Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai

Chapter Seventy-three: Badges and planning

Dawn and Kenny woke up early the morning at the local Pokémon Center in Azalea Town, Johto, following the attack on the town by a villainous team called Team Scorn, a villainous team that up until yesterday pretty much no one period knew about. The attack by Team Scorn on Azalea Town was ultimately repelled, and although some of the Team Scorn grunts were able to get away with the tails of six Slowpokes (Slowpoke tails can be sold for a high price), that's all that Team Scorn was able to get for their troubles yesterday.

They had totally failed to get any of the special pokéballs that Kurt, the local pokéball expert, can make out of apricorns. That apparently was the true goal of Team Scorn's mission yesterday, a point that Dawn is still trying to figure out.

As Dawn was thinking about this while she and Kenny had breakfast, having already gotten ready for the day, they stopped short mid eating when they heard the familiar voice of Lance, champion of the Indigo League, call out to them by saying, "I got the gist from Bugsy! You two have once again proven yourselves as true heroes!"

The two reborn trainers turned and saw Lance approach. "Oh, hey Lance," Dawn began, "How much did Bugsy tell you?"

Lance had a grim look on his face. "That there's now a new criminal organization called Team Scorn that's active. Bugsy also told me a few points about their attack on Azalea Town yesterday, mainly how the attack focused mainly on both Slowpoke Well and Kurt the pokéball smith."

"What surprises me is how we got it that Kurt was the main target of Team Scorn's attack yesterday while their attack on Slowpoke Well was just a distraction," Dawn remarked, a concerned look on her face, "It just doesn't make sense to me."

Kenny nodded in agreement. "Given how Dawn and I got it down that Slowpoke tails are worth a mint, you'd figure Team Scorn would be looking to harvest as many Slowpoke tails as possible to sell in the black market. But no, Team Scorn was apparently more concerned with harassing an admittedly pretty cool old man who just so happens to be really skilled at making special pokéballs from apricorns."

"We'll be discussing what all we know about Team Scorn later," Lance reassured Dawn and Kenny. He then cracked a small smile. "But for now, I believe that one of you ought to get ready for a battle with Bugsy at his gym in a bid to earn the Hive Badge."

"Yo, that will be me!" Kenny said, shooting a hand right into the air, "I already have my party as set up as it will ever be to help me out against Bugsy!"

Lance closed his eyes as he still smiled, gave a soft hum of amusement. "That confidence will serve you well, both in your endeavors to earn badges from the gyms here in Johto AND against the newly risen threat that is Team Scorn." To both of the reborn trainers, Lance said, "Well, we ought to get on over to Bugsy's gym. ...Umm, I hope you guys know the way, because I don't."

"Oh yeah, Bugsy did mention it yesterday that you'd be coming here first when you arrived in Azalea Town because you don't know or remember how to get to his gym," Dawn remarked. Dawn as well as Kenny asked if they could finish breakfast first, to which Lance agreed and also apologized a bit for trying to rush them. After Dawn and Kenny were done and cleaned up after themselves, they and Lance left the Pokémon Center in order to look for Bugsy's gym.

Thankfully, Dawn, Kenny, and Lance were able to get directions to Bugsy's gym via a small crowd of gathered Azalea Town citizens excited to see that Lance was in Azalea Town practically escorting them right to the Azalea Town gym. When said citizens heard it that Kenny, the gallant hero who had rushed to save the Slowpokes at Slowpoke Well yesterday, was going to be officially issuing a challenge to Bugsy's gym, they all clamored to come in and watch.

Said clamoring made enough noise to summon Bugsy himself who, upon learning the reason for the clamoring, said to the crowd, "This is Johto, not Galar! Official challenges to gyms here are not a spectator sport! As a case in point, there's no proper seating with necessary barriers to protect any spectators from attacks that go off kilter in my gym!"

After the crowd more or less resigned to watch from the windows in the gym's stadium, the reborn trainers and Lance followed Bugsy into the gym so that Kenny can have his battle with Bugsy in his bid to try and earn the Hive Badge.

...

A bit of concerning news was that the referee who usually oversaw official challenges against Bugsy was out sick, with Bugsy saying he'll be able to call when a Pokémon can't battle anymore. However, Lance volunteered to referee the battles Bugsy will have against Kenny and Dawn, which was an offer agreed upon on by the others. As such, Bugsy and Kenny took their positions in the stadium while Lance and Dawn stood off to the side, Dawn slightly more because she's just a spectator for now.

