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-five: The reason why, part two
Dawn and Kenny woke up in a room they rented at the local cheap motel in Pewter City, Kanto. After arriving here two days ago, they relaxed for a bit, mainly to burn time until the Hisuian exhibit at the local museum was ready for opening day. This gave Dawn a chance to work with Dende, her new Magmar. To Dawn's delight, Dende came knowing Flamethrower already; he also came knowing the move Clear Smog which Dawn, seeing some utility use in it, decided to have Dende keep the move for the time being.
After having some of her other Pokémon who knew the moves she wanted Dende to learn show the named Magmar the ropes, he ended up learning Psychic and Thunderbolt. The evening before the Hisuian exhibit was set to open, Dawn gave Dende the Magmarizer she had, then got Kenny to help her with a trade to evolve Dende into Magmortar.
"Chi-Chi was literally the only fire type Pokémon I owned prior to catching Dende," Dawn said as she remarked about the trade she and Kenny did yesterday evening, "As much as I like Chi-Chi, I knew that I'd need more than just one fire Pokémon. Especially since, given the build she has, Chi-Chi is a physical attacker. Dende can cover attacking from the special attack side of things."
Kenny nodded once in understanding. "Fair enough," Kenny replied. Stretching his arms into the air, Kenny went on, "So today's the big day."
Dawn gave a single affirmative nod. "Yes. The Hisuian exhibit at the Pewter City museum. When I saw Brock earlier yesterday evening, he told me that he was planning to take all of his little siblings out to go see the exhibit."
"A lot of cool stuff will be there," Kenny remarked, "Most of all those skeletal remains of alpha Pokémon." Sighing, Kenny remarked, "I never got to try Legends. I died back in our previous life sometime prior to New Year's Eve in 2021."
Given that they were alone, Dawn felt it safe for Kenny to talk about his previous life. "Oh, that reminds me," Dawn began, "How did you die in your previous life? If you don't mind me asking. I'm pretty sure I already told you I suffered a fatal asthma attack, but if I didn't then there you go."
Kenny, with a mildly embarrassed look on his face, said, "I got hit by an oncoming car in an attempt to push a kitten out of the street. It was cold and snowy, and I saw the kitten land safely in a pile of snow as someone ran to it." Kenny nodded once in confirmation. "I passed out right as I saw that person pick the kitten up. Then I woke up in the world of Pokémon."
Dawn nodded once, accepting how Kenny died in his previous life. "...That's just like you, Kenny. You always had a soft spot for kittens, huh?" Gently shaking her head, Dawn said, "Well anyway, we ought to get ready. The Pewter City museum opens at ten AM, and I don't know about you but I'd like to get there early in case there's a line."
Shrugging, Kenny said, "Well can't you just use your Sinnoh champ swagger to make everyone there let you and me through?"
"I'd rather not abuse power like that," Dawn replied. With little else left to do, Dawn and Kenny took off to go to the Pewter City museum, eager to see the Hisuian exhibit.
A short while later, Dawn and Kenny were able to get into the museum without much trouble, much to Dawn's surprise. As she and Kenny would soon find out, only select persons and their personal parties would be allowed in to see the Hisuian exhibit first; non vouched for persons would have to wait until the afternoon.
As luck would have it, Dawn and Kenny were both waved on through automatically, but then again they got their answer as to why when, upon entering the museum proper, they were greeted by a mildly sheepish looking Lance. Seeing the Indigo League champion explained why Dawn and Kenny were vouched for, but not his sheepish expression.
"I was actually hoping to catch you two again," Lance began to explain, rubbing/scratching the back of his head in a manner that helped to highlight his level of sheepishness, "Originally I had only one problem I wanted to ask you about, but then a second problem cropped up very shortly after Oak and I entered the museum as a group."
"Oh, so Professor Oak is here too!" Kenny said, "Neat!"
