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-four: Golden opportunity near/at Goldenrod
Dawn and Kenny, after having woken up at their camp in Ilex Forest and packing everything up, made their way out of the woods and out onto Route 34 in Johto. As the two reborn trainers walked along the path that would take them straight to Goldenrod City, they stopped short when they passed in front of what was clearly a Pokémon daycare center. "Yo check it, Dawn," Kenny said as he pointed to the daycare center, "It's a daycare center. Don't Pokémon eggs tend to be found at one of these things?"
Dawn nodded in confirmation. The mention of Pokémon eggs reminded Dawn that two of her own Pokémon were hatched from eggs that she got. It got her curious enough to gesture for Kenny to follow her over to the daycare center to check it out for a bit. They could certainly use a rest off of their feet for a while before heading on over the rest of the way to Goldenrod City, especially since they got a gym leader in Goldenrod City to challenge.
...
Dawn and Kenny were expecting to simply meet the Pokémon daycare staff, maybe learn a bit on how Pokémon eggs work; if they were lucky, one of them might have even been given a Pokémon egg. Instead of that, Dawn and Kenny upon entering the daycare saw that the old lady running things inside was being accosted by two Team Scorn grunts, both male.
"Oi!" Kenny shouted, "You two are Team Scorn members! What are you up to here?!"
The two Team Scorn members turned to face Kenny and Dawn when the former had spoken up. "We were sent here to see if there were any Pokémon eggs," the first grunt said, "Captain Alan said that he got an order from Admin Brother to see if there were any Pokémon eggs at the daycare on Route 34, and to steal one if there were any."
Dawn was ready to send out Chi-Chi at a moment's notice. "Captain Alan, huh?"
"Third Captain Alan of Team Scorn's Katana Sector, if you wanna get specific," the second grunt clarified. Dawn's gaze narrowed, intending to make a note of the new information that she just got on Team Scorn. "Anyway," the second grunt went on, "Captain Alan gave the job to us, telling us to see if there were any Pokémon eggs, and if so steal one and report back with it."
Dawn looked curious about that, as did Kenny. "You were told to steal only one Pokémon egg?" Dawn asked, looking curious and mildly confused.
"Captain Alan said the orders from Admin Brother clearly stated to steal just one Pokémon egg if there were any," the first grunt confirmed, "Those orders, according to Captain Alan, also state that it doesn't matter what Pokémon egg we take, just that we take one and bring it back."
"You trainers have to help me!" the daycare lady cried out to Dawn and Kenny, "I can't let these ruffians get away with stealing anything period!"
That was all the prompting that Dawn and Kenny needed to send out Chi-Chi and Elay respectively. Both of the Team Scorn grunts sent out one Sentret each, and both were ordered to use Scratch, one on Chi-Chi and the other on Elay. "Chi-Chi, use Brick Break on the Sentret to the left!" Dawn called out.
"Elay, use Rapid Spin on the Sentret to the right!" Kenny ordered. Both Pokémon used their respective attacks and took out their respective targeted Sentrets in one hit each before either of the Sentrets could land an attack. The Team Scorn grunts, scoffing bitterly in defeat, recalled their fainted Sentrets and fled before they could be stopped. Even though the two Team Scorn grunts had managed to get away, it was in defeat as they had failed in their stated mission.
...
A short while later, security from Goldenrod City was at the daycare center on Route 34, helping to make sure there wouldn't be a repeat of what had happened with the Team Scorn grunts earlier. "Ah, I did hear talk of Champion Lance working with a foreign region's champion on dealing with the rise of a new criminal organization," the first officer said, "I take it that's you, Champion Dawn?"
"Yes," Dawn said, "And speaking of Lance, I have some new info for him on Team Scorn, although it's not very much."