Lance, stepping forward to act as referee, held up his hand as he announced, "This is an official Azalea Town gym battle between the gym leader, Bugsy, and the challenger, Kenny Harris from Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh! Both trainers may use up to three Pokémon each, and the battle is over when all of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle! Additionally, only the challenger Kenny may substitute Pokémon out at any time! Let this battle... begin!"

"Spinarak, I choose you!" Bugsy said, sending out his Spinarak first thing.

"Okay, Hoodini!" Kenny said as he sent out his named Hoothoot, "Let's make it cringe!"

With both first Pokémon out, Bugsy pointed ahead and said, "Spinarak, use Poison Sting!"

"Hoodini, counter with Confusion!" Kenny called out.

Spinarak took aim and fired a few purple glowing needles at Hoodini, who simply conjured a somewhat weak telekinetic force that blasted the needles away harmlessly. "Now rush in and use Peck!" Kenny ordered.

"Spinarak, use String Shot!" Bugsy called out.

Spinarak tried firing a shot of sticky string, but Hoodini flew up to avoid it, then did a turn slash downward dive aimed right at Spinarak. He then pecked fiercely at Spinarak, making it cry out in a bit of pain, although it could still keep going. "Spinarak, use Poison Sting while Kenny's Hoothoot is in close range!" Bugsy said.

"Hoodini, use Confusion!" Kenny called out.

Luckily for Kenny, Hoodini was quicker and scored a super effective hit. Spinarak was barely hanging in after Hoodini's Confusion, but said attack actually inflicted confusion on Spinarak just as it tried to attack. To Bugsy's bad luck, his Spinarak not only hit itself in confusion, but that hit was what ended up taking Spinarak out. "Spinarak is unable to battle!" Lance announced, "The winner is Hoothoot!"

Bugsy, despite being down one Pokémon so far, wasn't too beat up over it. Rather, he was giving off a smile showing pride and assurance in Kenny. "Not bad," Bugsy said, "I knew you had a lot to back up your reputation you made yesterday. Let's see how far it extends exactly. Metapod, I choose you!" To Dawn's mildly piqued interest, Kenny kept Hoodini in. This also caught Bugsy's attention as well. "Wanting to see how far your flying Pokémon can take you in our battle, ehh?" Bugsy said, "I hope that faith of yours is well placed, Kenny! Metapod, use Harden!"

"Hoodini return!" Kenny said after swapping his Hoothoot out, "Okay, Goofy! Let's make it cringe!" After Dawn saw Kenny swap Hoodini out to swap that named Houndoom in, she thought that Kenny had kept Hoodini out just so he can count as 'having fought' Metapod and thus gain a bit more experience when Metapod goes down. A common tactic players of the video games from Dawn's and Kenny's previous lives have used when playing through a game.

Pointing forward, Bugsy said, "Metapod, use Tackle!"

"Goofy, use Flamethrower!" Kenny ordered. Bugsy's Metapod tried rushing Goofy, but the named Houndoom blasted it with a blazing fire breath weapon, making Metapod cry out in great pain as it reeled back. When Goofy's attack ended, Metapod after being still for a moment fell over onto its back before passing out, clearly defeated.

Holding up a hand, Lance announced, "Metapod is unable to battle! The winner is Houndoom!"

Bugsy recalled his defeated Metapod, still not beat up in the least over how he was trailing behind. "Not bad at all," Bugsy remarked, "But our battle isn't over yet! Scyther, I choose you!"

"Goofy return!" Kenny said as he swapped his Pokémon out again, "Alright, Hoodini! Let's make it cringe!" Once more, Kenny had his named Hoothoot out, and it started off as Kenny's first Pokémon against Bugsy's last Pokémon, his Scyther.

Gesturing forward, Bugsy said, "Scyther, use Swords Dance!"

"Hoodini return!" Kenny said as he swapped his Pokémon out again, "Alright, Zarbon! Let's make it cringe!" After Hoodini had officially taken part in fighting Bugsy's Scyther, he was swapped out so that Kenny can have his named Machamp face Bugsy's Scyther. Due to Kenny swapping his Pokémon around, Bugsy's Scyther was able to get its Swords Dance move off without any issue.

Bugsy seemed a bit apprehensive about Kenny's Machamp, so he decided to try to play defense. "Scyther, use Double Team!" Bugsy ordered.

"Zarbon, use Stone Edge!" Kenny called out.