Sighing, Lance went on, "It won't seem so neat when I tell you that the second thing I wanted to ask about resulted when Agatha, who is currently subbing in as gym leader over in Viridian City, saw Oak and near instantly tore into him, starting up a fairly heated argument between her and Oak. For no reason that I can think of, at least."
Dawn herself also sighed. "...I was afraid of this." Looking at Lance, Dawn explained, "When Kenny and I had told Professor Oak about our intent to challenge the Viridian City gym, he looked a little bit troubled before explaining to us that he had a sort of history with Agatha. The story got more validity when we told Agatha, who said she'd come to the Hisuian exhibit, that Oak was planning to see said exhibit as well."
"Oh yeah, Dawn did call Professor Oak to let him know that Agatha more or less would expect him," Kenny remarked.
Lance nodded once. "That would explain why Oak acted like he had received some degree of warning ahead of time." Looking to the reborn trainers, Lance went on, "Well can you help me get the two of them to calm down? They're making a bit of a scene." Both of the reborn trainers nodded in agreement before they proceeded to follow Lance to go try to get Oak and Agatha to simmer down a bit.
The last thing that the museum needed today was a scene.
...
Meanwhile, some museum workers were getting a few things ready for the Hisuian exhibit today; not all of the displays were ready, and that's another reason why the museum wasn't open to the public at large yet. "Hey, what are in these two large wooden crates?" one museum worker, a mid fifties security guard with a mild paunch, asked someone from the fossil restoration team, a skinny mid twenties guy in a lab coat and glasses, that works at the museum while gesturing to two large wooden shipping crates.
The fossil restoration team member took a look at the labels on the sides of the crates. "Hmm... Oh! These are the skeletal remains of the two alpha Pokémon that will be displayed as part of the Hisuian exhibit." A second fossil restoration team member, a mid twenties woman who looked cute enough, came walking over.
"Oh, those are the skeletal remains of the two alpha Pokémon that we got for the museum's Hisuian exhibit?" the woman fossil restoration team member asked.
Her male counterpart nodded in the affirmative. "A darn shame that the Hisuian versions of the two Pokémon specified on the labels on the crates are no longer alive anywhere. The Hisuian versions of those Pokémon, as well as certain species that were found only in Hisui, have gone extinct, same as fossil Pokémon."
The museum guard had his interest piqued by what the male fossil restoration team member said just now. "...Hey, you guys are from the team that can revive Pokémon from fossils, right?"
"Yeah," replied the female fossil restoration team member with a shrug, "So?"
Gesturing to the two crates, the museum guard asked, "Well can't you guys use your tech that you use to revive Pokémon from fossils to also revive Pokémon from skeletal remains like what are in these two crates? Or do those machines only work on bona fide fossils?"
The two fossil restoration team members turned to look at one another, then back to the museum guard, then back to one another, and kept that cycle up for a bit, up until they settled on looking at one another. Shrugging again, the female fossil restoration team member said, "Well, there's only one way to find out."
Over in a section of the museum already set up for the exhibit, Dawn and Kenny followed along behind Lance as he led them to where Oak and Agatha would be. "Normally, the museum is mainly a science museum," Lance began, "But since it's the only museum in Kanto, and the Hisuian exhibit is on tour starting in Kanto, the museum had to make an exception."
Dawn nodded in understanding. As she and the guys continued to walk, Lance went on, "Anyway, it happened while Oak and I were looking at a display of clothing worn by Hisuian era folks. While we looked at a displayed men's kimono, Agatha called out to us, specifically Oak. We turned around, and there Agatha was, marching right up to us with a clear drive and purpose to her movements."
"...That's when she and Professor Oak started going at it?" Dawn asked.
As Lance nodded in the affirmative to Dawn's question, they and Kenny were starting to hear the shouting of Agatha and Oak. Sure enough, Dawn, Kenny, and Lance came upon the sight of Agatha and Oak having a row against one another.
"You just stopped one day!" Agatha shouted at Oak, "Out of the blue and without any warning! How else was I supposed to feel other than betrayed?!"
