, on the other hand, saw a golden opportunity here. "I think that I have just the Pokémon on hand to go toe to toe with this Mr. Mime," Kenny said as he took a pokéball out. Tossing up that pokéball, Kenny called out, "Okay, Zarbon! Let's make it cringe!" To the surprise of Erika and the two kimono girls, Kenny had called out a Machamp of all things.
"...Isn't Mr. Mime dual psychic fairy type?" asked the blonde kimono girl to Erika, "And he's sending out a Machamp, which is pure fighting. He does realize his Machamp is at a severe disadvantage, doesn't he?"
Gesturing to Zarbon, Kenny said, "Zarbon, the Mr. Mime in front of us is quite roudy. He's reportedly given the Pokémon of at least two men a hard pounding."
Zarbon placed the hands on his lower pair of arms on his hips, while holding the left upper hand under the right upper elbow as he held the back of his right upper hand under his chin. "Champ champ Machamp," Zarbon said while addressing the Mr. Mime, getting its attention, "Champ Machamp champ Machamp." Zarbon's tone very clearly sounded flirtatious.
The Mr. Mime arched a wry eyebrow as it regarded Zarbon. It placed its left hand on its hip while gesturing to Zarbon with its right hand. "Mime mi-mime mime mime, mi-mi-mime," Mr. Mime said, sounding just as flirtatious as Zarbon.
As the two Pokémon talked to one another, Erika and the two kimono girls used the distraction to group up with Dawn and Kenny. "Your Machamp's taking a serious risk, young man," Erika said as she looked at Kenny, "Given that he's facing an opponent who has a very severe type advantage against him."
"Well Zarbon is stronger than you're giving him credit for," Kenny said, "Why, he's taken down two-"
"Oh my goodness!" the redhead kimono girl cried out upon turning back to see the confrontation between Zarbon and the Mr. Mime, only to see that they were embracing one another lovingly, and even gave one another Eskimo kisses. Dawn, although she sort of expected something like this when Kenny sent out Zarbon to confront the Mr. Mime, still wore a dry, monotone 'you've got to be kidding me' expression on her face.
Kenny, on the other hand, looked mildly amused by how his Machamp had apparently found love on the field of battle. "...Say Mr. Mime," Kenny called out, getting both Mr. Mime and Zarbon to stop what they were doing and turn to look at Kenny, "If you and Zarbon here wish to continue what the two of you are doing, then why not join my crew? There's always room in the cringe posse for one more member, you know."
The wild Mr. Mime looked like it was considering Kenny's words for a moment, up until it jumped from Zarbon's arms, landed on its feet, and gave Kenny an enthusiastic nod of agreement. Seeing that Mr. Mime wanted to join Kenny's rotation of Pokémon made Zarbon clap his upper hands quickly out of celebration. Kenny took out a pokéball, expanded it, and threw it at Mr. Mime, who went into the pokéball before it fell to the ground. It shook for a bit before making a ping sound, indicating capture.
As Kenny collected the pokéball that held his new Mr. Mime, Erika and the two kimono girls all breathed sighs of relief. "...Well Kenny, you'll first have to turn that Mr. Mime over to the men in charge of the shipment of Pokémon from the Game Corner," Erika informed Kenny, "But given how much trouble it's caused them, I don't think they'll hesitate to leave Mr. Mime to you."
"Sweet," Kenny said as he looked at the pokéball that held the Mr. Mime he had caught. There were still a few more things to take care of, mostly still subduing what loose Pokémon were still left, but that business was settled soon enough. Eventually, all of the loose wild Pokémon were subdued and brought in, allowing the men who were in charge of the shipment from the Game Corner to go over everything.
The men who were in charge of the shipment of Pokémon from the Game Corner went over all of the Pokémon that had gotten loose but were brought back in. All Pokémon from the shipment were brought in, some bound and some straight up captured. Rare Pokémon like Clefairy and Dratini were revoked, even the one Clefairy that was captured. More common Pokémon like Horsea and a Nidorino that were straight up caught were allowed to be kept by the trainers who caught them.
Then the men looked at the Pokémon from their shipment that Kenny caught. "You... you were able to actually subdue that Mr. Mime?!" ask the first man out of sheer surprise when Kenny had presented the Mr. Mime he caught.
"Yeah, I was able to bring Mr. Mime in with my Machamp," Kenny explained, "It was ac-"
"You subdued a dual psychic fairy Pokémon with a pure fighting Pokémon?" asked a second man, "Wow kid, you are good!" Looking at the Mr. Mime, who was giving him and the other men a wry, savvy look of amusement, the second man said after turning to look back at Kenny, "Yeah kid, you can keep the Mr. Mime if you want to. You'd actually be doing us a favor."
Kenny pumped his right fist, saying, "Sweetness!"
"So what will you name the Mr. Mime, Kenny?" Dawn asked as she walked up to him.
Kenny scanned the pokéball for Mr. Mime with his pokédex first. "...As I figured, the Mr. Mime is another dude joining the cringe posse." Turning to look at his newly caught Mr. Mime, Kenny said, "I shall be naming you Hisoka." Nodding in understanding, the now dubbed Hisoka gave a simple cry before Kenny recalled him. Turning to look at Dawn, Kenny asked, "So Dawn, dude, do you think that one of us could try challenging Erika at her gym?"
"I talked it over with Erika, and she explained that she and her gym trainers need the rest of the day and all night to wind down after the effort they gave in helping out today," Dawn began to explain, "Not to mention how they're stilled a bit wired over the run in with your Mr. Mime before you caught him. But Erika did say she'll be willing to face either one of us first thing tomorrow morning at eight, so we ought to be ready by then."