As Scyther quickly made duplicates of itself, Zarbon conjured and cast his Stone Edge attack. The Stone Edge quickly flew to one of the Scythers, which ended up being the real one and struck with the force of a times four super effective attack. Scyther, as it cried out in pain, flew back and hit the battlefield, kicking up a cloud of dust as the illusionary duplicates made by Double Team faded. When the dust settled, everyone saw that Scyther was knocked out.

Holding up a hand, Lance announced, "Scyther is unable to battle! The winner is Machamp!" Gesturing to Kenny, Lance said, "Victory of this battle goes to the challenger, Kenny Harris!"

"Woot! I just won against the second Johto gym leader I took on!" Kenny cheered as he pumped both of his fists into the air. Lance, Dawn, and even Bugsy after he recalled his Scyther all clapped their hands to congratulate Kenny for his impressive victory. Bugsy then awarded Kenny the Hive Badge that he had rightfully earned.

"We ought to head on over to the local Pokémon Center," Bugsy said, "So that my Pokémon, as well as Kenny's that he used in our battle, can be treated. I especially need my Pokémon treated for the battle I'll have with Dawn later." Looking and the reborn trainers and Lance, Bugsy said, "And while those Pokémon are being treated, we can have that meeting."

Lance nodded in agreement. "Yes. We need to discuss what all we have down about Team Scorn so far, so we can throw together a game plan to better deal with them. There's actually an empty conference room at the local Pokémon Center, all Pokémon Centers in Johto at least have one such room each, that we can use to discuss matters related to how we'll deal with these villains." The four of them then took off from Bugsy's gym in order to head on back to the local Pokémon Center.

While all of Bugsy's Pokémon and three of Kenny's Pokémon were all being treated, Dawn, Kenny, Bugsy, and Lance all had a private meeting in the Pokémon Center's conference room to discuss what all they have on Team Scorn so far. "So this meeting is to discuss what all we have on Team Scorn so far," Bugsy said, "We ought to take notes on what all we got."

"On it," Dawn said as she sat at the table in the conference room, took out a spiral bound notebook and a mechanical pencil, and got ready to write things down.

"Well the first and most obvious thing," Lance began, "Is the fact that the first known act that Team Scorn had ever conducted is their attack on Azalea Town yesterday. There was loads of their rank and file harassing the general populace all over, but their efforts were focused on two targets in particular."

"We also got confirmation on the identity of one of Team Scorn's officers," Kenny said, "That Zed joker who just stood back and had all of his mooks do all the work while intending to claim all the credit for himself. He's also, as one of his own men had put it, a cowardly blowhard."

Dawn held her left hand up while she was writing with her right hand. "There's also speculation that the captain rank in Team Scorn has multiple levels. Zed was referred to as a Second Captain, so there's reason to assume there's also at least a First Captain level as well."

Kenny nodded in confirmation. "I got it from one of the trainers at Slowpoke Well yesterday who tried fighting Team Scorn there that Zed was hoping that him succeeding at the attack on Slowpoke Well will make him look good enough to be promoted from Second Captain to First Captain of the sector of Team Scorn he's in by his sector's admin."

Dawn wrote all of that down. "Yeah, the first point of the siege on Azalea Town yesterday was the attack on Slowpoke Well. In regards to Zed's hoping his sector's admin would promote him, we've confirmed that Team Scorn is divided up into sectors, with apparently only one admin and at least two captains per sector."

"We've also got it that the sector of Team Scorn that Zed belongs to is called the Katana Sector," Bugsy said, "And that it's headed by someone we've identified as Admin Brother."

Lance nodded. "Kenny recalled hearing that Team Scorn rank and file member Kenji, who apparently is something of an assistant to Second Captain Zed, said something about how Zed should have been leading the effort against Kurt the pokéball smith."

Dawn grimaced a bit, still in disbelief over how she had misunderstood Team Scorn's efforts. "Yeah, their efforts against Kurt to get as many of the special pokéballs he makes out of apricorns as they could get their hands on. That was the second of the two points of the siege on Azalea Town. It also turned out that the first point was meant to be a diversion to distract as many of the people in Azalea Town as possible so that few if any even knew about the second point."

Bugsy gently shook his head. "Despite all of that, Team Scorn still falls into the pitfalls of various other villainous groups out there, that being they'll try to accost people for their money and or Pokémon. They'll also take ventures on the side if they feel it'll help generate revenue, such as how they got away with harvesting the tails of six Slowpokes."

