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-six: Infestation at Ecruteak City
After traveling through Routes 36 and 37, Dawn and Kenny finally made it to Ecruteak City. There, the both of them intended on challenging Morty, gym leader of the Ecruteak City gym, in respective bids to earn the Fog Badge. However, by the time they got there, Dawn and Kenny saw that it was rather late. Just as well, as both of them needed to rotate their respective parties to better prep for taking on Morty at his gym.
Dawn, having evolved Amy and Sticks, decided on rotating them out of her party. In their place, Dawn got Vegeta and Holger into her party. She kept Chi-Chi, Tsukune, and Leni in, and rotated out Froppy to rotate in Lucy. "There, my party's as prepped as it'll ever be for taking on Morty," Dawn remarked. Turning to look at Kenny, Dawn asked, "What are you going to go into Morty's gym with, Kenny? Keep in mind that Morty uses ghost Pokémon."
"Well I got Goofy, naturally," Kenny said, "I still need to work on Godzilla, Shallot knows Shadow Ball so he's in, Roshi knows Crunch so I'm grabbing him, Elay because you can never go wrong by using the power of the legendary Elay, and finally Black if I'm forced to go nuclear."
Dawn nodded in agreement. "That's as solid of a line-up as any." Dawn realized that Morty was the third ghost Pokémon user that she and Kenny would be facing as a gym leader they need to defeat, after Fantina back in Sinnoh and Agatha back in Kanto. The reborn trainer hoped that things would not be too tough to get through tomorrow, especially since Dawn as well as Kenny would like to get through the Johto portion of their gym challenge tour as quickly as possible.
Dawn and Kenny, after they got dressed for bed, went into a bunk room at the local Pokémon Center in Ecruteak City. Dawn took the top bunk while Kenny took the bottom. The two reborn trainers soon began to drift off to sleep, but whereas sleep came easy to Kenny who clocked out more or less right on the spot, Dawn was finding great difficulty in trying to settle herself down to go to sleep, as she had a lot on her mind.
A part of Dawn hoped that, when she and Kenny woke up tomorrow, that there would be nothing getting in their way of just going straight to Morty's gym so that one of them could challenge him in their bid to earn the Fog Badge. But another (equal) part of Dawn, a part that all of Dawn (even said part itself) hopes will be proven wrong in the morning, heavily suspected that something might end up cropping up to make tomorrow nothing short of absolute chaos.
And Dawn had no-one but Team Scorn to thank for that, given what all they've done since they made their debut in the world back in their siege on Azalea Town. Dawn felt herself tire, hoping it meant she'll pass out soon. As sleep had mercifully, finally, began to take hold on her, Dawn hoped that, come morning, she and Kenny will be able to enjoy breakfast in the Pokémon Center lobby before they make their way over to the Ecruteak City gym.
Dawn was woken up at a quarter past five the following morning by Kenny hopping on the floor in their bunk room on one foot as he hastily tried putting his pants on, muttering, "Damn, damn, shit, fuck!" as he was in a clear rush to get dressed.
Sitting up in bed, Dawn, with a look on her face that was as tired as it was dry, said, "Something's happening right now, isn't it." The reborn trainer sounded more like she was making a statement rather than asking a question.
"A whole bunch of bug Pokémon are swarming all over Ecruteak City in a collective hissyfit!" Kenny said, "We gotta get out there and help deal with them!"
Sighing in a tired, resigned tone, Dawn proceeded to get out of bed and find her daytime clothing. She went into an adjacent bathroom to get dressed; even back in her previous life, Dawn liked to be alone when changing clothes. The fact that she was isekai'd as the opposite gender from her previous life did nothing to change how she felt overall, although it did put a couple of things into perspective for her.
Once she was dressed, Dawn exited the bathroom, met with Kenny, then the two of them exited the Ecruteak City Pokémon Center to go help deal with the swarm of bug Pokémon flying all over and every which way for as of yet unknown reasons.
...
Upon exiting the Ecruteak City Pokémon Center, Dawn and Kenny were taken aback by how there were so many bug Pokémon all over the place, causing all manner of havoc. Caterpies, Weedles, lots of Paras, Parasects, Spinaraks, lots of Ariados, Pinecos, and Ledybas were all over Ecruteak City by the dozens each, and all of them were very clearly angry.
"I vaguely remember an episode of the anime in my previous life that was similar to this," Dawn thought, "Team Rocket stole some bells from somewhere in Ecruteak City, and that sent all sorts of Pokémon into a tizzy." Dawn rubbed the sides of her head, a look of frustration clear on her face as she winced her eyes closed. "Damn, I wish I could remember the events of that episode better. I'd have a better idea on how to deal with this mess."
