Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter Eighty-two: Mahogany Rage, part two
While Kenny, Ideku, Lance, and Pryce were off fighting the other Team Scorn members at the Lake of Rage, Dawn was keeping an eye on the two Team Scorn grunts that were captured. The pair of grunts included Crow, who was identified as the Captain's Assistant that serves the Team Scorn Captain running the scheme at the Lake of Rage. Dawn was intending to make Crow and the other Team Scorn grunt spill what they know about their organization's scheme at the Lake of Rage.
"Alright, talk," Dawn demanded, "Why the hell are you guys here at the Lake of Rage? You claim that you aren't after any Pokémon, but also that Lance's shiny Gyarados is connected. What is it that you guys are after here?"
"We're looking for a certain treasure that we heard of through hearsay," Crow said in a pained tone, still in the same fetal position he dropped to after Kenny's recently caught Sentret, Pixeldip, used Slash on his (Crow's) lower horn. Letting out a mildly gasping grunt of pain, Crow said, "A treasure that according to said hearsay came from Lance's Gyarados. The Red Scale."
Dawn's memory was stirred by the defeated Captain's Assistant words; the Red Scale was a key item from the video games in Dawn's previous life. But it served little purpose beyond helping to get an Exp. Share in the older games (it's been a while so Dawn's memory might be a bit fuzzy there). "What do you want the Red Scale for?" Dawn said.
"We have no clue what it's going to be used for," the nameless grunt admitted, "Not even Captain Jack knows why we were sent after it despite how he's the one leading the mission here. All that we know is that the Red Scale is supposedly at the Lake of Rage, and that Admin Brother told Captain Jack to find it for him."
"I proposed to Jack," Crow added, "That it'd be easier for us to track down Lance and gang up on him. Overwhelm him with our sheer numbers so we can just take what we need from him, that being a scale from his red Gyarados."
Dawn looked firmly at the captured Team Scorn grunts. "Your Captain Jack seems to not have a full hand when it comes to thinking things through."
"Oh, he's always been like that," Crow said conversationally, "I should know as he and I go way back to before we joined Team Scorn. My guess is that he wants to rise up through the ranks quickly, and is frustrated both by his position and what he views as a lack of progress."
The reborn trainer pressed in the direction of Jack's frustrations. "Lack of progress and displeasure with his position."
Crow nodded in the affirmative. "Jack's the Fourth Captain of Team Scorn's Katana Sector. That's the last of the four captaincy spots, as each sector of Team Scorn has four captains and one admin."
Dawn nodded in understanding, given that she just learned that there's four captains total in a Team Scorn sector. She also learned that Jack is the Fourth Captain of the Katana Sector; given that Alan's the Third Captain and Zed's the Second Captain, by deduction that should mean that Quaid is the First Captain. And all four of them answer to Admin Brother, the leader of Team Scorn's Katana Sector. By decudtion, there should also be four Captain's Assistants and one Admin's Assistant in Team Scorn's Katana Sector.
Wanting to know more, Dawn asked, "How many different sectors of Team Scorn are there in the Johto region right now?"
"Just us Katana Sector personnel," the nameless grunt said, "But then again I heard it from Admin Brother that the other three sectors of Team Scorn are busy elsewhere."
Dawn's eyes widened a bit in surprise. There's a combined four different sectors of Team Scorn; doing the math, that means there's four each of Admins and Admin's Assistants, and sixteen each of Captains and Captain's Assistants. That's a lot of notable names to learn and write down. "You guys sure have a large organization," Dawn said evenly, "Just the combined sixteen Captains alone would be enough to-"
"Actually," Crow said, "Two of the Captaincy spots in Team Scorn's Kunai Sector are empty. They only have First and Second Captains, and one Assistant per Captain."
"The Kunai Sector, you say," Dawn said.
Crow gave as much of a nod as he could, given the pain he was in. "Yeah, their officers are being stretched thin in their work over in the Hoenn region."
"At least the officers in the Kunai Sector all have their prerequisite assistants," the nameless grunt said, "The admin of the Longsword Sector which is currently operating in the Unova region doesn't have an Admin's Assistant, so he often has to deal with work alone."
Dawn was learning a lot, having a decent idea on how the other Team Scorn sectors are looking right now. She also knows that the Hoenn and Unova regions at least are in danger, and resolved to let the others know as soon as the conflict here at the Lake of Rage was settled. Dawn especially wanted to check up on Unova, given that Ash is there right now, collecting badges in his go through the Unova gym challenge.
