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-nine: Troubles in Olivine

The morning following seeing an old warrior off on an honorable end, Dawn and Kenny woke up in the bunk room of the local Pokémon Center in Cianwood City, Johto. After they freshened up, got dressed, and had breakfast, they both rotated their parties a bit before they went on down to the local Pokémon gym. Upon walking into the gym, the two reborn trainers looked around, hoping to find the gym leader Chuck.

"Hello?" Dawn called out, "We're looking for Chuck the gym leader! We're looking to see if we can try challenging him to gym battles!"

"Oh my, my husband will be happy to hear he's got more than one challenger," a female voice called out, making Dawn and Kenny turn to see a slender and pretty woman come walking out. "So you both are here to challenge my husband Chuck's gym, hmm?" the woman asked.

"Well not at the same time, obviously," Kenny replied. Gesturing to Dawn and then himself, Kenny explained, "We're going to be taking turns, with Dawn here going first."

Chuck's wife nodded in understanding. "We'll I'll go get my husband and see if he's ready to take on a challenger." Chuck's wife then turned around and went into the gym.

While that was happening, Kenny turned to look at Dawn. "You ready for whatever Chuck can pull off here?"

Shrugging, Dawn replied, "As I'll ever be. Chuck should be a reasonable and easy going-"

"HOOHAA!"

Dawn was cut off when Chuck, wearing only sparring pants and a belt, came charging right into the room. He looked as he did in the HGSS games, so still no shirt. Dawn wasn't sure if her change of gender upon reincarnation had anything to do with it, but she now felt slightly more put off by an older, slightly heavy set man like Chuck charging in shirtless. "Two challengers in one day!" Chuck said excitedly as he burned with passion, "That's bound to be some good workout!"

Chuck's wife nodded along in agreement before saying to Dawn and Kenny, "Make sure that you two make Chuck here sweat! He needs to shrink that belly of his!"

Dawn and Kenny, the former feeling a bit put off by Chuck walking around shirtless, proceeded to follow Chuck and his wife into the sparring room at the gym used for gym battles. Dawn was hoping that Chuck might be convinced to put a shirt on at some point, but aside from that she was going to be giving her upcoming battle against the Cianwood City gym leader her all.

Inside of the sparring room, Dawn and Chuck stood at opposite ends as Kenny and Chuck's wife sat off to the side to watch. The gym's referee then took his spot before saying, "This will be an official battle at the Cianwood City gym between the gym leader, Chuck, and the challenger, Dawn! Both trainers may use up to two Pokémon each! The battle is over whenever either trainer is out of Pokémon that can still battle! Also, only the challenger may switch Pokémon out at any time! Now then, let this battle... BEGIN!"

"Machoke, I choose you!" Chuck said, sending out his first Pokémon for the battle which was his Machoke.

Tossing up a pokéball, Dawn said, "Alright, Pigeon! Let's get goin'!" Coming out into battle was Dawn's Chatot, who flew in place about a meter above the floor.

"Oh ho!" Chuck said, "That's a Pokémon I'm not familiar with! What species is that and where's it from, might I ask?"

Gesturing to her Pokémon, Dawn explained, "Pigeon here is my Chatot, a species of Pokémon from the Sinnoh region."

"Sinnoh trainers!" Chuck said, "It's been a while since I've had the pleasure to test my mettle against trainers from foreign regions! This ought to be a fun battle indeed!" Pointing forward, Chuck called out, "Machoke, use Submission!"

"Pigeon, use Protect!" Dawn ordered.

Pigeon's eyes glowed as a dome of energy appeared over where he was flying in place, covering him and blocking the attack from Chuck's Machoke, making it stumble back a bit. "Pigeon, use Aerial Ace!" Dawn called out.

"Machoke, use Karate Chop!" Chuck commanded.

Machoke ran in to chop at Pigeon, but the named Chatot flew around and struck at Machoke from behind, making it cry out in pain a bit. Chuck saw that Machoke was starting to be put on the ropes, so he aimed to try to finish this off quick. "Machoke, use Cross Chop!" Chuck called out.

"Pigeon, use Aerial Ace again!" Dawn ordered.