As Dawn shook her head to bring herself back to focus, Kenny held up a pokéball. "Dawn my good man, I think our best bet will be to beat these bugs into submission. Luckily for me, Godzilla learned how to use Rock Slide recently, so he'll be able to help bring the hurt here."
As much as Dawn felt it was wrong to beat down on the rioting bug Pokémon due to what she had remembered from the anime from her previous life, she felt that Kenny had a solid point. Given the sheer number of Pokémon that was rioting, the safest bet for Ecruteak City as a whole would be to simply knock out as many of the bug Pokémon as possible. Silver lining was that Vegeta and Holger were both bound to get a lot of experience passively with all of the bug Pokémon Dawn was going to be knocking out.
The two reborn trainers took off, with Kenny leading the way towards a large group of bug Pokémon that included a few Parasects and Ariadoses. Sending out his named Larvitar, Kenny said while pointing at that group of bug Pokémon, "Godzilla, hit that group of bug Pokémon with Rock Slide!"
"Lucy!" Dawn said as she called out her named Mismagius, "Attack any of the bug Pokémon that Godzilla misses with Mystical Fire!"
Godzilla summoned an avalanche of falling rocks that rained down all over the bug Pokémon that Kenny was pointing at, taking out lots of the unevolved bug Pokémon and a few of the Parasects plus one Ariados. Two Parasects were able to endure and turn their attention to Godzilla, but Lucy took both out with Mystical Fire. After all of the bug Pokémon in that group was defeated, Kenny pumped a fist into the air as he cheered.
"Don't celebrate too soon, Kenny," Dawn advised, "We still have to help deal with all of the rioting bug Pokémon."
Giving Dawn a confident look, Kenny said, "That just means more battle experience for Godzilla here! I bet that-"
"Holy crud, is that actually a Mismagius?!" a male voice called out, cutting Kenny off and making both him and Dawn plus their Pokémon turn to see Morty, the Ecruteak City gym leader, come running up to them while accompanied by his Gengar. Morty was dressed as he was in the anime back in Dawn and Kenny's previous lives. Morty went right up to Lucy and began admiring the ghost Pokémon from Sinnoh. "I never thought that I'd get to see one in person!" Morty said, "Even though I've been tr-"
"Umm, excuse me," Dawn said, "But isn't it a bad time right now to be gushing over my Mismagius? Considering, you know, the fact that bug Pokémon are rioting all over Ecruteak City?"
Morty soon got a hold of himself. "Yes, you're right." Straightening out himself, Morty said, "Anyway, I suppose introductions are in order since I'm going to have to officially request your help in getting the rioting bug Pokémon to settle down. I'm Morty, the gym leader here in Ecruteak City."
"Dawn Berlitz and Kenny Harris," Dawn said as she gestured to herself then Kenny in that order, "We're traveling through Johto in a bid to earn eight Johto gym badges each. That being said, we're going to want to talk to you about challenging you at your gym after the chaos here in Ecruteak City is calmed down."
"Someone who's managed to best me in the ghost Pokémon game by getting their Misdreavus to evolve into Mismagius will be a tough opponent for me," Morty replied, "I look forward to the challenge you'll bring." Turning his attention back to the rioting bug Pokémon, Morty said, "But first, dealing with this riot."
"You got any ideas what might have put a Combee in the bonnets of these bug Pokémon?" Kenny asked.
Morty, with a grim expression, nodded once in confirmation. "A while ago, some criminal thugs tried to steal the four Crystal Bells kept here in Ecruteak City. The bug Pokémon didn't like that, so they all got really mad really quick. We were able to solve everything in the end, but..." Looking around at all of the rioting, Morty said, "This is more than that time."
Morty then gestured for Dawn and Kenny to follow him, saying that he needed to check something. Dawn and Kenny agreed, and together the lot of them and their Pokémon went off to go see what had gotten into Morty's head.
A short while later, Morty was leading Dawn, Kenny, and their Pokémon to a building that Morty identified to Dawn and Kenny as the Tin Tower. Upon approaching the Tin Tower, the group saw that there was a large amount of bug Pokémon near Tin Tower, with said swarm instantly spotting them approach. Before Morty even got a chance to plead with the bug Pokémon, they all went on the attack, forcing Dawn and the boys to fight back.
As with before, Kenny had Godzilla use Rock Slide on the horde, taking out many of them while Dawn and Morty had Lucy and Gengar take out the ones Godzilla failed to take out. Once all of the bug Pokémon around the Tin Tower were knocked out, Dawn and the boys all ran inside. Upon entering the Tin Tower, Morty looked around out of concern. "The Golden Bells are missing!" Morty said, "Don't tell me that the Crystal Bells will be missing as well when we check on them!"