But knowing him, Ash is easily beating back any and all Team Scorn members he comes across, assuming he's come across any. This is Ash Ketchum that they're talking about here; yet another reason why Team Scorn better think twice before trying to pull anything.
...
Out where the battling was going on, Kenny and Ideku had teamed up to confront a pair of male Team Scorn grunts. "You would-be heroes won't get away with this!" the first grunt said as he sent out a Raticate, "You two will go down here and now!"
"Exactly!" the second grunt said after sending out a Furret, "You two will be nothing more than stepping stones to make Team Scorn look good!"
Kenny scoffed in annoyance, sending out his shiny Sandslash Elay. "I'd like to see you idiots try to overcome the power of cringe."
"Go Meganie!" Ideku said, sending out his Meganium in the process. Gesturing forward, Ideku said, "Meganie, use Reflect!"
"Elay, use Slash on Furret!" Kenny ordered.
"Furret, use Tackle on Meganium!" the second grunt said.
"Raticate, use Tackle on Sandslash!" the first grunt said.
Elay was the first to go, striking at Furret with a solid Slash attack that knocked the villainous team member's Pokémon out in one strike that was clearly a critical hit. Meganie was next to go, conjuring a glowing barrier that covered both himself and Elay. Raticate went on to strike at Elay, but the Tackle did very little due to Meganie's Reflect. The second grunt recalled his Furret and sent out a Spinarak in its place.
"Meganie, use Ancientpower on Spinarak!" Ideku ordered.
"Elay, use Slash on Raticate!" Kenny commanded.
"Spinarak, use Poison Sting on Meganium!" the second grunt called out.
"Raticate, use Tackle on Sandslash!" the first grunt said.
Raticate and Sandslash rushed one another, but Sandslash was faster and struck Raticate with a Slash that, like the first one, scored a crit and knocked out the target. As for Spinarak, it was in the middle of willing up its Poison Sting attack when Meganie conjured its Ancientpower attack and cast it at Spinarak, knocking it out in one go. The two grunts recalled their defeated Pokémon, and the first one sent out a Zubat.
Not that it mattered as one Slash from Elay took it out. Both of the grunts, now out of Pokémon, turned tail and ran after the first grunt recalled his Zubat. "There's an estimated twenty plus Team Scorn members here at the Lake of Rage," Kenny said, "We only took out two."
"And Dawn's guarding the ones we captured and took hostage," Ideku pointed out, "So there's four out of twenty plus."
"Well at least Lance and Pryce are helping with the fight against Team Scorn as well," Kenny said, "That ought to help speed up the process, especially since Lance is a champion."
...
Lance, with Pryce at his side, confronted Team Scorn Captain Jack, who was joined by a female grunt working under him. "So you must be Captain Jack," Pryce said firmly, his gaze on the Team Scorn officer at the Lake of Rage.
"What I would like to know is where the bloody hell is Crow at," Jack scowled, "He ought to be here to back me up, instead of leaving me to grab the first available member of the rank and file to do the job instead."
"We captured your Captain's Assistant and one other follower," Lance said, "Capturing that Crow guy was easy as Kenny's Sentret used Slash on Crow's wing-dang-doodle after Crow had unknowingly urinated on it when it snuck up to him through the bushes."
Jack had to snort back a laugh before he said, "As much as I wish I had been there to see it, that doesn't change the fact that I have to bail out the sorry asses of Crow and the other rank and file you would-be hero lot had captured." Tossing up a pokéball, Jack said, "Go Gyarados!"
"Go Zubat!" the female grunt said as she sent out a Zubat.
"Piloswine, I choose you!" Pryce said as he sent his Piloswine out.
Lance eyed Jack and his Gyarados with consideration before tossing up a pokéball while calling out, "Gyarados, I choose you!" Coming out into battle was Lance's Gyarados, which was red and it sparkled upon coming out due to being shiny.
Jack went a tad wide eyed with mild surprise as he saw Lance's Gyarados. "...Perhaps Crow wasn't being as much of a birdbrain as I thought that he was being." Gesturing forward, Jack called out, "Gyarados, use Crunch on the enemy Gyarados!"
"Zubat, use Wing Attack on the enemy Gyarados!" the female grunt called out.
Lance scowled out of a mix of annoyance and expectation. "Ganging up on me, ehh? Let me show you why that won't work! You're dealing with the champion of the Indigo League here!" Gesturing forward, Lance called out, "Gyarados, use Ice Fang on the enemy Gyarados!"
"Piloswine, use Ice Shard on Zubat!" Pryce called out.