"Stopped what?" Oak said back, being louder than he would have liked, "I never stopped working with Pokémon if that's what you're worried about! As I recall, you care about Pokémon as much as I do, Agatha!"
"Not simply work with them!" Agatha snapped, "I know full well you can never stop working with Pokémon, and part of me still admires you for that!" Throwing a hand in front of her from her left to her right, Agatha went on, "What I'm upset about is the fact that not only are you are no longer actively a trainer like you were decades ago, but you didn't even provide one iota of a warning that you were stepping out of actively being a trainer!"
Oak, a mildly surprised look on his face, took a step back. "...That's why you're upset?"
"You were beyond everyone else back in our prime years, you fool!" Agatha said, "You could easily have claimed the first championship title for the Indigo League in recorded history! But right when you were at your peak, you decided, and out of the blue no less, to up and quit! No warning! No hint! It was like you had completely changed!" Tears were now threatening to start pooling in the corners of Agatha's eyes.
"...I eventually figured that you would have gone into Pokémon research either way," Agatha went on, "I mean, you can be as stubborn as me at least. But it would have been a common courtesy for you to of at least told me before going into it, or gave me a bit of advance warning about what you were aiming to do."
Although Agatha firmly kept a lid on her emotions, she's a strong old lady after all, Oak was still able to tell that she really did feel betrayed by his actions way back when. The celebrated professor of Pokémon let out a mildly resigned, mildly tired sigh. "...I originally had thought that you were upset at me for no good reason," Oak admitted, his tone holding hints of guilt, "But after having heard your end of the story, I realize that you actually have a point."
Over where he and Dawn were standing with Lance, Kenny said, "Woah, Professor Oak is actually agreeing with what Agatha's saying. I wonder what else that'll happen today will also put us all in for a big surp-"
*CRASH*
A portion of wall burst open from the other side off at the one end of that area, cutting Kenny off in the middle of what he was saying, and startling a good number of people who were in that area in the process. Dawn, Kenny, and Lance, as well as Oak and Agatha who were interrupted, all turned to look and see what the hell was going on, but when they did they were all surprised with whay they ended up seeing.
It looked to Dawn like a Lilligant, but not the form from Unova that she was familiar with thanks to her knowledge from her previous life; this Lilligant had a much smaller flower on its head than the Unovan version, the leaves resembling hair were shorter on this Lilligant than the Unovan version, it didn't have a big bulby plant skirt that covered it from waist to ankles, and it had a slender, elegant build that made it look like a graceful female fighter.
Also, standard Lilligant were approximately three and a half feet tall from what Dawn remembered (it was a while and details are fuzzy, so Dawn might be off a little), but this Lilligant stood at what easily had to be six and a half feet tall. The tall Lilligant cried out angrily at everyone in the museum, right before she went for the nearest pair of people, a boy and a girl in their mid teens from the looks of them, making both cry out in alarm.
"Cell, stop that tall Lilligant!" Kenny said as he sent in his shiny Scizor to confront the Lilligant.
"What in blazes is going on?!" Oak exclaimed, "What's with that Lilligant's odd appearance, both general look and extreme height?!" As Oak exclaimed, the two fossil restoration team members from before came running out and over to Oak.
Getting his attention, the male of the pair said, "Professor Oak! We're in trouble!"
The female of the pair nodded in agreement. "Yeah! Mitch the security guard gave us the idea to see if we can use the machines used to revive Pokémon from fossils to revive Pokémon from the skeletal remains of the two alpha Pokémon skeletons that were going to be put on display in the museum as part of the Hisuian exhibit!"
Everyone there turned to look at the two fossil restoration team members. "You guys revived Pokémon from the two alpha Pokémon skeletons that were going to be part of the Hisuian exhibit here at the museum?!" Lance exclaimed, clearly looking steamed.