Pigeon, being smaller and more nimble, was faster than Machoke. He easily flew around Machoke's Cross Chop, which looked a bit clumsy when compared to the Cross Chop of Kenny's named Machamp Zarbon, before going on to strike Chuck's Machoke with another Aerial Ace, hitting the fighting type Pokémon hard enough to throw it back a bit before it hit the floor of the sparring room, where it laid defeated.

Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Machoke is unable to battle! The winner is Chatot!"

Chuck recalled his fainted Machoke before he regarded Dawn. "Flying types have always given me a bother. You chose well the Pokémon you came at me with."

Dawn nodded to Chuck in acknowledgement. "Well never let it be said that I go into battles against gym leaders without being ready."

"Indeed!" Chuck approved, "Taking time to think before leaping is a keen trait any trainer should have! But our battle here is in two parts!" Holding up a pokéball, Chuck said, "And this second half here will put you in for a big surprise! Poliwrath, I choose you!"

"Pigeon that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon around, "Alright, Nobunaga! Let's get goin'!" Taking the place of Pigeon the Chatot was Nobunaga the Togekiss. Pointing forward, Dawn said, "Nobunaga, use Extrasensory!"

"Poliwrath, use Double Slap!" Chuck called out.

Poliwrath tried rushing forward, but Nobunaga conjured a psychic power that went on to assault Poliwrath's head, making it cry out in pain before it stumbled back and then hunched over and shook a bit. Dawn smirked a bit, glad to see that Nobunaga's Extrasensory had scored a flinch on Chuck's Poliwrath. Pointing forward, Dawn commanded, "Nobunaga, use Dazzling Gleam!"

"A fairy type move?" Chuck said in mild surprise, right before saying, "Poliwrath, use Poison Jab!"

Dawn was similarly as surprised by Poliwrath knowing Poison Jab as Chuck apparently was at Nobunaga being a fairy type Pokémon. Regardless, Nobunaga's Dazzling Gleam blasted Poliwrath before the water fighting type even got close with Poison Jab. Poliwrath was thrown back by the attack and hit the sparring room floor, where it laid defeated.

Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Poliwrath is unable to battle! The winner is... umm..." Looking at Dawn, the referee asked, "What species of Pokémon is that?"

"Nobunaga is a Togekiss," Dawn explained.

Nodding once, the referee announced, "Anyway, the winner is Togekiss! Victory of this battle goes to the challenger, Dawn!"

Chuck laughed a bit before he recalled his fainted Poliwrath. "I'm still getting used to the discovery of fairy type Pokémon," Chuck explained as he approached Dawn, "At least I know they're weak to poison, hence why I had Poliwrath learn Poison Jab in case a challenger tried to pull a sneaky one on me."

"I will admit, I was a bit surprised myself," Dawn said right before Chuck handed her a Storm Badge. With that, Dawn was now up to five Johto gym badges. Chuck then looked to Kenny and told him that his Pokémon needed to be rested at the Pokémon Center before he can face him. Kenny had no problem with that, and as such the reborn trainers found their business at the Cianwood City gym done for now.

With knowledge of Chuck's Poliwrath knowing Poison Jab, Kenny decided that he had to plan for that since Hisoka, a Mr. Mime which is dual psychic fairy, would be at risk despite how his typing made him probably the biggest nightmare a fighting type gym leader could face. But Kenny is a lot smarter than what people would normally expect out of him, so after making one change to his plan for taking on Chuck, Kenny was ready.

Kenny's planning paid off well later that evening as he won against Chuck, thus earning the Storm Badge. Kenny had Hisoka beat Chuck's Machoke, with hardly any effort as Machoke only knew fighting moves which Hisoka greatly resisted. After Machoke went down, Chuck sent in Poliwrath and immediately called for Poison Jab, recognizing that Mr. Mime was a partial fairy type.

Kenny, as he saw Poliwrath charge in with Poison Jab at the ready, recalled Hisoka and sent Cell in; the shiny Scizor rendered Poliwrath's Poison Jab moot due to being part steel. Poliwrath's Poison Jab actually hit Cell right on his abdomen but still didn't do anything, much to Kenny's amusement as he saw Cell able to tank a hit to the shmeat.

Given that Poliwrath's other moves were Double Slap and Water Gun, there was hardly anything that Poliwrath could do to Cell, who ended up defeating Poliwrath with two Aerial Ace attacks.

...

