Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter Sixty-one: Boku No Pokémon Academia
Dawn and Kenny, both having just earned their respective Soul Badges from the Fuchsia City gym, went with Koga, his sister Aya, Koga's daughter Janine, and Lance as they all followed this older gentleman who came to find Lance. They all ended up heading to some important government building that was located in Fuchsia City. "Now tell me exactly what's going on here, Reginald," said Lance as he addressed the older gentleman, now identified as Reginald.
Letting out a troubled sigh, Reginald began, "It's like I had said earlier. The board for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam is now facing a very serious lawsuit, with multiple charges ranging from corruption to minor emotional and mental abuse."
"Could you elaborate?" Koga asked, gesturing to Reginald.
The older gentleman nodded once in the affirmative. "...There's many accusations that the question part of the exams are rigged to be too difficult to pass with a respectable score, with many of the questions being trick questions designed to ensure the exam takers get them wrong. Then there's the practical portion where exam takers have battles against the exam monitors where they all use the rented Pokémon provided by the board for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam."
Dawn wore a look of suspicion on her face. "...Let me guess. People have levied accusations that the rented Pokémon provided by the board for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam were raised so that they always lose when exam takers use them, ensuring that the exam monitors always win."
Reginald nodded in confirmation to the reborn trainer's guess. "Additionally, some investigation was launched into those who had actually managed to pass the Pokémon League Admissions Exam. There is at by our calculations at least a ninty percent chance that those who do pass the Pokémon League Admissions Exam come from wealthy families, and whenever someone does pass those exams, there's a very high tendency for someone helping to run the exams to pocket a considerable sum of money by the end of that day."
"So we have proof," Aya said, pounding a fist into her hand, "Let's go bring them in right now!"
"Not so fast, Aunt Aya," Janine spoke up, "The board for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam has only be accused. There's no real proof yet, and the ongoing investigation into matters have literally only just been started."
Lance nodded in agreement with Janine. "Indeed. We need more proof, especially since no one outside of exam takers and the exam monitors knows what things are like on the inside. The board for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam keeps things very secret so that no one on the outside has any idea what's going on."
Shrugging, Kenny said, "So how about we do an undercover sting operation? Send someone in wearing a disguise and a hidden camera plus hidden microphone, and have them go through the exam while secretly recording everything."
Aya looked a bit confused by Kenny's plan. "...Can't we just have Lance sit in on everything to watch what's going on, so he can catch the corruption in action?"
"It someone of Lance's position sits in like you suggested," Dawn began to explain, "Then the board for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam will be careful and not do anything, so as to not risk being caught by a person of authority." Turning to look at Lance, Dawn said to him, "Especially since there's no way you can be bribed by them to play along."
"If they do try to bribe me," Lance said with a mildly amused smirk on his face, "I'll bring the hammer down on them on the spot, using their attempt to bribe me as evidence that the charges that have been levied against them are accurate."
Dawn nodded once to the Indigo League champion before turning back to face Aya. "No, Kenny's got a point, Aya," Dawn said to Koga's sister, "The best shot that we have of catching the corruption of the board for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam in action is to do an undercover sting operation. We'll just need a willing person to put on a disguise and go in to take the exams while a hidden microphone and hidden camera are on their person."
As everyone wondered what to do, Janine held up a hand. "I'll do it."
Both Koga and Aya turned to look at Janine. "Are you sure you're willing to go through such lengths to bring corruption to the limelight for everyone to see?" Aya asked.
"You, father, and I are trained in the ninja arts, Aunt Aya," Janine pointed out, "An undercover mission to gather intel is something that any self-respecting ninja would do."
"Now we'll just need a disguise for Janine," Kenny said as he clapped his hands together, "Do we have access to a movie studio level costume department?"
Clapping his hands together before holding his right hand up with the index finger extended, Lance said, "We do, actually. I happen to know famous Pokémon film producer Cleavon Schpielbunk, and he owes me a few favors." Lance proceeded to make a phone call, and within minutes a game plan was set up to tackle the undercover sting operation against the board for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam.
The next morning, a number of people were walking towards a building for taking the Pokémon League Admissions Exams in. Among the people walking towards the building in order to take the Pokémon League Admissions Exam was a girl roughly in the same age group as Dawn, Kenny, and Janine. This girl, however, was actually very obese, with her walking gait being more of a waddle than actual walking.