"We wanted to see if it would work after Mitch gave us the idea," defended the male fossil restoration team member, "Turns out it not only did, but the process went faster and more smoothly than it does with standard fossils. I guess that's due to how the skeletal remains of the alpha Pokémon were a lot more fresh as remains than fossils tend to be. They also came back in youthful prime, same as Pokémon revived from fossils. But the two skeletal remains were both used up in the process, I'm afraid."
Dawn turned her attention to where Kenny had Cell squaring off against the tall, odd looking Lilligant. "...Well that explains both the Lilligant's different than normal appearance and taller than normal height. It's an alpha Hisuian Lilligant."
"Yes," said the female fossil restoration team member, "The other one that we revived using the machines normally used to revive Pokémon from fossils is an alpha Hisuian-"
"RAHRRAHH!"
"AIIIIEEEEE!"
"YOU LEAVE MY YOUNGER SISTER ALONE!"
Dawn and everyone else there, aside from Kenny who's still occupied with the alpha Hisuian Lilligant, heard a loud and angry Pokémon's roar, followed by a little girl crying out of fright and fear, and that was followed by Brock shouting at whatever Pokémon made that noise. "Ooh, that sounds like Brock of the Pewter City gym," the male fossil restoration team member said, "And from the sounds of it, he's confronting the alpha Hisuian Arcanine."
"Alpha Hisuian Arcanine?" Dawn said. Waiting for a moment, she heard what was confirmed as an alpha Hisuian Arcanine cry out again, then immediately ran off in the direction that she had heard the cry come from.
Seeing that Dawn and Kenny were both taking care of the alpha Hisuian Pokémon that were revived into the present day, Lance turned to look at Oak and Agatha. "Professor Oak! Agatha!" Lance said, "Dawn and her friend are both handling taking on the revived Hisuian alpha Pokémon, but everyone else in the museum still needs to be evacuated! You two must put aside what issues are between the two of you for the time being and help get everyone else to safety!"
Oak and Agatha both looked to one another, nodded in agreement, then gestured for Lance to lead the way in evacuating everyone else from the museum while Dawn and Kenny deal with the two Hisuian alpha Pokémon who were revived and are now rampaging in a modern time either one was able to even begin comprehending.
After running for a bit, Dawn ran into a wide open indoor rest area; there were some padded benches, a few large potted plants in the corners, but that's it. Looking around, Dawn soon spotted Brock, with his Chansey out, standing protectively in front of his youngest little sister. Standing right before Brock and his Chansey was the alpha Hisuian Arcanine.
Normal Arcanine had vibrant orange fur with black stripes, but the Hisuian version had dark brick red fur with the black stripes. The light tannish fur was replaced by dark grey fur that looked as if it were made of stone. Lastly, whereas normal Arcanine were a tad over six feet tall, the alpha Hisuian Arcanine was a tad over nine feet tall.
Right when the alpha Hisuian Arcanine was about to lunge at Brock's Chansey with Fire Fang, Dawn sent Germany out and said, "Germany, ram that Arcanine away with Iron Head!" The named Garchomp rushed in, his head shining like polished metal, right before striking the alpha Hisuian Arcanine on its left side, doing a good enough job to steer it away from Brock's general location and capturing its attention.
Seeing Dawn run up, Brock said, "Dawn?! What's going on here?!"
"Some idiots working in the fossil restoration group here at this museum decided to try reviving Pokémon from the two skeletal remains of alpha Pokémon that were going to be on display as part of the Hisuian exhibit," Dawn said, "This Arcanine is one of them, and the Lilligant that Kenny has distracted is the other! You get yourself and your little sister out of here!"
"My other siblings are also here!" Brock said, "I need to find them!"
"Well it's a good thing Kenny and I are keeping both alpha Hisuian Pokémon occupied, huh?" Dawn replied, "Find your siblings, get all of them out of the museum, and stay with the others who were evacuated!"
