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-three: Quizzical Conundrum
Dawn and Kenny, after arriving on Cinnabar Island at night, went into the local Pokémon Center, rested the rest of the night, then woke up the following morning. During breakfast, Dawn and Kenny were both discussing how to go about their respective challenges to the Cinnabar Island gym, so as to earn their respective seventh Kanto gym badges. "It's a fire Pokémon gym, so we ought to just douse 'em all with water Pokémon," Kenny said.
Dawn nodded once, gave a neutral hum. "...To an extent, that idea is valid. But there are other types strong against fire. The fire type, on its own, is weak to water, rock, and ground. Additionally, the fire type on its own is resisted by itself, rock, water, and dragon."
Kenny gave his friend a look of curious consideration. "What Pokémon do you plan to have in your party when you challenge the gym?"
"I still have Muten and Kowalski in my party to passively gain experience while my other Pokémon do all of the battling," Dawn explained, "As such, I won't actually use either in a serious battle such as one against a gym leader for a badge. Not until they both have evolved at least once each." The reborn trainer gave the notion some thought. "...As for actual battlers, I'm running in with Chi-Chi, Souji, Germany, and as my last resort option Tsukune."
Kenny nodded in approval of Dawn's plan of action when it came to taking on Blaine's gym on Cinnabar Island. "Excellent. My planned line up for when I face Blaine will be Kermit, Elay, Slick, Zarbon, Roshi, and Black."
"Your Torterra would be both useful and at risk against Blaine," Dawn pointed out, "I won't stop you from using him, but I do advise caution." After the two reborn trainers were done eating, they went about rotating their respective parties to get what Pokémon they would need, then proceeded to leave the Pokémon Center to go about asking in town where to find the recently revitalized gym, as Blaine almost got into some trouble for having gym battles at a volcano.
As the two of them wandered about, Dawn and Kenny asked whichever passersby they came across for info on where to find the gym. They got lucky on the third one, a middle aged man who still had all of his hair. "Oh just go down the road that way," the man began, "Take the first left you come across, and keep going that way. You'll eventually find the Cinnabar Island gym, although you won't find the gym leader Blaine."
Both Dawn and Kenny looked curious about that. "How so?" Dawn asked.
"Blaine went over to the old Pokémon Mansion," the man explained, "It's an old mansion located here on Cinnabar Island. Ages ago, a wealthy family lived there. Then a fire broke out and partly gutted the place. No one's even bothered trying to revitalize the place into something more along what humans can live in for the fifty plus years since the fire gutted it. The mansion's now being inhabited by wild Pokémon, hence why it's called the Pokémon Mansion."
"Do you know why Blaine's gone over to the Pokémon Mansion?" Kenny asked.
The man shrugged, shook his head. "No clue. I think I heard him say something about how some wild Pokémon are causing a ruckus over there that's threatening to spill out and spread into the town proper here on Cinnabar Island, but I'm not worried about that happening since Blaine's gone right over to the Pokémon Mansion to sort everything out." The man gave a confident nod. "I'm very much certain that he'll have it all wrapped up with time and steam to spare for a challenger or two to his gym today."
"Well I should certainly hope so," Kenny went on, "But just to be safe, I think my main man here and I ought to go check this Pokémon Mansion place out for ourselves, maybe see what wild Pokémon all live there." The two reborn trainers then asked for directions to the Pokémon Mansion, to which the man obliged and pointed the way; it was actually a straight line, and Dawn and Kenny could both partly see the roof of the Pokémon Mansion from a distance.
Wanting to see what exactly was going on at the Pokémon Mansion, Dawn and Kenny took off to go see what Blaine was up to exactly.
Within due time, Dawn and Kenny made it over to the Pokémon Mansion and went inside. It was still morning, so decent natural light was coming on in through the windows. To be on the safe side as the man earlier had mentioned that the wild Pokémon here were getting feisty, Dawn and Kenny called out Chi-Chi and Zarbon respectively to help protect them. "...Man, I'm getting some serious bad vibes here," Kenny said.
"It's an old, abandoned mansion that has been gutted by a fire over half a century ago," Dawn began, "There's signs of the place falling apart all over, and wild Pokémon live here. Not exactly the kind of place that humans would generally claim has a homey atmosphere."
"Why did Blaine want to come here again?" Kenny asked.