She had a notable acne issue with her face, she wore large framed horn rimmed glasses with tape securing the part going over the bridge of the nose, a long sleeved shirt under a t-shirt with a soda logo on it, a pair of sweatpants that were pulled up a bit so that her notable belly was tucked into them, a pair of brown loafer shoes, and she had long blonde hair that was brushed and combed into a straight hime style.
She also wore a pin on her shirt that resembled a green four leaf clover, with faux green gems inlaid into gold; the pin was roughly the size of the space inside the index finger and thumb when the ends are pressed into each other. The nerdy fat girl also wore a hearing aid in her left ear. The girl's hair going over her ears did nothing at all to interfere with the functionality of the hearing aid she had in her ear to help hear things.
...Which was a good thing given that the nerdy fat girl wasn't actually a nerdy fat girl, but rather Janine wearing a particularly complex disguise that Kenny, using what was available the costume department of Cleavon Schpielbunk's movie studio, set her up with. His reasoning was that no one would give any consideration to a meek, nerdy fat girl in class, given that people considered to be more conventionally appealing to look at would be able to get attention better.
Thusly, Janine in her disguise waddled her way into the building for taking the Pokémon League Admissions Exams. When Janine had registered to take the exams, she gave the clerk who was at the registration counter the fake name that Kenny had come up with and provided to her.
"Oh yeah," the disguised Janine said when asked for her name, "My name is Plumpany Fluffythighs."
...
In the hotel room set up for the undercover sting operation, everyone was listening in as they heard what Janine said, while also looking at a video monitor that showed them what Janine was seeing. The hearing aid gave them the audio, while a small high tech video camera hidden in the four leaf clover pin gave them visual. Thus Lance and the team that he had for this sting operation (Dawn, Kenny, Koga, Aya, Reginald, and half a dozen other men from various law enforcement agencies in Kanto) were able to observe what was going on.
When everyone heard Janine give the fake name Kenny provided her with, Dawn turned to look at Kenny and shoot him a dry, mildly unamused look. "...Plumpany Fluffythighs," Dawn repeated at her friend, her tone as dry as her expression, "Really."
"Well hey, it fits the character that she's playing," Kenny replied with a shrug.
"So long as my daughter does nothing to draw attention to herself," Koga remarked, "And just goes with the flow of things here, we'll see what the board for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam is truly up to here soon enough."
Aya placed a hand on Koga's shoulder. "You worry too much, brother," Aya commented to Koga in a sympathetic tone, "Janine, in addition to proving herself ready to take over your gym leader position for you when you finally become an elite four member, has been trained in the ninja arts same as you and I. This undercover sting operation is home territory for her."
Lance used a small microphone to speak to Janine through the earpiece (disguised as the hearing aid she wore) she wore. "You're doing good so far, Janine," Lance reassured the kunoichi, "Just keep playing along with what's going on."
In the room for the first portion of the exam, Janine sat off to the side in an unassuming manner, making few others in the room even aware that she was there. Only those seated within Janine's immediate vicinity were aware that 'Plumpany Fluffythighs' was seated either in front of them, next to them, or behind them, and even then no one was actively paying any real attention to the very nerdy looking very fat girl in the room.
Within short order, the exam monitor came into the room to host the first portion of the exam. Through the hidden camera in Janine's four leaf clover pin, Dawn saw the exam monitor, and was able to recognize him as the same one who, in the anime in Dawn's previous life, ran the exam that Ash and Team Rocket took during the Kanto anime. Dawn wasn't entirely sure what to make of him, given that in the end in the episode he was in he didn't come off as completely bad.
Dawn figured she'd have to wait until everything needed was gathered, and the subsequent investigation into matters uncovered everything, before she formed an honest opinion on that exam monitor in particular.
To a slight lack of surprise on Dawn's part, the first portion of the Pokémon League Admissions Exam was a series of true or false questions. Through the hidden camera in Janine's four leaf clover pin, everyone was able to see the questions on the computer monitor that Janine had to answer, and already the law enforcement men Lance had brought in were taking notes, with one of the men noting how some of the questions, regardless of how Janine answered them, can be scored as Janine having gotten them wrong.