Looking to see the alpha Hisuian Arcanine shake its head before looking at Germany with renewed attention, Brock nodded in agreement. Handing his youngest little sister over to his Chansey (the sister is roughly toddler age) to hold, Brock ran off with Chansey following him. With Brock and his group out of there safely, Dawn could focus on the alpha Hisuian Arcanine in front of her.
Dawn looked straight on ahead at the large Pokémon before her. She inhaled and exhaled to try to calm herself. "...Alright, big boy. Let's dance," Dawn said quietly. Pointing forward, Dawn called out, "Germany, use Dragon Claw!" Germany rushed forward, his claws glowing fiercely with draconic power, right before he slashed both of them at the alpha Hisuian Arcanine. It looked like it took at least some damage, but it still clearly had plenty of steam.
Arcanine's teeth glowed brightly as they seemed to grow longer, right before it ran at Germany and bit down on his right thigh. "So it knows Crunch," Dawn remarked, "In addition to the Fire Fang I saw it try to use against Brock and his Chansey before I bailed them out." Pointing forward, Dawn called out, "Germany, use Iron Head!"
Germany's head shined like polished metal before he headbutted the alpha Hisuian Pokémon. Right after recovering from that blow from the named Garchomp, Arcanine made its own head shine like polished metal before it headbutted Germany. "And it also knows Iron Head," Dawn said, "If I can figure out its last move, I can better plan a strategy to take it down." Pointing forward again, Dawn said, "Germany, use Rock Tomb!"
At Dawn's command, Germany summoned boulders to fall down and strike the alpha Hisuian Arcanine, hitting it and scoring a speed drop. Growling in annoyance, Arcanine proceeded to stomp the ground very quickly, triggering a mini earthquake of sorts that slammed Germany with the seismic waves, mostly hitting his legs. "So its final move is Bulldoze," Dawn said, now having a fair idea on how to handle taking on Arcanine.
Dawn recalled Germany and sent Cyrus out, hoping to render at least part of the Arcanine's moveset moot for the battle. Grimacing, Dawn remarked, "I hope that Kenny is okay with handling that alpha Hisuian Lilligant."
...
Over where he was occupying the attention of the alpha Hisuian Lilligant, Kenny was feeling a bit on the ropes. After Cell, Kermit, and Zarbon were swapped in and out as need be, Kenny figured out that the Lilligant knew Leaf Blade, Drain Punch, Aerial Ace, and Poison Jab. However Kermit went down in the process, and Zarbon took a fair hit from Lilligant's Aerial Ace. Only Cell, having a times four resistance to grass and an immunity to poison, was doing good as he tanked Leaf Blade and rendered Poison Jab moot.
"Grr," Kenny growled in annoyance, "If only this place was large enough to send Black in to have a ball. I'd get Lilligant taken down in next to flat!" As Lilligant was now able to attack, she rushed in with her right fist glowing, showing she was going to use Drain Punch. "Cell, move out of the way!" Kenny called out. Cell jumped up a bit to fly back, but he jumped high enough so that Lilligant's Drain Punch ended up punching him right in the abdomen.
Cell immediately fell to the floor and covered his abdomen with his metal pincer claws, crying and hissing in pain. "Of all the times for Cell to get hit in the shmeat!" Kenny exclaimed, "Grr, screw it!" Kenny recalled Cell and, despite knowing it was risky, sent out Shallot the Glaceon. Lilligant knowing Drain Punch made it a threat to Shallot, but Shallot knew Ice Beam, and Kenny was (pretty) sure that Lilligant, despite being a Hisuian variant, was still at least part grass type.
Gesturing forward, Kenny said, "Shallot, we're facing some steep odds right now, but if we hit hard and fast, we can bring that Lilligant to her-" Kenny stopped short when he sensed that Lilligant's hostility had dropped. Looking over, Kenny saw that, indeed, the alpha Hisuian Pokémon wasn't showing any aggression anymore. Rather, she was looking directly at Kenny's Glaceon.
And blushing.