"The wild Pokémon living here are at risk of spilling out and swarming into the city proper here on Cinnabar Island," Dawn reminded, "Think of the incident back in Celadon City where all of those wild Pokémon got loose in the streets."
Zarbon then gave a happy, love-struck sigh as he held his clasped together upper hands against the right side of his face. His lower hands mimiced the actions of the uppers, but weren't able to reach high enough to mimic exactly. Seeing this, Kenny let off an amused, understanding smirk. "Ah yes, the chaos wherein Zarbon met Hisoka," remarked Kenny, "How could I for-"
*CRASH*
Kenny was cut off when he and the others there all heard a crashing sound coming from a ways away in front of them, making all of them jerk to see what was going on. Surprisingly, it was just a bunch of wild Pokémon that lived in the mansion, tumbling into view in what clearly was supposed to be some manner of multi-Pokémon tussle. There was a Raticate, a Vulpix, a Growlithe, a Ponyta, a Chansey, a Muk, a Magmar, and a Weezing all scrambling with one another.
Dawn, Kenny, and their respective Pokémon that they had out looked on in awe at the fight between all of those Pokémon. Early in the fight after it entered the view of the reborn trainers, the Magmar in the fight got out of the fight and ran off to the side, all of the other Pokémon too busy with one another to notice one of the Pokémon that was part of their fight had gotten out. Dawn looked over at the Magmar, and could tell by its expression that it was glad to have gotten out of that fight.
As the massive fight between the wild Pokémon raged on, Kenny turned to look at Dawn and asked, "Yo man, do you think that we should break it up or knock the wild Pokémon out to knock them to their senses?"
"...It may be more complicated than the wild Pokémon fighting one another simply for the hell of it," Dawn said, giving the Pokémon who were still fighting one another a concerning look. She pointed to the Pokémon who were fighting. "...Just look, Kenny. It's not a one on one, or one group of one species fighting another group of another species. It's a big, massive free for all where each of the competing Pokémon are from different species. Something's not right here."
Dawn looked back over to the Magmar who got out of the fight. Giving the Magmar a bit more of a discerning look, Dawn saw that it was exhausted, as well as looking mildly sad in the sense that it believed hope to be lost. Suddenly, the Magmar fell over somewhat, coming down into a kneeling position on one knee, as it breathed hard out of tired exhaustion. To Dawn's further worry, one of the Pokémon from the fight who was still fighting, Chansey surprisingly enough, saw that Magmar was down and decided to try rushing at it to take it down.
Gesturing forward, Dawn said, "Chi-Chi, use Brick Break on that Chansey who's about to attack the Magmar!" Faster than Chansey was rushing at Magmar, Chi-Chi rushed at Chansey and not only knocked it out with a Brick Break, but sent it flying forward until it crashed into an old overturned table that was laying there in the mansion broken for who knows how long.
Some of the other Pokémon still fighting began to notice what the named Infernape had done, but by then Chi-Chi, aided by Zarbon at Kenny's order, was rushing at the group of wild Pokémon. In very short order, the wild Pokémon who were hostile were all knocked out, saving the Magmar who was looking on in awe at the prowess of the two Pokémon who had come to its rescue. After it had been rescued, Magmar tried pushing itself back up onto its feet, only to stumble forward and slam down onto the floor, clearly unable to move of its own volition.
It was still conscious though, so Dawn got its attention first. "Hey Magmar," Dawn said, "My friend here, our Pokémon, and I are going to try taking you to the Pokémon Center here on Cinnabar Island for treatment. Would you be willing to trust us to take you there?" Magmar was about to speak up, but it passed out from a mix of pain and exhaustion before it could give anything even remotely like an understandable answer.
Worried about the Magmar, Dawn and Kenny immediately decided to take it out of there, with Kenny having Zarbon carry the beaten and passed out fire Pokémon in his arms. Dawn intended to make a note of what all she had observed here in the hopes it could help with dealing with the issue here at the Pokémon Mansion.
Back at the Cinnabar Island Pokémon Center, Dawn and Kenny were standing around when the Nurse Joy came out to them. "Magmar will be fine," Nurse Joy said, "He's a bit hurt and exhausted, but he'll pull through."