As the cops expressed thanks to Dawn for her helping to defend Johto despite how she was Sinnoh born and raised, the daycare lady came over to Dawn and Kenny, carrying a Pokémon egg. "You kids sure came in when I most needed help," the daycare lady said, "And unlike those vile thugs, the two of you are very clearly worthy of working with Pokémon. As such, to express my thanks, I want to give one of you this Pokémon egg, the only one I'm able to freely give out at this time."
Turning to look at Dawn, Kenny asked, "Yo Dawn my main man, you mind if I take the Pokémon egg that the chill lady here is offering? I haven't gotten one yet, and you got two so far."
Dawn smiled, nodded to Kenny. "By all means, Kenny." Kenny cheered while hopping up, before settling down and receiving the Pokémon egg from the daycare lady. Knowing Kenny, Dawn was thinking he'll want to hatch it as soon as possible, and may do tons of walking around in Goldenrod City while carrying it until it hatched, given that's how Dawn was able to get both of the Pokémon eggs she got to hatch.
Speaking of Goldenrod City, Dawn turned to look at the officers she was speaking with. "Sirs, would it be possible that you could arrange for Kenny and I to get a lift the rest of the way to Goldenrod City? We're still going around various regions on our gym challenge tour, and we're both aiming to challenge the gym in Goldenrod City next."
"We'd be more than glad to give you a lift ourselves as soon as we're done here," the second officer said, "But the Goldenrod City gym is closed until tomorrow. From what I heard, Whitney needs to go help look over some security for Goldenrod City. As the gym leader of Goldenrod City, Whitney takes looking after her hometown very seriously. A model gym leader if you ask me."
"Look over security for Goldenrod City, huh?" Dawn said, understanding why Whitney would want to do that. Her duties to Goldenrod City as its gym leader aside, Whitney is probably concerned about the rising threat that is Team Scorn. And Whitney being busy for today meant that Dawn and Kenny had ample time to rotate their respective parties to better prep them for when they are able to have their battles against Whitney.
Dawn accepted the terms from the cop, and soon enough he and his partner gave Dawn and Kenny a lift the rest of the way to Goldenrod City. As the two reborn trainers rode, Dawn saw Kenny hold his new Pokémon egg as he looked down at it and smiled, probably wondering what Pokémon will end up hatching from it. Dawn turned her gaze from Kenny to the window she sat next to in order to look out of it, letting her mind wander.
It it hadn't been for her and Kenny showing up when they did, would Team Scorn have succeeded in their mission at the daycare center on Route 34? Would they have taken the Pokémon egg that was given to Kenny instead? And why was Team Scorn there in the first place with the mission to see if there were any Pokémon eggs and take (only) one if there were? Dawn was now even more curious about how Team Scorn functioned than when they prioritized apricorn pokéballs over the valuable tails of Slowpokes.
Having arrived in Goldenrod City, Dawn and Kenny reached the local Pokémon Center. After having their respective Pokémon checked out, they did some party rotation to best prep for when they had their respective challenges against Whitney. Dawn, in addition to keeping Chi-Chi on hand, rotated in Leni, Froppy, Amy, Sticks, and Tsukune. Aside from Tsukune who is genderless, all of the Pokémon that Dawn now had on hand are female.
Amy and Sticks were both still unevolved, but Dawn planned for using just Chi-Chi, Froppy, and Leni against Whitney. Three fully evolved female fighting type Pokémon would render pretty much anything Whitney could pull against Dawn moot. Dawn was suspecting that Whitney will wind up using her party from the anime in Dawn's previous life; Falkner and Bugsy both used theirs. With that said, Dawn suspected that Whitney will have a party of Nidorina, Clefairy, and Miltank.
After Dawn was done making sure she had her party ready for facing Whitney, Kenny came over to his fellow reborn trainer. "Well my party's ready," Kenny said, "Aside from my Pokémon egg who I will keep in my party until it hatches, I got Priestess, Zarbon, Hisoka, Hoodini, and Black in my party for when I go give Whitney the business."