Due to it being a priority move, Piloswine's Ice Shard was quickly conjured and cast at Zubat, hitting it and knocking it out before it even got close to attacking Lance's Gyarados. Speaking of, the other part of that battle turn saw two Gyarados, one blue and one red, lunge at one another with their maws opened wide. Jack's normal blue Gyarados bit down on the right side of Lance's shiny red Gyarados with white glowing teeth, dealing a fair hit that left a mark.
But Lance's Gyarados bit back with long fangs coated in ice, that biting attack being enough to knock Jack's Gyarados out. The power of a League Champion and his Pokémon. Jack and the female grunt recalled their respective defeated Pokémon, although Jack did take note of how, on the mark left on Lance's Gyarados by his own Gyarados, one of the red Gyarados's scales was wiggling a bit, having been loosened. The scale was still attached, but it looked like one solid hit aimed at it could finish the job of tearing it loose.
Tossing up another pokéball, Jack said, "Go Sharpedo!" Coming out was Jack's next Pokémon, which was a Sharpedo.
"Go Drowzee!" the female grunt said as she sent out her Drowzee.
Gesturing forward, Lance said, "Gyarados, use Giga Impact on Sharpedo!"
"Piloswine, use Tackle on Drowzee!" Pryce called out.
"Drowzee, use Protect!" the female grunt called out.
"Sharpedo, use Aqua Jet on Gyarados!" Jack called out, "Aim for the Gyarados's injured mark!"
Lance was surprised by Jack specifying to his Sharpedo to aim for the injury mark on Gyarados, but that didn't stop the battle from going on. Drowzee conjured a protective dome that ended up blocking Piloswine's Tackle, right as Sharpedo rushed forward in a cloak of water and, seemingly with pinpoint precision, struck Lance's Gyarados on the injury mark left by Jack's own Gyarados. As a result, the wiggling scale on Lance's Gyarados was knocked slash pulled loose off of it.
That didn't stop Lance's Gyarados from rushing Sharpedo while cloaked in energy, ramming right into Sharpedo and knocking it out. Seeing Jack's Sharpedo lay in defeat, Lance with a confident look on his face said, "Try all the dirty tricks you want, but villainous criminals like you will never be able to overcome those on the side of jus-"
"Drowzee, use Psychic to levitate that scale over to me!" the female grunt called out, cutting Lance off and surprising both him and Pryce.
The Drowzee's eyes glowed with psychic power, right before said power surrounded the scale that was knocked slash torn loose off of Lance's Gyarados just now. The scale then floated up a few feet off of the ground before it flew in a straight line right at the female grunt, who grabbed it and turned around to run after she recalled her Drowzee, loudly saying, "I'll turn it over to you when were safely back at base, Captain Jack!"
"Good call!" Jack replied before recalling his fainted Sharpedo. Looking at Lance and Pryce, Jack said, "It seems that Crow's idea for an alternative way to complete the mission assigned to me by Admin Brother was valid after all."
"You guys wanted a scale from my Gyarados?" Lance said, half demanding and half confused.
"Admin Brother assigned to me to lead the mission here at the Lake of Rage to look for a rumored treasure that came from the red Gyarados that you ended up capturing, Champion Lance," Jack said, "A treasure called the Red Scale. We weren't able to find the Red Scale that was rumored to be here before you and the other would-be heroes showed up, but thanks to you coming here, we were able to acquire a Red Scale anyway by tearing one off of that red Gyarados of yours."
Lance scowled bitterly, realizing that he had unknowingly brought to Team Scorn what they were looking for at the Lake of Rage on a silver platter. Jack then quickly turned around and ran away, calling out for all of his men to fall back from the Lake of Rage as their mission there had just been completed successfully.
...
Even though she found herself confronted by three Team Scorn grunts, Dawn was more than able to fight them off, letting Chi-Chi, Argent, and Dende deal with them. "Lance isn't the only League Champion that's here at the Lake of Rage," Dawn said to the Team Scorn grunts, "I am the champion of Sinnoh, and I'll be giving you a taste of the power I had used to-"
"We rescued the men that were being held!" a female voice called out behind Dawn, making her turn to see that Crow and the nameless grunt were being carried away by two female Team Scorn grunts.
The ones fighting Dawn saw that, recalled their combined three Ratatta, then all of them ran off. "Damn it," Dawn scowled, "I let them distract me." Even though she did get a fair bit of information out of Crow and the nameless grunt, Dawn was hoping to keep a hold on both of them so that the law in Johto could take a crack at them. After all of the Team Scorn grunts had all ran away, Dawn recalled her fire Pokémon right before she was met up by Kenny and Ideku.