Dawn folded her arms over her chest. "Well no duh Magmar's hurt and exhausted. He was part of an eight Pokémon free for all fight in the Pokémon Mansion. Kenny and I saw him break away from the rest of the fight, clearly wanting to get out of it, then Kenny and I had our Pokémon knock out the others still fighting when one of them went for Magmar."
Nurse Joy, a hint of worried concern on her face, remarked, "It's just like what Blaine had been saying for a while now."
"What do you mean by that, Nurse Joy?" Kenny asked, trying to press Nurse Joy for more details.
"She means what I've been saying about how the Pokémon Mansion is running out of space!" a male voice called out, getting Dawn and Kenny to turn and face it as Blaine himself came walking over. He looked much the same as he did in the anime, but here he was dressed like his FRLG counterpart but with that green beaded necklace he wore in the anime. His shades were tucked into a pocket on his white lab coat and were poking out enough to be spotted.
Walking up to the reborn trainers, Blaine said, "I got it from talk that I heard while I was coming back into town that two trainers were taking an injured wild Magmar from the Pokémon Mansion to the Pokémon Center here in the town proper on Cinnabar Island. I take it that the two of you are those trainers in question?" Dawn and Kenny both nodded in the affirmative, then Dawn proceeded to tell Blaine the entire story when he asked for the details.
After hearing about the incident from Dawn and Kenny, Blaine had a grim look on his face. "...Yeah, the Mansion really is running out of room."
"I take it that what Kenny and I heard about the Pokémon living wild in the Pokémon Mansion getting feisty is due to them constantly fighting one another due to a steadily shrinking amount of habitat to live in?" Dawn asked.
Kenny's eyes widened in mild realization. "...It's sort of like what happened back at Sendoff Spring."
"Yeah, there's just too many wild Pokémon living in the Mansion to have enough space for proper living and growing room," Blaine replied, "If things keep up at the current pace, then the Pokémon will all flood out of the Mansion and swarm into the town proper here on Cinnabar Island. That'll be a mess even I will be hard pressed to deal with alone."
Shrugging, Kenny asked, "What plans are there to deal with it?"
Letting out a sigh, Blaine said, "The first proposed plan, which was immediately shot down by yours truly, involved condemning the Mansion and promptly demolish it, mostly because the plan didn't take into account having to vacate the place of its wild Pokémon population first. The jerk who had come up the plan would have seen the Mansion demolished while there were still some Pokémon living inside!"
"That... that's unsettling," Dawn said after a bit, looking visibly revolted.
Holding up his right index and middle fingers, Blaine said, "Plan number two, which is the most wildlife friendly idea, is to round up the wild Pokémon all living at the Mansion and transport them to a wildlife preservation here in Kanto, with the intent of trying to fix up the mansion so that it's suitable for human tenants again."
Kenny, folding his arms over his chest, said, "Sounds good. Not to mention expensive."
Blaine nodded grimly in agreement. "If I could get the support of certain notable persons to help the plan along, then we can hire the necessary persons to go into the Mansion, round up all of the wild Pokémon that are living there for transport to the wildlife preservation, then begin the restoration efforts on the Mansion."
The two reborn trainers both looked right at Blaine. "...What certain notable persons do you have in mind?" Dawn asked.
"Well since this is a matter concerning the well being of a population of wild Pokémon," Blaine began, "I figured that getting Professor Oak, who is a renowned authority in Pokémon here in the Kanto region, would be a good start. I'd also like backup from Lance, the champion of the Indigo League. Getting the okay from the heads of whatever Pokémon wildlife preservation that is chosen for the wild Pokémon living in the Mansion would be crucial here as well."
Dawn and Kenny turned to face one another, looked at one another silently for a few moments, then both turned back to face Blaine. "...I think we might be able to help with some of that there, Blaine," Dawn began.
The two reborn trainers made calls to Professor Oak, who they've come to know fairly well, and then Lance who they helped a great deal very recently. They explained the problem that Blaine was facing at the moment, and Dawn further explained how said problem could end up spelling major trouble for all of the residents on Cinnabar Island, human and Pokémon alike. Professor Oak was fully on board with helping the effort to relocate the wild Pokémon living at the Mansion, and Lance expressed a surprising bit of interest in meeting the Magmar that Dawn and Kenny had rescued.