"Sounds like you're prepped," Dawn said wryly. Assuming the egg didn't hatch until after Kenny got a badge from Whitney, and that Hoodini was only along for the ride to gain experience passively while Kenny's other Pokémon did all of the fighting, then the Pokémon Kenny on hand were his best bet to deal with Whitney. Priestess is a female fighting type Pokémon and Black is genderless, rendering infatuation from Whitney's Pokémon moot.
Zarbon and Hisoka despite both being male also were safe, due to their... interests. Zarbon being fighting type also helped.
Getting up from where he sat next to Dawn, Kenny said, "Well, Imma go walk around Goldenrod City for a bit. Stretch my legs, get some fresh air, get some steps in."
"I'm going to update my notepad where I'm keeping everything we've got on Team Scorn thus far," Dawn said as she pulled out her notepad and mechanical pencil. Kenny nodded to Dawn before he took off, leaving Dawn to her writing. After her friend was out of sight, Dawn got right to work on writing in her notepad to update what she knew about Team Scorn.
...
There wasn't a lot for Dawn to add, but every bit counted in the fight against Team Scorn. Their second known act involved harassing the Pokémon daycare on Johto Route 34, with the goal being to see if the daycare had any Pokémon eggs and if so steal just one (the one stolen didn't matter) of the Pokémon eggs and report back with it. Dawn also confirmed that there are at least three levels of the Captain rank in Team Scorn, with the reveal of Third Captain Alan.
The act ended up failing mainly due to Dawn and Kenny having awesome timing. After she wrote down everything, Dawn studied the notes on Team Scorn, both on the first and second known acts. The reborn trainer still had trouble wrapping her head around why Team Scorn had the goals that they had.
Why did they value the apricorn pokéballs over the Slowpoke tails in Azalea Town? Why were they only aiming to steal one Pokémon egg from the Route 34 daycare center? Dawn leaned back in her seat, stretched her arms into the air. Team Scorn was already proving to be far more confusing of a villainous team than most of the ones that Dawn remembered from the games and anime back in her previous life.
Looking out one of the windows in the Goldenrod City Pokémon Center lobby by chance, Dawn saw that it was now late afternoon. Time really does fly when one is jotting down and studying notes on a newly rising villainous team. Dawn also noticed that Kenny hadn't gotten back yet, so she decided to put her stuff away and go out to look for him. However, the moment Dawn stood up from where she was sitting, Kenny walked right back into the Pokémon Center.
Dawn also noticed that the Pokémon egg Kenny had was missing. "...So walking around a whole lot with Pokémon eggs really does help them hatch faster," Dawn said.
Kenny nodded in agreement, then took out a pokéball, expanded it, and tossed it up, calling out a Larvitar in the process. "Oh hecks yeah, my main man. Say hello to Godzilla, the newest member of the cringe posse."
"The egg hatched into a Larvitar?" Dawn said, clearly surprised. Larvitar will eventually evolve fully into Tyranitar, one of the Pokémon classified as a pseudo-legend. Kenny has the potential to add some serious power to his rotation if he takes the time to train up his new Larvitar, who he decided to name Godzilla apparently.
"Oh yeah," Kenny replied, kneeling down to scratch the back of his Larvitar's head, drawing a happy expression out of the newly hatched Pokémon, "This lil' dude is going to go places, mark my words!" Looking up to Dawn, Kenny said, "I wanna do a camp out tonight so we can get this little guy some camp out curry. Also I plan to have him hold this." Kenny took out and showed to Dawn a Pokémon held item that she was able to identify as a Lucky Egg.
Dawn right away could tell what Kenny was up to; he wanted to boost friendship and affection with Godzilla as much and as quickly as possible, as that'll help speed up how quickly the named Larvitar gains experience. The growth of experience will be further boosted by the Lucky Egg held item. Kenny obviously wants to get Godzilla fully evolved as quickly as possible, not that Dawn could blame him given how useful it would be to have a powerful Pokémon like Tyranitar on hand.