After the first portion of the exams were finished, the second portion was conducted, this being the part with the 'identify what's in the picture' questions. The first question asked in this portion was what Dawn recognized as the infamous 'Jigglypuff seen from above' picture, which everyone in the exam room ended up getting wrong.
"Hey, my pokédex lets me show what a Jigglypuff really looks like when seen from above," Kenny said while fiddling around with his pokédex, showing that the circle that Jigglypuff seen from above is also had two slight bumps along the edge that represented Jigglypuff's ears. "Thank goodness that I caught a Jigglypuff and evolved it into my Wigglytuff, huh?" Kenny remarked as he put away his pokédex for the time being.
The first law enforcement man that was brought in by Lance gave Kenny a look of consideration. "We'll actually have to make a note of that since it proves one of the questions in the exam has been rigged to be wrong. Thanks for the tip, Kenny."
...
After the first and second portions of the exam were gotten through, everyone went outside for the third portion of the exam, which was the practical where the exam takers and the exam monitors all used rented Pokémon against one another. Janine, like the other exam takers, was given a selection of three Pokémon that she nor anyone watching via the hidden camera in Janine's four leaf clover pin had any idea of what they could be.
Janine ended up paired to face the male exam monitor from the Kanto anime in Dawn's previous life. Janine, with her rented party of Venomoth, Arbok, and Weezing, actually did surprisingly well against the exam monitor's rented party of Charizard, Alakazam, and Rhydon, barely losing to the exam host who had only his rented Charizard left when he finally defeated the disguised kunoichi in the battle that they had.
Although Janine lost that battle, what Lance and the others were paying attention to was the exam board member who handed the rented parties to the exam monitor and Janine, a mid to late forties slender blonde woman who looked and was dressed like a serious businesswoman. The exam board member looked very much surprised by how close the battle between the exam monitor and Janine was, despite how Janine was at a blatant disadvantage the entire time.
"...She looks as if she fully expected the battle to be a one-sided curb stomp in favor of the guy battling Janine," Dawn remarked about the exam board member, "And yet Janine with what she was given was able to pull an incredibly close call that the exam monitor that she battled was just barely able to overcome."
Koga smirked in amusement. "It's their fault for providing my daughter with an all poison Pokémon team. She was working in our family's element of choice."
While the exam monitor congratulated 'Plumpany' on giving him the most hard fought battle he ever won as an exam monitor for the Pokémon League Admissions Exam, the exam board member who handed the rented Pokémon parties to the exam monitor and Janine practically stomped forward and proceed to verbally tear into Janine, accusing her of cheating while saying that her losing the battle anyway just goes to prove that the Pokémon League Admissions Exam can't be cheated.
Seeing that Janine was being harshly accused of cheating despite how there were multiple eye witnesses that can attest to the fact Janine was playing fairly and in accordance to the provided rules, Lance and his team took notes of what they were seeing, even the fact that the exam monitor who battled Janine spoke up in defense for 'Plumpany'.
Looking to Lance, Koga said, "Lance, I don't know about you, but I want to head on in there and give that woman tearing into my daughter a piece of my mind!"
"We do have enough to send in the rest of the squad to apprehend all of the exam board members present," one of the law enforcement men said, "As well as the exam hosts to question them on what all they're aware of. We've seen enough proof that what all accusations that have been levied against the exam board are sound."
Lance gave a single grim nod of agreement, before turning to look at Dawn and Kenny. "Champion Dawn," Lance said, his tone serious, "Kenny, would you two be willing to help make some arrests?"
"Are we going to surround the place before storming in," Kenny asked, "With dozens of other law enforcement men and what Pokémon they bring with them?"
The Indigo League champion arched a wry eyebrow. "...I was planning to lead the storming in with my Dragonite at my side."
Approximately an hour later, while some exams at the exam center were still going on, Janine was sequestered in a private classroom off to the side, as she had been accused of cheating by some of the exam board members at the exam center. Two of the exam board members, one of which being the woman who levied the initial accusation against 'Plumpany', were watching her through a one way window that let them see into the room.
"...That fat little Snorlax of a girl is awfully calm for an exam taker accused of cheating," said the woman who accused Janine, the woman's tone bitter and suspicious, "You'd think she'd be acting at least a little nervous, but instead she's just sitting in there bored, as if waiting only for someone to come in so she can ask them if she could get a soda."