As such, Dawn and Kenny were surprised by it when, by later that afternoon, a large organized group came in to help round up the wild Pokémon living at the Mansion. Professor Oak, when he met up with the reborn trainers, said that for the time being the wild Pokémon from the Mansion would be relocated to the Kanto Safari Zone, in a special section divided off from the rest of the zone so that none of them could be caught by trainers on safari. As Dawn and Kenny breathed sighs of relief at that news, they were approached by Lance, who wore a serious expression on his face.
Explaining himself, Lance said that he wanted to know where the Magmar that Dawn had mentioned was currently located. Dawn and Kenny picked up a surprising hint of urgency in the tone of the Indigo League champion, as if he were aiming to stem off what he was fearing could end up as some manner of disaster. Curious as to where this could lead, Dawn and Kenny escorted Lance, as well as Professor Oak who was curious as well, over to the Pokémon Center, where the Magmar was currently being treated.
...
"Oh, the Magmar has just woken up, Lance," the Nurse Joy said to Lance as she gestured from him to the Magmar, who was sitting on the side of a hospital bed designed with caring for Pokémon in mind, meaning Magmar couldn't wreck it or set it on fire by accident.
Lance stared intently at Magmar, who simply looked right back at him. After a staring contest of a few seconds, Magmar looked to Nurse Joy and made some simple, calm noises while he patted his stomach. Lance closed his eyes, his expression still serious, before nodding once in confirmation, as if he had just reassured himself of something. "...Good, this Magmar has an agreeable attitude."
"Why were you so concerned about the Magmar, Lance?" Kenny asked.
Turning to look at both of the reborn trainers, Lance proceeded to explain, "A short while ago, a young male trainer was going through the Kanto region, much like the two of you are now. Although he was born and raised in Unova, he had decided to start his Pokémon trainer journey in your home region of Sinnoh."
The look Dawn had on her face at the mention of that made her look as if her memory had been sparked, which it was. "...Professor Rowan mentioned a similar boy. He said that the Unova born boy wanted to start specifically in Sinnoh because he was set on starting with a Piplup, since it'll eventually fully evolve into Empoleon, which is part steel."
"Yes, the Unova boy that I speak of was indeed accompanied by an Empoleon," Lance said, "It had helped him catch a Magmar that was also living in the Pokémon Mansion." To the mild concern of Dawn and Kenny, Lance shuddered. "...That Magmar that the Unova boy caught..." Lance said, "...I've never been unsettled by any one Pokémon more than I had been unsettled by the Magmar that was caught by that Unova boy." Turning to look at the Magmar that Dawn and Kenny rescued, Lance went on, "This Magmar is different, though."
Dawn and Kenny turned to look at the Magmar, who was now eating some food that was provided to him by the Nurse Joy. "...Because he doesn't make you feel unsettled?" Dawn asked.
Lance nodded in confirmation. "I suppose that Professor Oak and I ought to get a hold of the folks running the Safari Zone, tell them about Magmar here so that they can take him-"
Immediately upon hearing what Lance said, Magmar got up off of the bed with a hop (making Lance jump a bit), ran over to Dawn, and threw his arms around her while crying out, as if he did not want to be taken away. "I think Magmar's scared of being taken by the folks running the Safari Zone," Kenny commented as Dawn got the fire type Pokémon to let go of her.
"Well I'm afraid that he can't go back to the Mansion," Oak remarked, "We ought to convince him to-"
"-Let me catch him," Dawn said, cutting Oak off and drawing surprised looks out of everyone there. Gesturing to Magmar, Dawn explained, "He also seems a bit keen on staying with me, since I did play a notable role in his rescue. Also, I bet that I'd have a lot of fun training him." Turning to look at Magmar, Dawn said, "Assuming, of course, you're ga-" Dawn got her answer when the Magmar gave her another surprise hug.
Smiling, Dawn got Magmar to back away again, then she took out a spare pokéball, expanded it, and tossed it at Magmar. He was taken into the pokéball, which fell to the floor and shook for a bit before it made a ping sound, indicating capture. "...If there's one good thing about that unsettling Magmar being out there," Lance said, "It's that there's at least one good Magmar to counter it."
After Dawn checked the Magmar's pokéball with her pokédex, she gave a gentle smile. "I'm going to be naming him Dende." Given the late time and other things needing to be done, it was decided that Dawn and Kenny would wait until the next morning to have tries at Blaine's gym for the Volcano badge. In the meantime, they asked about the Unova boy who had an Empoleon and a Magmar who was apparently the stuff of Lance's nightmares. No one remembered his name, but Blaine did say that he earned the Volcano badge on his first go at him.