"Oh, that reminds me I need to look at Hisoka's moves," Kenny said as he scanned Hisoka's pokéball with his pokédex. "...Neat, he's got Zen Headbutt, Thief, Drain Punch, and Thunder Punch."
Dawn was mildly surprised by that. "An all physical move pool?"
Taking a look at other info on Hisoka while he was scanning that pokéball, Kenny said, "Oh, Hisoka here has a naughty nature."
Dawn stared at Kenny with a dry, monotone expression. "...That makes way too much sense."
The following morning, Dawn and Kenny went to the Celadon City gym, where they were greeted by Erika and the two kimono girls from before. The two kimono girls actually group hugged Kenny out of appreciation for him saving them and Erika from the Mr. Mime. They seemed a bit frightened when Kenny mentioned that he was allowed to keep the Mr. Mime, but he said that he wasn't going to use Hisoka (he told them that's what he named his Mr. Mime) in his battle against Erika.
"As tough as he proved to be, I still literally just caught Hisoka yesterday," Kenny explained, "I wanna have at least some time with him before I decide to whip him out for a battle against a gym leader."
The kimono girls and Erika all understood Kenny's reasoning, even appreciated it as it meant that Kenny wasn't going to use Hisoka against Erika. Speaking of the Celadon City gym leader, she went on and accepted Kenny's challenge first. The battles that Erika had at her gym were three Pokémon per trainer, but worked like the other gyms so far otherwise. Also, true to being a grass Pokémon user, Erika's three Pokémon were Tangela, Weepinbell, and Gloom.
Kenny, using his Glaceon Shallot to square off against Tangela, his shiny Ariados Spider-Frog to face Weepinbell, and his Houndoom Goofy to face Gloom, ended up winning against Erika without any of his Pokémon going down, thus netting Kenny the Rainbow Badge.
Dawn won similarly as easily when she and Erika battled later that day after Erika's Pokémon were all fully rested from the battle with Kenny. Cyrus defeated Tangela, Coupins defeated Weepinbell, and Chi-Chi defeated Gloom. As Erika awarded Dawn the rightfully earned Rainbow Badge, the redhead kimono girl expressed surprise that a girl like Dawn would own any bug Pokémon at all, to which Dawn countered that she thinks her Mothim Coupins is adorable.
...
"Fuchsia City?" Kenny said in an asking tone when the subject of the next gym he and Dawn could challenge came up.
Erika nodded in confirmation. "If it's challenging the Kanto gyms you and Dawn here are looking to do, then the gym in Fuchsia City is your next best bet."
"The gym used to be located just outside of Fuchsia City," the blonde kimono girl said, "But the Pokémon League Commission for Kanto caught wind of that and ordered the gym be moved back into Fuchsia City. The Commission also helped with rebuilding the old rundown gym on Cinnabar Island when they heard that the Cinnabar gym leader Blane was holding gym battles at the site of a volcano of all places."
Dawn nodded in understanding of how the Kanto Pokémon League Commission ran things. Dawn also proceeded to ask about the Fuchsia City gym, despite already having some knowledge of it due to her previous life. "Can you ladies give me and Kenny any idea of what we could expect at the gym in Fuchsia City?"
"The Fuchsia City gym leader, Koga," the redhead kimono girl began, "Uses poison type Pokémon. A bit dangerous to face off against if you aren't prepared."
"Well with that in mind," Kenny said, "I've already decided to make my Scizor Cell one of the Pokémon I'll use in the battle against Koga. Cell, being a Scizor, is part steel type thus immune to poison attacks, so he'll be able to bring the hurt with little if any worries."
Dawn nodded in understanding. "I also have a steel type Pokémon, my Lucario Leni. She also knows Psychic, so she can not only no sell poison attacks from Koga's Pokémon, but also deal a lot of damage in return." Holding a hand to her chin, Dawn went on, "But I should also look into what other Pokémon of mine I can use against Koga. I never want to rely on any one Pokémon in a battle."
"Other poison Pokémon would be a decent start, as poison Pokémon can't be poisoned," Erika said, "Also, if you're willing to risk a Pokémon getting poisoned anyway, use both psychic and ground Pokémon against Koga's Pokémon. Their attacks will do a lot."
The two reborn trainers nodded in thanks for the advice before making their way to the local Pokémon Center. After Dawn's Pokémon she used against Erika were treated, Dawn and Kenny both waited until the dead of night. At that time, they took out Tsukune and Black, then flew them over to Fuchsia City, where they rested for the rest of the night. The next morning would see one of them challenge Koga at the Fuchsia City gym, to see if Kanto badge number five can be earned.
END, CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
Author's notes;
This chapter sees Dawn and Kenny each earn a Rainbow Badge from Erika, although that plot point was mostly pushed to the side because the plot point of the escaped Pokémon from the Game Corner shipment being taken to a wildlife preserve took up more time than I had anticipated. But then again, I was aiming to get a new Pokémon to Kenny, and Mr. Mime fit the bill perfectly. Well anyway, the next chapter will see the reborn trainers try their hands at earning the Soul Badge off of Koga in Fuchsia City, so here's hoping it goes well.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Coupins (male Mothim), Tsukune (Palkia), Muten (male Turtwig), Kowalski (male Piplup)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Spider-Frog (male Ariados; shiny), Zarbon (male Machamp), Shallot (male Glaceon), Goofy (male Houndoom), Black (Giratina)