Kenny, as well as Shallot, was alarmed when Lilligant began walking forward. Upon reaching Shallot, Lilligant dropped to her knees, picked Shallot up, then brought his face to hers as she then proceeded to kiss him, eliciting a surprised reaction out of Kenny and especially Shallot. "Well they are both Pokémon," Kenny reasoned, "So it's fair game." Getting an idea, Kenny looked over and saw that Lilligant was now rolling along on the floor like a rolling pin as she still held Shallot.
"Hey Lilligant!" Kenny called out, making Lilligant stop and look up at Kenny. With an amused smirk, Kenny said, "If you want to continue your courtship of Shallot there, I suggest you let me catch you. That way, you'll be able to join me and Shallot as we seek out new adventure. What say y-" Kenny was cut off when Lilligant, after letting Shallot go, sat up in a straight up sitting position while on her knees as she quickly nodded in agreement.
His amused smirk growing a bit, Kenny took an Ultra Ball out, expanded it, and tossed it at Lilligant. The alpha Hisuian Pokémon went into the Ultra Ball, before said ball fell to the floor and shook for a bit before making a ping sound, indicating capture. "Swee-hee-hee-hee-eet!" Kenny cheered, "I just caught an alpha Hisuian Lilligant!" As Shallot came walking up to Kenny, he took his pokédex out to scan Lilligant's ball to check her info.
"Mmm hmm, mmm hmm," Kenny said, "Figured Lilligant would be a girl. ...Huh, that makes her the first female Pokémon I caught. And she's dual grass fighting, which would explain Drain Punch." Looking down at Shallot, Kenny said, "And since she's basically your girlfriend, there's only one fitting name for her." Looking back to the ball that held his alpha Hisuian Lilligant, Kenny said to the ball, "I'm naming you Priestess."
With a curious look on his face as he put away Priestess's ball, Kenny remarked, "Hmm, I wonder how Dawn's doing with the alpha Hisuian Pokémon that she went after. I think I heard someone say it's an Arcanine?"
...
Dawn and Cyrus settled down, taking a moment to catch their breath, as Dawn took out her pokédex to scan an Ultra Ball she held. "Thank goodness the first Ultra Ball I used worked on the alpha Hisuian Arcanine," Dawn said before she began scanning what was revealed to be Arcanine's pokéball. "...It's a male," Dawn said, "Huh? It's dual fire rock? That's interesting. Adamant nature, ability is Intimidate."
Dawn turned around to sit down on a partly wrecked bench, letting out a sigh. "I hope like hell Kenny and I won't get into any trouble here for what we had to do to." Looking at the Ultra Ball that held the alpha Hisuian Arcanine she caught, Dawn went on, "I also hope that I'll get to keep Arcanine here, because I can certainly use another solid fire Pokémon in my rotation."
Cyrus hopped over to where Dawn sat, nuzzled his head against her. Smiling tiredly, Dawn stroked Cyrus's head. "...Thanks, Cyrus." Looking back to the Ultra Ball that held Arcanine, Dawn said, "I've got an idea on what I want to name you, but I won't get my hopes up because the people running this exhibit may wanna confiscate you. And Lilligant from Kenny if he somehow had managed to capture her." Dawn leaned back a bit in her seat and let out a tired sigh, wanting clear cut answers here for how everything had gone to hell.
END, CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
Author's notes;
I actually wanted the Oak and Agatha sub-arc resolved in this chapter, but the bit with the revived Hisuian alpha Pokémon, which I wanted/needed to do for reasons that will later be made known to all, ended up taking up more time than I had anticipated; the resolution to the Oak and Agatha sub-arc will have to wait until next chapter, which will also see Dawn help Lance with something at the Indigo League City. Take care.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Akiza (female Roserade), Leni (female Lucario), Germany (male Garchomp), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand), Roshi (male Torterra), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Shallot (male Glaceon), Kermit (male Politoed), Zarbon (male Machamp), Black (Giratina)