"I assume that the bells are important?" Kenny said as he and the others rushed to the top of the Tin Tower with their Pokémon.
"The bells all connect to the legend of the legendary Pokémon Ho-oh," Morty explained while the group rushed to the top of the Tin Tower, "The Crystal Bells are especially important, but the Golden Bells are a key to help foretell Ho-oh's coming as well! We need to take note of everything to figure out exactly what were dealing with here!"
...
Upon reaching the top of the Tin Tower, Dawn and the boys barged in with their Pokémon, only to see that the room Morty said would house the Crystal Bells now only held loads of wild Parasects and Ariadoses. Morty also pointed out how the Crystal Bells were all missing, even the one he said was broken but soon repaired. When the bug Pokémon in the room all rushed Dawn and the boys, they had no choice but to have their Pokémon go on the attack.
This saw Kenny have Godzilla rain lots of rocks down upon the bug Pokémon again with Rock Slide, while Dawn had Lucy set others ablaze with Mystical Fire, and Morty had Gengar blast a few with Shadow Ball. One of the enduring Ariadoses got through and, though winded, tried going for Kenny directly. Kenny saw this coming and pulled his leg back to kick the Ariados away from him, but he ended up stopping short when Godzilla rushed the Ariados.
The named Larvitar opened his mouth, with little white glowing fangs being bared, before he bit down on the Ariados and knocked it out. "Wow, that was an impressive Crunch attack that your Larvitar had just used, Kenny," Morty remarked.
"Thanks for the compliment," Kenny replied as he and the others proceeded to defeat the remaining bug Pokémon that were in the room.
Once the bug Pokémon were all knocked out, Morty looked around. Scoffing bitterly, Morty said, "I bet that criminals stole the Crystal Bells again, and also decided to steal the Golden Bells as well."
"We need to go see if there are any more rioting bug Pokémon out in Ecruteak City," Dawn pointed out, drawing a nod of agreement out of the boys before all of them and their Pokémon left the Tin Tower to go see if they were needed elsewhere in Ecruteak City.
Later out in Ecruteak City, Dawn and the boys came upon the sight of some other trainers helping to subdue the rioting bug Pokémon. Looking around, Morty said, "The Kimono Girls over there are being backed against a wall by a lot of bug Pokémon!"
Looking over, Dawn and Kenny saw the Kimono Girls from the Johto anime, minus little sister Sakura, backing away and cowering when a large group of bug Pokémon were making them back up against the wall of some storefront. One of the Parasects in the group jumped up and tried to go for one of the Kimono Girls, making her and her sisters all cry out in fright, only for Kenny to go, "Godzilla, use Rock Slide on all of those bug Pokémon!"
The named Larvitar proceeded to open a can of whoop-ass on a large group of bug Pokémon once more during the chaos in Ecruteak City, taking out all of the bug Pokémon bothering the Kimono Girls. With those bug Pokémon defeated, the Kimono Girls all quickly rushed to the heroes who had just saved them. To be specific, they began fawning over Godzilla since he was the Pokémon who saved them from the bug Pokémon horde just now.
"Ladies, you ought to get someplace safe until we can clear out the rest of the rioting bug Pokémon," Morty advised.
"Yes, we'll return to the safety of our theater," one of the Kimono Girls said, then added while gesturing to Kenny, "But this boy ought to come by after the chaos is settled. We would like to properly thank him and his heroic Larvi-"
The first Kimono Girl was cut off when Godzilla suddenly began to glow a bright white color. His form changed shape and grew, and when that was done the glowing faded away, revealing that Godzilla had evolved into a Pupitar. "Hot dang!" Kenny exclaimed, "Godzilla had just evolved into a Pupitar! This is awesome!"
Dawn gave a small, acknowledging smile. "...Well he did get a lot of battle experience in, what with all of the hordes of bug Pokémon he helped to take down. He'll be even more useful in taking out all of the rioting bug Pokémon." Seeing the named Pupitar panting a bit, Dawn added, "But we ought to try wrapping things up here as quickly as we can manage, not only because our Pokémon are worn out, but also because we still have to save Ecruteak City."
"I couldn't agree more," Morty said, having the Kimono Girls all go straight home while he led the reborn trainers in handling the rioting bug Pokémon all over Ecruteak City. Although they figured it out that the Golden and Crystal Bells from the Tin Tower going missing were the cause behind all of the bug Pokémon going off their rockers, they had no idea where those Bells went, nor did they have any idea who could of been behind it.
...