"Those grunts distracted me so they could rescue their fellows that we captured," Dawn said, sounding unamused with herself.
"Their numbers were a bit overwhelming for the combined five of us who came here to the Lake of Rage to confront them," Ideku pointed out, "It would have been better if, after confirming what all numbers we were dealing with, we snuck away and got as much backup as possible."
Kenny gently shook his head. "...No, it's my fault ultimately. I wasn't able to get Pixeldip to not try sneaking up on those guys, and him getting pissed on by that Crow fellow pissed him off and made him jump out and attack. That blew our cover."
"That incident led to us being able to capture Crow and his fellow," Dawn pointed out, "Our cover being blown was an unfortunate side effect." As the young trainers talked, they were met up by Lance and Pryce.
Lance saw that there were no Team Scorn members in the area period. "They rescued their fellows we had captured," Lance noted.
"They distracted me and carried their allies away," Dawn confirmed, sounding disappointed with how she had messed up.
Lance was very understanding, however. "They had a numbers advantage, so they were easily able to distract you with battle while a few others snuck around to rescue their allies. If anything, the screw up here is my fault."
Gesturing to Lance, Pryce explained to the others, "It turns out that Team Scorn was after something called the Red Scale, a scale that had supposedly come off of Lance's shiny Gyarados while it was still a wild Pokémon. Those hoodlums were able to take a Red Scale off of Lance's shiny Gyarados when he and I fought that Captain Jack fellow. They then grabbed the scale and ran off, citing their mission here at the Lake of Rage as a success."
Dawn scowled, bitterly over how they had ultimately failed to stop Team Scorn from successfully completing their mission at the Lake of Rage. Feeling defeated, Dawn and the others all went back to Mahogany Town to recuperate from the battles they had fought.
Later in Mahogany Town, as Dawn and the others had their Pokémon looked at over at the local Pokémon Center, Lance said, "As soon as my Pokémon are done being treated, I'm heading straight to Blackthorn City."
"Oh yeah," Dawn remarked, "The other mentioned Team Scorn scheme is set to go off in Blackthorn City.
Ideku suddenly perked up upon hearing what Dawn said. "There's going to be a Team Scorn scheme going off in Blackthorn City?"
Lance turned to look at Ideku. "Yes, we got intel telling us that there was going to be Team Scorn activity in the Mahogany Town and Blackthorn City areas. We just finished dealing with what was set to happen here in the area of Mahogany Town as it connects to the Lake of Rage." Lance gave a single nod. "Now there's only whatever terrible scheme Team Scorn has cooked up for Blackthorn City left to try to stop."
Dawn took note of how Ideku seemed pretty keen on going to Blackthorn City. "Is there something over in Blackthorn City you're worried about, Ideku?"
"...More like someone," Ideku relented, "But yeah."
"Young man, you can rest easy," Pryce said to the roaming trainer, "Not only will Lance be heading to Blackthorn City, but his cousin Clair is already there given that she's the gym leader in Blackthorn City. Clair is a skilled and strong trainer in her own right. Whoever it is that you're worried about in Blackthorn City will still be safe by the time you get there after the festival tomorrow."
"Festival tomorrow?" Kenny said questioningly.
Pryce nodded in confirmation. "Tomorrow will be the start of a town wide festival here in Mahogany Town. There will be stalls selling food and souvenirs, game stalls to have fun at, music, dancing, and all manner of what else you can normally expect to be at a festival." To Ideku and the reborn trainers, Pryce said, "You young ones ought to take time to unwind after the effort you all gave over at the Lake of Rage to confront Team Scorn."
"Dawn and I still need to challenge you at your gym," Kenny added.
That drew a bark of laughter from Pryce. "That completely slipped my mind! Yeah, I can take a challenge from one of you starting at eight tomorrow morning. After the battle, we can all have a bit of fun at the festival while our Pokémon rest at the Center, then later after my Pokémon are healed I can either take a challenge from the other one between you two or have a rematch with the first one if I won the first battle."
The mood began to lighten for the heroes from the previous gloomy air that had been cast due to their failure at the Lake of Rage from keeping Team Scorn from succeeding in their scheme. Dawn and Kenny still had the chance to earn badges from Pryce's gym, and there was also the promise of good times at a festival that would be taking place tomorrow. So for now, the heroes had to make do with the hand that they were dealt.
At an undisclosed location owned and operated by Team Scorn, Captain Jack came walking out of a medical treatment room, being met up by the female grunt who was with him at the Lake of Rage, with Admin Brother and his assistant Akari following along behind. Upon seeing the Admin that he answers to, Jack immediately saluted him, with Brother holding up a hand in a gesture for Jack to be at ease, letting the Fourth Captain relax.