Given the threat posed by the newly revealed and rising Team Scorn, Dawn feels that those fighting against this new villainous team will need all the power that they can get a hold of.
"...It might be a bit late to go out to find a good camp out site right now," Dawn replied, "But there should be a place we can go to where we can have people give our Pokémon massages. Those will help boost friendship and affection. I'm not sure if it'll further help, but I personally like to have a Pokémon I get massages for hold a Soothe Bell before they get a massage."
Snapping his fingers in a gesture that ended with him pointing his right index finger at Dawn, Kenny said, "I do still have that Soothe Bell that I won when we did that tag tournament thing back over in Hearthome City." Dawn remembered the tournament that Kenny's talking about, where she and he ended up winning. Regardless, Dawn and Kenny got going to find the massage parlor in Goldenrod City, hoping they'd get there before it closes.
Luckily for them, Dawn and Kenny were on time for the massage parlor, and proceeded to use their services before returning to the Pokémon Center for the evening. Trainers could only have one of their respective Pokémon massaged a day, and Kenny naturally chose Godzilla. As for Dawn, she ended up choosing Chi-Chi, partly out of sentimental feelings given the fact that Chi-Chi is her first ever Pokémon.
After that, the reborn trainers returned to the local Pokémon Center for the night. After waking up the next morning, they had breakfast before leaving to see if Whitney was able to accept either one of them as a challenger to her gym. While she and Kenny ate, Dawn was going over her notes on what they had so far on Team Scorn. "...I still don't get it," Dawn muttered, clearly at a loss on what exactly Team Scorn was up to.
"I'm sure we'll figure these Team Scorn jokers out when we get more info on them," Kenny assured his friend.
Dawn scowled a bit. "...Or get even more confused."
"Don't worry about it," Kenny said, "If anything, worry about the gym leader whose door we're about to go knock on." Kenny had a point; Whitney, when she was a character back in Dawn's and Kenny's previous lives, had a bit of a reputation of being really tough. It wasn't uncommon for folks to lose on their respective first tries at Whitney, both in Dawn's and Kenny's previous lives and here in their new life as well most likely.
Dawn even remembered Professor Elm saying that Ideku's older brother Katsuku lost on his first try for the Plain Badge, although Dawn didn't know if Whitney was the gym leader at the time given how long ago it was. Looking to Kenny, Dawn said, "Well, we ought to get going to the gym when we're done eating here. I'll take on Whitney first, give you a chance to scout out what her party will be so you'll know what to do."
Kenny nodded in agreement, then after he and Dawn were done eating, they cleaned up and left the Pokémon Center to head right on over to the Goldenrod City gym.
Upon entering the front lobby of the Goldenrod City gym, Dawn and Kenny looked around. "Hello?" Dawn called out, "Is the gym leader here? I'm looking to challenge them!"
"Oh, a challenger!" a female voice called out, making Dawn and Kenny turn to look in the direction that the voice came from. A few seconds later, Whitney came walking into view, dressed as she was in the HGSS games. "...Make that challengers, I assume," Whitney said, seeing that there were two trainers in her gym.
"Oh, we aren't going to try to battle you all at once," Kenny said, "My main man here wants to try to take you on first, then I'll try later."
Whitney nodded in understanding. "Fair enough. Anyway, come on." Gesturing for the reborn trainers to follow her, Whitney said, "I'll take you to the stadium in the gym." Dawn and Kenny proceeded to follow Whitney into the Goldenrod City gym's stadium, where Dawn's official challenge to Whitney will be held.
...
Inside of the stadium, Whitney and Dawn stood on their respective ends of the battlefield while Kenny sat in the bleachers, and a referee stood off to the side. "This official Goldenrod City gym battle will be between the gym leader, Whitney, and the challenger, Dawn! Both trainers may use three Pokémon, and the battle is over when all of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Also, only the challenger can substitute Pokémon out at any time. Now then... BEGIN!"
"Nidorina, I choose you!" Whitney said, sending out her Nidorina as her first Pokémon.