After Kenny's victory against Chuck, the two reborn trainers went to the local Pokémon Center, where they called over to Olivine City to see if Jasmine was ready to accept their challenges to her gym yet. Using the video phone, Dawn and Kenny called the Pokémon Center that was local over in Olivine City, but to their surprise after they asked about Jasmine, the Olivine City Nurse Joy told the two of them to wait while she got a 'special guest' who could explain things regarding the situation that Jasmine now found herself in.

Further to the surprise of Dawn and Kenny, the 'special guest' turned out to be Lance, the Indigo League champion and someone they've become acquainted with quite a bit. "Ah, Champion Dawn, Dawn's friend Kenny," Lance greeted, "I was told you were asking about Jasmine." Lance let out a troubled sigh, which caught the attention of both Dawn and Kenny.

"Lance, what happened to Jasmine?" Dawn asked, instantly concerned.

The Indigo League champion merely shook his head. "...I'll explain in detail later, but let's just say that Jasmine is finding herself in some rather hot water right now."

"She's in trouble?" Kenny asked, "What did she do?"

"You guys are in Cianwood City right now, yes?" Lance asked, then after Dawn and Kenny both confirmed that they were, Lance went on, "I'll see you there shortly. Dragonite can fly fast, it'll be a few moments." Lance then ended the call.

Turning to look at Kenny, Dawn said, "Is... is Jasmine in some sort of trouble?"

"Hopefully Lance will be willing to fill us in when he gets here," Kenny replied as he and Dawn walked out of the Pokémon Center.

Lance's boasting of his Dragonite's flying speed wasn't him just putting on airs, as he landed in front of the Cianwood City Pokémon Center two minutes after he ended his call with Dawn and Kenny. He nodded his head to the reborn trainers before saying, "I wish that I had better news, but long story short is that Jasmine has not only been suspended as a gym leader, she may also very well lose her position permanently. As it stands, she is already facing some rather serious criminal charges."

Dawn and Kenny both went wide eyed with surprise. "Pardon the language Lance," Dawn began, her expression firm and serious, "But what the hell did Jasmine do?"

Lance called out two more Dragonite, saying, "We'll talk on the flight to Olivine City. The skies will give our conversation privacy." Dawn and Kenny, knowing that something serious was going on, both got onto a Dragonite before Lance got onto the one he initially rode to Cianwood City. The three of them then took off up into the air and, with Lance leading the way, flew in a straight line right for Olivine City.

"She collaborated with Team Scorn?!"

Lance nodded grimly in confirmation to Dawn's surprised exclamation. "As it turned out, there were no repairs being done to the Shining Lighthouse," Lance said, "Some members of Team Scorn, led by an admin of their organization, were hiding out there while waiting for a ship carrying loads of other Team Scorn members to arrive at the Olivine City port in the dead of night."

"So that's why Jasmine wouldn't let anyone into the Shining Lighthouse," Kenny said, "But wait, why did she collaborate with Team Scorn?"

Lance looked a bit grim as he explained, "They had apparently taken Jasmine's pet Ampharos as a hostage. The admin, according to some initial intel I got from Jasmine before she was taken to holding, carried a katana and implied that he'd use it on her Ampharos should she do anything that would screw him and his Team Scorn fellows over."

Dawn looked serious as she considered what Lance just said. "...The Team Scorn officer from the security footage from Ecruteak City's Tin Tower. He carried a katana."

"The Team Scorn admin who operated over in Olivine City might very well be that Team Scorn officer from said security footage," Lance replied, "We'll grill Jasmine for that when we question her upon getting back to Olivine City." Giving Dawn and Kenny a sympathetic look, Lance went on, "Given that Jasmine is facing some serious legal charges, she won't be able to accept challenges from either of you. The commission for the Indigo League has already sent a substitute gym leader to run the Olivine City gym until a more permanent solution can be found."

Kenny looked a bit bemused. "I'd say that I'm happy I can still try to earn the badge from the Olivine City gym, but this bomb of a news drop about Jasmine having collaborated with Team Scorn has taken the wind out of my sails."

Lance nodded grimly in agreement. "The news is rather shocking to me as well. It's also been a rather big shock to my cousin Clair, the gym leader in Blackthorn City. Clair and Jasmine had a bit of a strong friendship going apparently."

Dawn noted that Lance had brought up Clair ahead of time prior to Dawn and Kenny most likely finding out about her normally. "...Your cousin Clair is a gym leader, you say."