"Aside from the six Slowpoke tails," Dawn said as she finished writing everything down, "Team Scorn has nothing to show for their efforts yesterday. They didn't steal any Pokémon, got no money from anyone they harassed, and they failed their true goal of getting any of the special apricorn pokéballs that are made by Mr. Kurt. From that, we can assume that the higher ups of Team Scorn will count the siege on Azalea Town as a failure ultimately."

Kenny saw Dawn lean back in her seat, throw her head back as she let out a tired sigh. "Something the matter, my main man?"

"I just don't get it," Dawn said, "From what we gathered, the higher ups of Team Scorn viewed the special apricorn pokéballs that Mr. Kurt makes as the true and or only treasure they stood to gain from the siege on Azalea Town. A single Fast Ball for example would probably be more coveted by the Team Scorn higher ups than even one Slowpoke tail, which is worth... umm..." Turning to look at Lance and Bugsy, Dawn asked, "I don't suppose either of you knows what a Slowpoke tail goes for?"

"According to the latest info from the Johto black market that Johto's government sanctioned spies were able to gather," Lance said, "A single Slowpoke tail goes for a solid one million in currency. As for the special pokéballs that Kurt makes from apricorns, if they were sold in stores they'd only go for about three hundred in currency per ball. Going value for value, a single Slowpoke tail can buy a person approximately three thousand three hundred and thirty three apricorn pokéballs."

Dawn and Kenny both went wide eyed in surprise at that. "Wow, you're really good at math," Kenny said to Lance.

"And his calculations further confuses me on why Team Scorn had the goals that they had," Dawn said, "Why did they value the apricorn pokéballs more than the Slowpoke tails?"

Lance closed his eyes, inhaled and exhaled through his nose. "I can't think of anything that would logically explain Team Scorn's priorities in their siege on Azalea Town. Given that they're a villainous organization, you'd think that they'd prioritize whatever would net them the most amount of money in the least amount of time. But here they are, after a prize that would take well over three thousand pieces to equal one piece of what criminals would logically consider to be an actual prize."

Bugsy scowled bitterly. "But some of those Team Scorn bastards ended up harvesting the tails of six of Azalea Town's highly revered Slowpokes. That's six million in their pockets."

"Hey Lance," Kenny said as he turned to look at the Indigo League champion, "How ma-"

"Approximately nineteen thousand nine hundred and ninety nine."

Kenny, going wide eyed with surprise, said, "...Wow. You not only knew what I was going to ask before I even got two words into my question, but you did the calculations and gave me the answer to my question."

"That's... pretty impressive, actually," Dawn said, looking similarly as surprised. For his part, Lance could only give off a small but smugly amused smirk.

As Dawn flipped the notebook she was writing in closed before she put her stuff away, there was a knock on the conference room door. Lance went to answer it, and to his piqued interest it was the Nurse Joy who worked at the Pokémon Center. "Sorry to be a bother, Lance," Nurse Joy said, "But the treatment of Bugsy's and Kenny's respective Pokémon has been completed."

"Then that means Dawn can issue her challenge to my gym," Bugsy said to Nurse Joy. Turning to look at Dawn, Bugsy went on, "I hope that you can prove to me in our upcoming battle that you really are strong enough to help stand against Team Scorn."

Dawn returned the small smile that Bugsy gave her with one of her own. "Given what all I've been able to do thus far ever since I first became a Pokémon trainer, I think it's safe to say that I have at least some degree of confidence in my abilities." Everyone smiled before leaving the conference room as a group, so that Bugsy and Kenny could get their Pokémon before everyone headed on back to Bugsy's gym so that he and Dawn could have their battle.

As Kenny had predicted, Dawn ended up sweeping Bugsy, with Chi-Chi taking out Spinarak, Dende taking out Metapod, and Argent taking out Scyther. "I don't think that I've ever been so happy to have lost a battle before," Bugsy said as he handed Dawn a Hive Badge, "But then again, it's probably due to how I know the power that defeated me is going to be used to help out in the fight against Team Scorn. That is a very comforting thought."

Dawn nodded once in agreement. "If Johto is to stand any chance at taking Team Scorn down, it'll need all the skilled and powerful trainers it can get."

Bugsy likewise nodded in agreement, then tilted his head slightly, wore a look of mild curiosity on his face. "That Pokémon of yours that you nicknamed Dende. What is it again?"