By mid afternoon that day, Morty and the reborn trainers, along with the various other odd trainers in Ecruteak City at the time, had finally defeated the last of the rioting bug Pokémon. Kenny instantly suggested taking their Pokémon to the local Pokémon Center to be treated once the rioting had been fully subdued, an idea that Morty agreed with.
As Dawn, Kenny, and Morty were having all of their respective Pokémon who fought to subdue the rioting bug Pokémon treated, Dawn and Kenny went with Morty to a security station room. "Originally, there was no security measures in place at the Tin Tower," Morty began to explain, "Mostly due to how some local traditionalists living here in Ecruteak City objected on the grounds that stuff like that wasn't 'sacred enough' to be in the Tin Tower, as well as how it clashed with the overall sacred atmosphere the Tin Tower gives off."
"But something happened to make it so that said security measures had to be put in place," Dawn said more than guessed.
Morty nodded in confirmation. "Yes. The criminal thugs that I had mentioned before, the ones who stole the Crystal Bells last time. Their act of stealing the Crystal Bells, as well as what said act had ended up leading to, overrode what little objections there were left and prompted the installation of some security cameras. To our credit, we found a model that is not only effective with getting both audio and visual, but also small enough so that it won't be noticed very easily."
Turning on a monitor station, Morty explained, "We'll be able to find out who stole not only the four Crystal Bells, but also all of the Golden Bells as well." After the monitor station was booted up, Morty pulled up footage from the previous evening, then set it to play fast forward. After a couple of moments, Dawn and the boys got their answer when they saw multiple members of Team Scorn sneak into the Tin Tower and begin collecting all of the Bells.
"Those are members of Team Scorn!" Dawn said, shocked that members of the newly rising villainous team were behind the theft of the Bells from the Tin Tower. Looking at the time stamp on the recording, Dawn saw that Team Scorn snuck into Tin Tower and stole all of the Bells at around midnight, well after most everyone else in Ecruteak City had fallen asleep and well before any of them would be awoken by loads and loads of bug Pokémon all going berserk.
Morty and the reborn trainers looked at video recordings from all of the floors of the Tin Tower from the previous night, thus they were able to confirm that a total of eight Team Scorn members were behind the theft of the Bells from the Tin Tower. One was clearly a Team Scorn officer, given that he was wearing a unique Team Scorn outfit, six of the Team Scorn members were clearly grunts, and the last was was apparently also a grunt due to how she was dutifully following the officer, but she had some variations to her outfit.
The Team Scorn officer wore a gakuran jacket that was the standard dark blue color used in all Team Scorn outfits, a pair of chocho zubon pants of the same dark blue shade but they were held up with a yellow belt, a pair of jika-tabi boots (dark blue) that the ends of the chocho zubon pants were tucked into, and a yellow and dark blue checker-patterned haori coat that reached his waist and the sleeves reached his elbows. The Team Scorn insignia was placed right on his haori coat, over his left pec.
The Team Scorn officer had fair skin and combed back, ruffled black hair. He also wore a pair of earrings that were small, short chains with small colored balls at the ends, one ball per chain. Kenny said that they looked like potara earrings, and when Morty asked what potara meant, Dawn told him that Kenny was talking about how he had a dream where he saw similar earrings, and said earrings in the dream were identified as potara earrings. To Dawn's concern, the Team Scorn officer also carried a katana, in a scabbard over his left waist.
As for the Team Scorn grunt attending to the officer personally, she wore the standard female Team Scorn grunt outfit, but wore a long sleeved blouse rather than a t-shirt, a pair of hakama pants rather than shorts, and a ribbon on the left side of her head rather than the baret hat. Her outfit still had the prerequisite color scheme of Team Scorn uniforms, with the ribbon being yellow and the blouse plus hakama pants being dark blue. This special Team Scorn grunt had fair skin, and long dark hair that reached her waist.
Morty leaned back in the chair he sat in, let out a resigned breath. "...So these Team Scorn jokers are behind the theft of the Bells from the Tin Tower. And they carried out their caper in the middle of the night, meaning no one was around to stop them due to everyone else being asleep." Morty put his hand against his forehead, dragged it down over his face until it fell off past his chin. "This is a complete and total disaster for Ecruteak City. Each bell is a historical artifact of irreplaceable grand importance, and now every last one is in the hands of a villainous organization."
"Why would Team Scorn wanna steal the Tin Tower's special bells, though?" Kenny asked as he gave a confused shrug.
"Probably because they can try selling the bells in underground black market auctions to the highest bidder," Dawn reasoned, then looked to Morty and asked, "Right?"