"She's got nerves of steel if she thinks she can not only cheat us but also get away with it," said the other exam board member, another woman who looked roughly the same as the first save for being brunette and wearing glasses. The second exam board member woman gently shook her head, as if disappointed. "If she wanted to pass the exams, then her family should have tried to contact the Pokémon League Admissions Exam board to ask about 'making a donation' before she came in to take the exam."
"And how much of a donation would her family have to make?" a male voice asked, surprising both women and making them turn to see Koga standing there, his Toxicroak at his side while he himself held a handheld tape recorder. Slipping the tape recorder away, Koga said, "Consider yourselves both under arrest, ladies."
The moment the brunette woman opened her mouth to argue, she was cut off before she could get a word out when she and her companion both heard the sounds of lots of shouting and rioting. Although the two women both looked freaked, Koga's only reaction to the noise was an amused smirk. "...Ah, the government sanctioned raid to round up everyone has begun," Koga remarked as he and his Toxicroak approached the two women.
The first woman looked gobsmacked. "Government sanctioned?!"
...
The exam board members at the exam hall, along with the exam monitors, were all panicked as many law enforcement men, led by Lance, Dawn, Kenny, and Aya, stormed the grounds of the exam hall to apprehend the wanted persons. The few exam board members who tried fighting back using the rented Pokémon were swiftly defeated defeated by the effort led by no less than two regional league champions.
Speaking of, while Lance had his Dragonite grapple and pin down an exam board member who tried to assault one of the law enforcement men, Dawn was able to similarly stop another exam board member, but instead she used Chi-Chi to grapple and pin down the exam board member. Kenny had Zarbon and Hisoka help subdue some of the exam board members, although Kenny for some odd reason found it necessary to tell them to 'not have too much fun' when they were grappling the exam board members.
During the raid and arrests, Dawn noted that a few of the exam monitors (none of the exam board members) willing surrendered to the raid without attempting to fight back at all. Among those who willingly surrendered was the male exam monitor Dawn remembered from the Kanto episodes of the anime in her previous life. The reborn trainer hoped that it was a sign that the man in question truly was innocent after all.
"With what we got through the sting operation," one of the six law enforcement men already with Lance said after the raid was over and many arrests were made, "Not to mention some freely offered testimony from the exam takers we bailed out of there, we can easily get the book thrown at a good number of people here."
"Cleavon Schpielbunk says that he wants the rights to make a documentary film about the raid against the Pokémon League Admissions Exam board," Lance said, "Given who all was involved, he'll need to secure permission from a number of persons to use their likeness if and when he ends up making that documentary film."
Kenny, with an amused smirk on his face, replied, "I'd watch it, even though documentaries aren't really my cup of tea."
Dawn stretched her arms into the air, then lowered them before trying to pop her back a bit. "This is certainly going to make the news. No doubt about that."
"Hey Lance," Kenny began, getting Lance's attention, "One of the guys during the raid found a big box containing special badges that were supposedly handed out by guys running the Pokémon League Admissions Exam."
"Oh yeah," Lance said, "They did hand out special badges for that, with said badges being enough on their own to grant one admittance into the Indigo League conference. But they're worthless now, as the Pokémon League Admissions Exam board has been taken down as a result of the raid earlier."
Shrugging, Kenny asked, "I was going to ask if it'd be okay if I could take one. You know, as a souvenir to help better remember my adventures in Kanto."
Dawn arched a wry eyebrow. "...Actually, now that Kenny brings it up, I'd like to take one of those badges as a souvenir as well, assuming it's okay."
"..." Lance looked at the reborn trainers for a moment before relenting and admitting, "...I was actually planning to do the same as what you two are asking for. Even though the Pokémon League Admissions Exam badges are worthless now, they still do look pretty neat, what with how they resemble a red gemstone with a gold stamp in the middle." Seeing the curious looks he was getting from Dawn and Kenny, Lance said, "What? So I have a fondness for shiny trinkets. I have a cousin who lives in Johto who's the same."
...
A short while later, Dawn, Kenny, and Lance were each now holding a Pokémon League Admissions Exam badge. Sure they were now worthless in terms of qualifying for the Indigo League, but they still did make for decent souvenirs. Looking to a box sitting on the table in the room they were all in, Dawn asked, "What will be done with all of the extra Pokémon League Admissions Exam badges that are in that box? There's at least one hundred in there when I looked into it."