"Dende is a Magmortar," Dawn explained, "The evolved form of Magmar."

Bugsy nodded once. "Yes. I was challenged and defeated by another trainer a short while ago. He used a Magmortar of his own. To be honest, that boy's Magmortar made me feel a little bit uneasy, and not because it had a type advantage against my Pokémon."

Dawn and Kenny were suspicious of how Bugsy described the boy's Magmortar. "...Let me guess," Dawn said, "That boy with the Magmortar who made you feel uneasy said he was born and raised in Unova, but decided to start his Pokémon trainer path in Sinnoh."

"Hey yeah, that's it exactly," Bugsy said, "But how did you know that?"

"Dawn and I have heard about that guy a few times now," Kenny explained, "We're interested in trying to get a hold of him and find out who he is exactly."

Dawn nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, we also got it that he captured his Magmortar as a Magmar in the Pokémon Mansion located on Cinnabar Island, Kanto." Turning to look at Lance, Dawn said, "If I recall corr-" Dawn stopped mid sentence when she saw the pale look of settling horror in Lance's face, complete with his right eye twitching a bit.

"He..." Lance began, "...He evolved it. That boy evolved his unsettling Magmar into a Magmortar. I now feel as if Team Scorn isn't the only thing that we ought to be worried about."

Kenny chuckled softly. "Oh Lance, I'm sure you're blowing this all out of proportion."

...

Later that evening, Dawn and Kenny had set up camp in Ilex Forest for the night; they'll exit the forest and hit Route 34 in the morning, and then it'll just be a straight north jaunt before they reach Goldenrod City, the location of the gym where they can earn their respective third Johto gym badges each. "So we got the Goldenrod City gym ahead of us soon, my main man," Kenny said, "What say you on it?"

"It's a normal type gym," Dawn said, "Fighting Pokémon will be our best bet."

"Hey!" Kenny said, "That reminds me! I haven't used Priestess yet since I caught her, and she's part fighting type!" Dawn realized that Kenny was right; Priestess, Kenny's alpha Hisuian Lilligant, is part fighting type. Dawn also remembered from the video games in her previous life that the gym leader Whitney had been known to make use of infatuation with her female Pokémon, making using male Pokémon a raw deal.

Priestess, being female herself, was safe from being stuck by a female Pokémon's Attract (Dawn realized that Zarbon and Hisoka are both also immune despite both being male, but Dawn didn't want to think about why that was), so Kenny's wanting to use Priestess made sense. It also gave Dawn the idea to use Leni, her Lucario who is female. Chi-Chi, who is Dawn's Infernape, is also female, so Dawn had two solid choices already for when she went up against Whitney.

Seeing Dawn crack a smile as they sat at the camping table while eating curry, Kenny asked, "Yo, why are you smiling?"

"Sorry, it's just that you saying you wanted to use Priestess not only is a sound idea," Dawn began to explain, "But it gave me a few ideas on Pokémon I can use when I face the gym."

Kenny smiled. "Glad I could help, my main man." The two reborn trainers spent the rest of the night relaxing in Ilex Forest, camping away in the peaceful surroundings. Although sleep found them one way or another, it came more easily to Kenny than it did to Dawn, who was still thinking about why in blazes would the Team Scorn higher ups value the apricorn pokéballs (Dawn and Kenny got their promised assortments from Kurt before leaving Azalea Town) over the Slowpoke tails.

It just didn't make sense to Dawn. Not one bit.

END, CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

Author's notes;

Here Dawn and Kenny earn their respective Hive Badges, putting them at two Johto gym badges each now. They along with Lance and Bugsy also discussed what all that they have on Team Scorn at the moment, as well as began to lay the ground work for efforts against this new villainous team. Dawn still is trying to figure out why Team Scorn's siege on Azalea Town was valuing the apricorn pokéballs over the Slowpoke tails.

But that'll have to wait until later, as Dawn and Kenny will be leaving Ilex Forest in the next chapter, go up Route 34 where they'll pass the day care center along the way where Kenny will get his first Pokémon egg, and then hit up Goldenrod City to go pay Whitney a visit. It'll be a rich, full chapter.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Argent (male Arcanine; Hisuian; alpha), Vegeta (male Aipom), Amy (female Charmander), Sticks (female Cyndaquil), Dende (male Magmortar)

Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Zarbon (male Machamp), Hoodini (male Hoothoot), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny), Cermit (male Bulbasaur), Endive (male Chikorita), Goofy (male Houndoom)