A feat both Dawn and Kenny aimed to replicate tomorrow.
The following morning, the reborn trainers went back over to Blaine's gym, where they both tried their hand at Blaine. The Cinnabar Island gym leader said that he has enough Pokémon available so that, assuming he divides things up as evenly as possible, he could take each of their first tries at him, without one having to wait until much later for his Pokémon to be rested fully. Seeing a shot at wrapping their Kanto cantering quicker, Dawn and Kenny accepted.
Dawn was the first to try her hand at Blaine, who against her used the same party used in the FRLG games; Growlithe, Ponyta, Rapidash, and Arcanine. Dawn defeated Blaine, with Chi-Chi defeating Growlithe, Souji defeating Ponyta, and Germany defeating Rapidash; Dawn intended to defeat Arcanine with Souji, but after Souji was sent out and Arcanine was able to endure his first Rock Tomb, Blaine called for Arcanine to use Roar.
This forced out Souji and dragged in Tsukune. The resulting Surf defeated Arcanine and earned Dawn the Volcano Badge.
Blaine, although a bit unsettled, kept it together and took on Kenny, using a party of Ninetails, Rhydon, and his (Blaine's) own Magmar. The party that Blaine was known to have in the anime back in Dawn's and Kenny's previous lives. Zarbon, scoring a lucky crit with Stone Edge, defeated Ninetails, Kermit defeated Rhydon, and Elay (Blaine cried out in amused surprise upon seeing the shiny Sandslash) defeated Magmar in a fight that looked more like the two Pokémon were dancing with one another rather than actually trying to hurt one another.
Thus it was that Kenny earned the Volcano badge, meaning he and Dawn were both one Kanto badge each away from having all eight.
...
"I'm going to be rather busy for a while," Blaine said to Dawn and Kenny, "What with helping to manage all of the Pokémon moved from the Mansion to the Safari Zone, as well as pitch in with the effort to rebuild and restore the Mansion itself. That's why I set things up so you both could try to challenge me one after another. I'm actually sort of glad you both only needed one try each to earn the Volcano badge from me."
"Speaking of badges," Kenny said, "Dawn and I are both one badge short each from having eight Kanto gym badges."
Holding up an index finger, Blaine said, "Why not try the gym in Viridian City?"
Dawn had a feeling on where this was going. "The gym in Viridian City."
"Oh yes," Blaine said, "It has gone through some scandal as of late, but it's still a solid gym. A member of the Indigo League elite four, Agatha, who is stepping down from being an elite four is a substitute gym leader working out of the Viridian City gym. If you kids think you can step up to take on an elite four level trainer, then why not give the Viridian City gym a try?"
Dawn and Kenny thought about it, looked at one another, then turned back to face Blaine. "...I hope that Agatha is ready for the storm coming her way," Kenny said, "Because my main man here and I will be bringing the hurt!" Dawn, for her part, merely nodded and smiled calmly.
Blaine smiled gently. "Well you're nothing if not confident. Good luck to you kids." After saying their goodbyes, Dawn and Kenny made their way to the Pokémon Center. They rested their Pokémon there for a bit, then took off, taking a boat that would bring them right to Pallet Town.
They also figured it would give them the chance to see how their Pokémon are doing at Oak's lab since they're staying there now.
END, CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
Author's notes;
This chapter sees more dealing with the Pokémon Mansion and a restoration effort for it than the actual battles that Dawn and Kenny had to get their respective Volcano badges. But they still got them, and Dawn got a Magmar (she should have a Magmarizer), and the reborn trainers got more hints on the mysterious Unova boy who wanted to start with Piplup so he could get Emploeon (that boy will come up eventually). Anyway, the next chapter will see Dawn and Kenny tango with Agatha, who is the substitute gym leader for Viridian City. Take care.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Souji (male Rampardos), Germany (male Garchomp), Tsukune (Palkia), Muten (male Turtwig), Kowalski (male Piplup)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand), Kermit (male Politoed), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny), Slick (male Snorlax), Zarbon (male Machamp), Roshi (male Torterra), Black (Giratina)