"Cleavon Schpielbunk has already secured the rights to making the documentary film on the raid we had just conducted," Lance said, "He said he'll be needing those badges as a prop for the film."
"He secured the film rights already?!" Kenny nearly exclaimed, "Hot dang, that man works fast!"
Lance nodded in agreement. "Indeed. However his film won't be out for a while. After all, the raid he wants to make the documentary on happened literally hours ago, and there's going to be all manner of court trials and other things he'll have to take note on for the documentary. There's also how he has to write a script for the film for certain parts, and since it's a documentary, he's going to have to get some interviews." Looking to the reborn trainers, Lance arched an eyebrow. "I hope neither of you will be surprised if you find Cleavon Schpielbunk knocking on your door in the near future."
"I bet some of me and Kenny's friends will be surprised to hear we'll be in a movie," Dawn remarked, "Even if it's a documentary." Looking to Lance, Dawn went on, "But that can be handled later. Lance, you said you'd arrange for us to get transport to Saffron City after things were settled here. When exactly did you plan for us to go? Because given the time of day, I think it'd be best if we held off on traveling until tomorrow."
Giving Dawn a surprise look, Lance said, "Really? Because I was going to offer to more or less do it now with my three Dragonite."
"Three Dragonite?" Kenny repeated in a mildly surprised tone.
Dawn also looked mildly surprised, but by Lance's idea instead; she knew from the games in her previous life that Lance usually had more than one Dragonite. "...Given how fast they can go, we'd be able to get to Saffron City with time to spare," Dawn remarked, "Alright, I'm game if Kenny is."
Thusly, the three trainers took off on the backs of Lance's trio of Dragonite that he had, and flew right for Saffron City in quick order. They landed outside of the local Pokémon Center, and Lance recalled the two that Dawn and Kenny rode before saying goodbye and taking back off. With nothing else keeping them, Dawn and Kenny went right into the Saffron City Pokémon Center.
...
In the lodging room they were shown to, Dawn and Kenny laid on the top and bottom bunk respectively of one of the bunk beds in the room. While Kenny had already passed out and was now snoring away, Dawn laid in bed, looking at the Pokémon League Admissions Exam badge that she had taken as a souvenir. Even though the lights were off, Dawn could still see the badge sparkle with what little light was coming on into the room through the window.
Although still a pretty bauble that made for a nice souvenir, the Pokémon League Admissions Exam badge was still worthless as far as the Indigo League cared now. But Dawn was intending to earn another badge tomorrow, one that the Indigo League did care about. But to earn that badge, Dawn would have to face off against Saffron City gym leader Sabrina, who is well known for using psychic type Pokémon in battle.
Dawn had a few plans to deal with whatever Sabrina could throw at her, though.
END, CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Author's notes;
This chapter is basically a filler chapter referencing the episode of the Kanto anime that had that absurdly difficult League admissions exam. I also referenced the exam monitor who had taken an interest in Meowth of Team Rocket because he was a talking Pokémon, showing him here as not entirely bad because, in my research for this chapter, I couldn't find any hint that he held any sort of corruption; I just did him up here as an unknowing victim of circumstance who was partly screwed over due to the folks who actually were corrupt.
(By the way, that exam monitor will get off relatively light due to how he's not truly guilty of anything. Also, in regards to the battle he had against the disguised Janine, to give you a clue as to just how close he came to losing, his last Pokémon Charizard was poisoned and, had its poisoning pained it one more time before Janine's last Pokémon Weezing went down, Charizard would have fainted.)
Either way, all of the guilty persons were rounded up, and the law in Kanto will have a ball putting them through court. And Dawn and Kenny each take home one of the now worthless Pokémon League Admissions Exam badges as souvenirs. Speaking of badges, Dawn and Kenny will both aim for the Marsh Badge in the next chapter, where Sabrina, who is still chill as that's how Ash left her in the anime, will be needing a bit of prodding to do something important properly.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Germany (male Garchomp), Akiza (female Roserade), Leni (female Lucario), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Spider-Frog (male Ariados; shiny), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny), Zarbon (male Machamp), Hisoka (male Mr. Mime), Black (Giratina)