"She already knows about you and Kenny being here in Johto for your gym challenge tour," Lance said, "She's even planning on making your challenges to her something of a show. At least that's the general idea I got from her when I told her about you." Arching a wry eyebrow, Lance said, "With that being said, you guys ought to swing by Blackthorn City as part of your gym challenge tour."

"I had heard that there was a gym in Blackthorn City, but didn't know who the gym leader was until now," Dawn replied, "And there's also something else in Blackthorn City that I was hoping to take a look at anyway." The reborn trainer had a certain academy located in Blackthorn City that she wanted to see, where she and Kenny were going to ask some certain questions, as well as ask to see some certain people.

But that would have to wait until later. "So given that she's been found to have collaborated with Team Scorn, I suppose that Jasmine is going to be interrogated for what all she knows. How will said interrogation be conducted?"

"Jasmine is already being held at Olivine City's local police department," Lance began to explain, "We will help the Johto government sanctioned interrogator with drilling Jasmine for what all she can give us on Team Scorn."

Kenny looked confused by that. "We?"

"I meant Dawn and I," Lance began to clarify, "It would normally be just me, given that I'm the League Champion for Johto. But since the League Champion of a foreign region is here in Johto right now, I was hoping that she'd join me to help apply pressure to Jasmine, make her spill what all she has on Team Scorn faster."

Dawn was a bit surprised, given that she was being asked to take part in a police interrogation on someone confirmed to have collaborated with Team Scorn. Dawn was also still trying to get over the fact that Jasmine is the someone in question, lying to Dawn and Kenny in the process, in order to help Team Scorn with bringing more of their own into Olivine City. There was no telling how much further damage Team Scorn could do in Johto now, given that they had more men in the region.

As Dawn was thinking about this, Lance said, "Dawn, Kenny, look alive. We're about to reach Olivine City." Dawn and Kenny looked ahead and saw Olivine City approach in their field of view, the Shining Lighthouse being the first thing to grab their attention. The Shining Lighthouse, where loads of Team Scorn members including an Admin were secretly hiding out when Dawn and Kenny first got to Olvine City to look into challenging Jasmine.

A gym leader that Dawn and Kenny were never going to get to face off against.

Lance steered the Dragonite he was riding towards a police station, with the Dragonite that Dawn and Kenny were riding following along. As they all got closer, they could see a crowd of protesters already gathering around the police station. "They all believe that Jasmine ought to be let go," said Lance in mild sympathy, "They believe that since she was forced to act against her will, that she isn't truly guilty and ought to be excused more or less. Jasmine is quite popular in Olivine City, you see."

"Popular or not," Dawn said, "Coerced or not, Jasmine still collaborated with Team Scorn. Although given the fact that she WAS being forced to act as she did because her Ampharos was being held hostage, a deal ought to be considered for her based on what all she gives us."

"I was actually going to propose that exact same idea, Dawn," Lance said, a faint hint of a smile on his lips, as he, his trio of Dragonite, and the reborn trainers all proceeded to land near the Olivine City police station.

...

The trio of police officers trying to keep the protesters back were clearly struggling with the task. "Let Jasmine go!" one protester screamed, "She didn't do anything wrong!"

"She was found to have been collaborating with newly risen criminal elements here in Johto," the first police officer said, "Jasmine will be held and questioned on what-"

"Those bastards were holding her Ampharos hostage!" another protester shouted, cutting the first officer off in the process, "One of them reportedly even had a katana! How can Jasmine be to blame when the life of someone she cared about was clearly at risk?!"

As the police officers were looking lost on what to do there, they were relieved when they and everyone else heard the whooshing sounds of air flying around as multiple flying Pokémon were all landing. They all turned to see that it was Lance, his three Dragonite, Dawn, and Kenny, although the reborn trainers were unknown to the Olivine City citizens who were all protesting for the release of their city's local gym leader.

After recalling his Dragonites, Lance said, "Everyone please step aside! My guests here and I need to get through to help out here!"

"Thank goodness that Lance is here!" one female protester in the crowd called out, "He'll get the police to release Jasmine and leave her alone!"