"She gave me the details," Brother said to Jack while gesturing to the female grunt, "Although it's not technically the one that was rumored to be at the Lake of Rage, the Red Scale you got after you had knocked a scale loose off of Lance's Gyarados is just as good. Consider your mission at the Lake of Rage a success, Captain Jack."
Jack nodded his head once to Brother in a gesture of respect. "Thank you, sir."
"I know I was supposed to give the Red Scale to you when we all got back to base, Captain Jack," the nameless female grunt said, "But I ran into Admin Brother by chance first, so I turned the Red Scale over to him directly."
"That's just as good if not better," Jack assured his grunt. To Brother, Jack said, "Sir, Crow was attacked by a Pokémon at the Lake of Rage, a Sentret belonging to a would-be hero. According to the report I got on the matter, Crow was relieving himself in some bushes, accidentally hit the Sentret with some golden shower, and then the Sentret leapt out of the bushes and used Slash on Crow's manhood. Nothing was cut off, but Crow just finished getting stitches and he'll be out of commission for a week according to the medic team."
Brother arched a wry eyebrow at Jack. "...Your Captain's Assistant... was struck in his manhood by a trainer's Sentret." Gently shaking his head, Brother said, "Yeah, I was going to grant some R&R time to you and Crow as part of the reward for successfully completing the mission at the Lake of Rage. It does seem to be kind of a shame that Crow will have to spend the week that I was going to grant recuperating, though."
"What about the mission in Blackthorn City, sir?" Jack asked.
Brother turned his attention back to Jack. "The job in Blackthorn City will be led by two Team Scorn officers of the Katana Sector, the first one being Captain Quaid."
Jack nodded in understanding. "Ah yes, First Captain Quaid. I can only assume that he's going to have that troublesome Captain's Assistant of his backing both him and whoever between Alan and Zed you also assign to the Blackthorn City mission."
To Jack's surprise, Brother gently shook his head. "I'm not assigning Alan or Zed to the mission in Blackthorn City to help Quaid. Especially not Zed given he failed both the mission in Azalea Town and the second mission to collect a Pokémon egg from the daycare center on Johto Route 34."
Jack can tell by the tone that Brother used when talking about Zed that the Admin in charge of the Katana Sector was unamused with the sector's Second Captain. Jack was particularly hoping that it would lead to Zed being demoted to Third Captain (seeing Alan promoted to Second Captain in the process), and due to Zed's overall incompetence it was highly likely that Jack, if he succeeded in more missions while Zed failed more, will be promoted to Third Captain while Zed gets demoted down to Fourth Captain.
However, Brother saying that neither Alan or Zed will be assigned to the Blackthorn City mission to help Quaid caught Jack's attention. "...Sir, you said that neither Alan or Zed will be helping Quaid on the Blackthorn City mission," Jack began, "Does this mean you're assigning me to it? I'll be needing a temporary Captain's Assistant if that's the-"
"No, Jack," Brother replied in an understanding tone, "You aren't the other officer aside from Quaid who will be on the Blackthorn City mission." Brother drew his katana out, held it in his right hand while resting the flat edge on his right shoulder. The Admin of Team Scorn's Katana Sector then jerked his left thumb to gesture to himself.
"I am."
END, CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
Author's notes;
This chapter concludes the action at the Lake of Rage, seeing the heroes ultimately fail to stop Team Scorn from completing their mission due to how Lance more or less handed to them what they were at the Lake of Rage looking for. Despite the defeat, spirits are raised with news of a town wide festival, as well as Dawn and Kenny now being free to challenge Pryce at his gym. Lance can't stay as he feels compelled to go straight to Blackthorn City, given that's where Team Scorn's other known plan is set to go off.
Speaking of Team Scorn and Blackthorn City, at a secret base of Team Scorn's somewhere, Admin Brother congratulates Jack for successfully completing the mission at the Lake of Rage, before revealing that the mission in Blackthorn City will have two officers from the Katana Sector leading the charge, those being First Captain Quaid and Admin Brother himself. The heroes will have a load on their hands to deal with when they fight against Team Scorn later. Keep your eyes peeled for how things will go down.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Leni (female Lucario), Argent (male Arcanine; Hisuian; alpha), Vegeta (male Aipom), Dende (male Magmortar), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Elay (male Sandslash; shiny), Godzilla (male Pupitar), Shallot (male Glaceon), Pixeldip (male Sentret), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Black (Giratina)