Confirming that Whitney was using her anime party, Dawn tossed up a pokéball while saying, "Alright, Leni! Let's get goin'!" Dawn's first Pokémon for the battle was her named Lucario, who she was confident in that she'll do well.
Whitney looked a bit confused upon seeing Leni. "...That's an interesting Pokémon," Whitney remarked, "I've never seen anything like it. I guess you aren't from Johto, but that doesn't matter." Pointing ahead, Whitney said, "Nidorina, use Poison Sting!"
"Leni, use Psychic!" Dawn ordered.
As Nidorina tried willing up her Poison Sting attack, Leni's eyes glowed with psychic power, before conjuring a telekinetic blast that she struck Nidorina with, making her cry out before she was sent tumbling back. When Nidorina stopped tumbling, it was clear that she had been defeated. Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Nidorina is unable to battle! The winner is..." Looking to Dawn, the referee said, "...Umm, what species of Pokémon is that?"
"Leni is a Lucario," Dawn clarified.
Nodding in confirm, the referee said, "Anyway, the winner is Lucario!"
Whitney, a bit surprised, nonetheless recalled her fainted Nidorina. Tossing up another pokéball, Whitney called out, "Clefairy, I choose you!" Whitney's second Pokémon for the battle was her Clefairy. Pointing forward, Whitney said, "Clefairy, use Metronome!"
"Leni, use Flash Cannon!" Dawn ordered.
Right as Clefairy was waving its fingers in the air to try to generate a random attack, Leni conjured and blasted Clefairy with a Flash Cannon attack, striking Clefairy hard and making it reel back until it fell over onto the battlefield, clearly out of it. "Clefairy is unable to battle!" the referee announced, "The winner is Lucario!"
Whitney recalled her defeated Clefairy, a bit surprised but still willing to go. Holding up the pokéball that held her last Pokémon, Whitney said, "You're good, but this next one of mine never goes down easy. Miltank, I choose you!" As Dawn expected, Whitney's last Pokémon was her Miltank, the bane of many trainers' existences. Pointing forward, Whitney said, "Miltank, use Rollout!"
"Leni, use Aura Sphere!" Dawn commanded. Miltank jumped up and proceeded to roll at Leni, who conjured and cast an Aura Sphere at Miltank, blasting her and knocking her out of her Rollout attack as she cried out in pain. Miltank then hit the ground of the battlefield, clearly out of it.
Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Miltank is unable to battle! The winner is Lucario! Victory of this battle goes to the challenger, Dawn!"
While Dawn let out a relieved sigh, Whitney just stood there silently, surprised that she had lost so easily. "...Umm, wow," Whitney said, "It's not very often a challenger beats me on their first try at my gym. People usually need at least two tries to earn the badge that I hand out." Whitney shook her head to try to refocus herself. "...Regardless, you did win against me. As such, I've got to award a Plain Badge to you."
Whitney then walked over to Dawn and gave her a Plain Badge, putting Dawn at three Johto gym badges. Turning to look at Kenny, Whitney said, "Assuming that you want to challenge me as well, it will have to wait until early this evening, after my Pokémon have all been treated at the local Pokémon Center. Are you fine with that?"
Kenny gave Whitney a thumbs up. "Oh, I got plenty of time." Whitney smiled and proceeded to lead the reborn trainers out of the Goldenrod City gym. She then took off for the local Pokémon Center, whereas Dawn and Kenny went to look around Goldenrod City, although Dawn first took time to use an Elixer on Leni, just to keep her topped off.
In the time Whitney's Pokémon were being treated at the local Pokémon Center, Dawn and Kenny had a good time exploring Goldenrod City. They returned to the massage parlor, where Kenny had the people working there give a massage to Godzilla again; Dawn got Leni treated to a massage this time, partly because of how she had helped Dawn earn the Plain Badge earlier.