Lance, looking firm and serious, replied, "Actually, I'm here to assist the police in questioning Jasmine on what she knows. The lawfully submitted evidence has provided the OCPD more than enough cause to-"

"Traitor!" a different female protester shouted at Lance, right before someone tried throwing some manner of warm, half eaten pastry at Lance, who skillfully caught it with his right hand. By that time, enough police officers came out to permit Lance and the reborn trainers safe passage into the station, blocking off all of the protesters who were now turning hostile towards even the champion of their region's league.

As they were being escorted into the station, Kenny asked, "Hey, what does-"

"Olivine City Police Department," Dawn said, with Lance nodding in confirmation.

Shrugging as he nodded along, Kenny remarked, "Fair enough."

Inside the front lobby of the Olivine City Police Department, Dawn and Kenny looked out a window to see the officers still outside still trying to get the crowd of protesters to disperse. "Wow, those folks out there must really love Jasmine," Kenny said, "I bet that most of them are still in denial over the fact that their local gym leader and apparent beloved idol is in legal trouble now."

"You've got to see things from their point of view," Lance said as he wiped off his hand with a hand towel provided to him, "Many cities here in Johto, and I bet the idea is well versed in cities in other regions, view their local gym leaders as important figures to rally behind. A city's gym leader is a symbol of the city's pride. As such, citizens living in a city with a gym tend to be protective of their city's gym leader."

"And given that Jasmine's essentially done as a gym leader now," Dawn went on, understanding where this was going, "It'll make Olivine City look bad compared to the rest of Johto. That might be why those protesters were so quick to turn even on you Lance, despite how you're the champion of the Pokémon League responsible over Johto."

Lance nodded grimly in agreement with Dawn's reasoning, then turned to look at Kenny. "I had said originally that it'd be me and Dawn with Jasmine, Kenny, in case you were feeling fresh and confident enough to try challenging the substitute gym leader running the Olivine City gym right now. But given the situation outside of the police station, I think it'd be best to avoid trying to take on the Olivine City gym right now."

Kenny gave the Indigo League champion a single agreeing nod. "Assuming that the substitute gym leader over at the Olivine City gym uses steel type Pokémon same as what I've heard Jasmine uses, I was going to want to rotate my party a bit before taking it on. That, and the time of day when the three of us got here, means I'd have to put off giving the Olivine City gym the business until at least tomorrow morning."

Nodding in understanding, Lance replied, "That's fair. And the substitute gym leader for the Olivine City gym will indeed use steel type Pokémon, like what Jasmine uses. The commission for the Indigo League wanted to try to maintain as much normalcy here in Olivine City as possible, so they sent a substitute gym leader who specializes in steel type Pokémon. He will hand out the Mineral Badge to challengers who defeat him, same as Jasmine did."

"The substitute gym leader is a dude, huh?" Kenny remarked, "Fair enough. So do I wait outside while you and Dawn grill Jasmine, or will you guys want me to come in and help?"

"It will just be me and Dawn," Lance answered, "You'll have to wait out here."

Kenny nodded in understanding. "Depending on how long you guys take, by the time you get back out here, you might find me having fallen asleep."

"That wouldn't surprise me," Dawn said dryly as she turned around with Lance and followed him and an officer deeper into the OCPD building.

The reborn trainer was going to help get everything out of Jasmine that she knew about Team Scorn. If they were able to get any information at all out of Jasmine that would be of any help in preventing Team Scorn from carrying out even just one of their schemes, then it would save the people of Johto a whole lot of trouble in the long run. Dawn was banking on that, banking on getting something out of Jasmine, or enough somethings, that could be used as leverage to help argue down Jasmine's inevitable sentence as much as possible.

It could very well mean the difference between saving Johto from having to suffer some unneeded tragedy, or dooming it to suffer said tragedy.

END, CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE

Author's notes;

This chapter sees Dawn and Kenny get their fifth Johto gym badges each from Chuck, right before having to zoom right back over to Olivine City with Lance because Jasmine's secret working with Team Scorn had been uncovered and reported. Jasmine will be providing Dawn and Lance with all that she knows about Team Scorn, including one or two bits that will give those who are all fighting against Team Scorn advance warning on a few upcoming Team Scorn schemes. See you all later.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Leni (female Lucario), Pigeon (male Chatot), Vegeta (male Aipom), Nobunaga (male Togekiss), Tsukune (Palkia)

Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Hisoka (male Mr. Mime), Godzilla (male Pupitar), Shallot (male Glaceon), Roshi (male Torterra), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Black (Giratina)