The Ecruteak City gym leader nodded once in agreement. "I have no doubt that incredibly wealthy persons of less than honest morality would jump at the chance to buy one of those bells for their private collections. There actually have been such persons who came here to Ecruteak City to ask to buy one of the bells, but all were refused on the grounds of how important the bells all are."
Pointing to Morty, Dawn pointed out, "If you can get a list of those who came here asking to buy the bells, it could prove useful in eventually recovering the bells if Team Scorn does end up selling all of them, given it'd be a list of suspects in possession of historical relics. Said suspects might also be able to give us clues about Team Scorn."
"I can get some people to get right on it," Morty replied, "But before that, there's something I have to say. Well, two somethings actually. One, for obvious reasons, I can't accept challenges to my gym from either of you today. That'll have to wait until tomorrow morning starting at eight."
"That's understandable," Dawn replied, "The chaos aside, our Pokémon got worn out helping with subduing the rioting bug Pokémon. All of us need time to recuperate."
Morty nodded in agreement. "The Kimono Girls asked you two come by their theater later, mostly to thank Kenny and his Pupitar. They'll perform a traditional show, and serve you dinner. One of them even said that she wanted to pamper Kenny's Pupitar."
"Sweet," Kenny said, "We're getting star treatment. A great way to celebrate Godzilla evolving."
"Speaking of Pokémon evolving, that leads me to the second thing I have to say, or rather ask." Turning to look at Dawn, Morty asked, "How in blazes were you able to evolve your Misdreavus into Mismagius?! I've been working with the Misdreavus I caught ever since I caught him, but no matter how much training we do, the evolution won't trigger!"
Dawn gave Morty a mildly surprised look. "You..." Dawn said, "...Don't know Misdreavus evolves into Mismagius via using a Dusk Stone?"
Morty went a bit wide eyed with shock. "...I need an evolutionary stone for it?!" Grasping the sides of his head, Morty nearly screamed, "And I don't even have a Dusk Stone! Son of a bi-"
"I have a few extra Dusk Stones, Morty," Dawn said, "I can easily give you one."
Morty began calming down. "That... that would be appreciated, thanks."
Later that evening, Dawn and Kenny were at the Kimono Girls' performance theater, in a special VIP section while the main audience was a bit below them. Dawn and Kenny were watching the show with Leni and Godzilla as Sakura the youngest Kimono Girl sister served them. "Thanks again for saving my older sisters," Sakura said as she placed food down at the table Dawn and Kenny shared with their Pokémon.
"I just wish we could have prevented what set the bug Pokémon off in the first place," Dawn replied, sounding frustrated that Team Scorn actually succeeded in one of their schemes.
"Dude, everyone else in Ecruteak City and their grandmas were all asleep at the time," Kenny said, "There's nothing we can do about it."
Sighing, Dawn remarked, "I guess you're right." Drinking from her glass, Dawn then said, "The only thing we can do is rest up for our respective challenges to Morty's gym tomorrow."
"Oh! You're both aiming to earn a Fog Badge each," Sakura said, "Well, since you're both heroes who played a major role in quelling the rioting bug Pokémon today, Kenny especially given that he's got the heroic Pupitar who saved my sisters, I'm certain that the both of you will succeed." Feeling a bit reassured by Sakura's words, Dawn and Kenny proceeded to enjoy the rest of their evening. They both needed the rest too, given they are both close to the halfway point in the Johto portion of their gym challenge tour.
A tour that's looking to have some unavoidable distractions.
END, CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
Author's notes;
This chapter plays with the episode of the Johto anime where Team Rocket steals the Crystal Bells and breaks one, simultaneously peeing in the Cheerios of pretty much every wild Pokémon within the radius of Ecruteak City; most of the angry Pokémon in that episode were bugs but my research told me a few Tangala and Gligar were in there as well, but here it's exclusively bug Pokémon. They are all eventually subdued, but everyone's tired afterwards, so the challenges to Morty's gym will have to wait until later. Kenny's Larvitar was able to evolve, though.
Sadly, however, the rioting of the bug Pokémon turned out to have been prompted by a group of Team Scorn grunts, led by an unknown Team Scorn officer of unknown rank, stealing every bell from the Tin Tower, even the golden ones on the floors below where the Crystal Bells were all kept. This is the first scheme of Team Scorn's to have been successful (fourth one overall). Who is this mysterious Team Scorn officer? That's an answer that Dawn and Kenny will be aiming to find out, so stick around to see where things will go from here.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Leni (female Lucario), Lucy (female Mismagius), Vegeta (male Aipom), Holger (male Venonat), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Goofy (male Houndoom), Godzilla (male Pupitar), Shallot (male Glaceon), Roshi (male Torterra), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny), Black (Giratina)