Eventually, Dawn and Kenny returned to the Goldenrod City gym when they were told that Whitney was ready to take Kenny's challenge. Kenny ended up winning against Whitney, having Godzilla face off against each Pokémon of Whitney's before recalling him before he could get hit in order to make sure he got experience from every battle. Cell was brought out to take out Nidorina and Clefairy, being immune to Poison Sting and Clefairy's Metronome generated Sludge, rendering both of the first two Pokémon Whitney used redundant.
Then came Whitney's Miltank. After Godzilla was out against Miltank, Kenny recalled him to send Priestess out to take Miltank down. After resisting Miltank's Rollout, Priestess used Drain Punch to not only deal super effective damage but recover what health she herself lost when she was hit. Kenny won as the second challenger in a row to not only win against Whitney on the first try but to also do so without any of his Pokémon going down.
...
"You battled the Badorigo brothers?"
Whitney nodded in confirmation to Dawn's surprised question, after Whitney had mentioned how Dawn and Kenny each winning on their respective first tries at her reminded her of Ideku Badorigo. "Oh yes, during the very early part of my very first year as a gym leader," Whitney said, "I faced both Ideku and his older brother Katsuku. I beat Katsuku on his first try at my gym thanks to my Miltank, but he won the rematch after a very close battle."
"But Ideku won against you on his first try."
Whitney gave Dawn another confirming nod. "It was close, but Ideku still defeated me on his first try at me. As a matter of fact, so few challengers who challenge me for the Plain Badge win on their first tries against me, I've taken to writing about all of them in a journal to remember them better. After I add the both of you, the journal should be about seventy-two percent full, given each trainer gets their own page each."
Dawn wasn't too sure about how she should feel about Whitney, given how Whitney was more or less bragging about how rare it was for challengers to beat her on their first try. Regardless, Dawn and Kenny both earned the Plain Badge. "So where are you off to now?" Whitney asked.
"The next city that has a gym," Dawn replied, "I believe it's Ecruteak City."
Whitney let out a whistle. "Hoo boy, you two have some traveling to do, then. You'll have to go through Routes 35, 36, and 37 to get there. You'll also probably pass by the National Park and the Pokéathlon Dome on the way."
Turning to look at Dawn, Kenny asked, "What do you think, dude? Should we check those places out?"
Dawn shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
"Just be careful," Whitney advised, a look of worry on her face, "There's this newly rising villainous team called Team Scorn, and they've caused a lot of trouble since they first made their debut with their attack on Azalea Town. I was unavailable yesterday due to how I was looking over security measures taken to help better protect Goldenrod City from the threat of Team Scorn." Whitney gave a gentle shake of her head. "...But I cannot guarantee your safety outside of Goldenrod City."
So that's why Whitney was unavailable yesterday. Dawn wasn't entirely surprised that Team Scorn's rising was causing things to be handled differently. Regardless, Dawn and Kenny took Whitney's words of advice before turning to head straight to Ecruteak City. The reborn trainers had no idea on what to expect, now that Team Scorn was mixed into things. But the two of them would take on whatever challenges come their way.
END, CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
Author's notes;
This chapter sees Dawn and Kenny have their second run in with Team Scorn at the Route 34 daycare center, where they drive off the two Team Scorn grunts and save the daycare center, also Kenny gets a Pokémon egg that hatches into a Larvitar. Dawn and Kenny also manage to earn their respective Plain Badges on their first try each at Whitney, who is also taking measures against Team Scorn.
Anyway, the next chapter will see Dawn and Kenny do a fair bit of traveling, maybe check out the Pokéathlon Dome and National Park along the way, as they make their way on over to Ecruteak City to see if Morty's home. See you all later.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Leni (female Lucario), Froppy (female Toxicroak), Amy (female Charmander), Sticks (female Cyndaquil), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Priestess (female Liligant; Hisuian; alpha), Zarbon (male Machamp), Hisoka (male Mr. Mime), Hoodini (male Hoothoot), Godzilla (male Larvitar), Black (Giratina)