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-three: Festival Festivities
It was the morning following the failed attempt to keep Team Scorn from completing their mission at the Lake of Rage. Dawn and Kenny woke up in the bunk room at the Mahogany Town Pokémon Center, freshened up, got dressed, and began eating some breakfast after they had rotated their respective parties to best prep them for battling Pryce at his gym, although they didn't have to do all that much in that regard.
"You might wanna keep yourself to a light breakfast," Dawn said to Kenny, "The festival in town has already started according to the local news. You'll want to have some appetite for the food that'll be sold at the festival."
"Good idea," Kenny replied, "And it'll also give me a chance to have some fun with my Pokémon." After taking a sip from his drink, Kenny asked, "So how will we manage the battles against Pryce and having fun at the festival?"
"I'll go challenge Pryce at his gym, which should be open by the time I get there," Dawn said, "You on the other hand go enjoy the festival."
Kenny nodded in agreement to the plan. "Sounds legit. Oh, I heard that some of the stalls will give you a bonus if you show up with an ice Pokémon, given that Pryce uses ice Pokémon." Tossing up a pokéball to call out his Glaceon Shallot, Kenny said, "Hence why I'll be walking around with Shallot here. He's been in the cringe posse since the very early days, so he's gotta represent."
Dawn smiled at that. "Yeah, it sounds like you'll be having fun." The two reborn trainers finished their light breakfast before getting up and leaving the Pokémon Center. After walking outside, Dawn and Kenny turned to walk in different directions, Dawn heading towards the Mahogany Town gym, and Kenny heading towards the festival.
"Shallot, it's just you and me, my dude," Kenny said as he looked down at his named Glaceon, "We've got a festival to have fun at!"
"Glace!" Shallot cried out in eager excitement as trainer and Pokémon walked over to have some fun at the festival.
Over at the festival, a man was running a chocolate-coated banana stall. He was peacefully minding his own business when suddenly the sound of stuff falling down somewhere behind him made him jump out of surprise. Turning to look, it was just a pile of random stuff. "...Hang on," the stall runner said in a suspicious tone as he took a closer look at all of the random items, "What's all this random stuff doing here?"
Suddenly, the man saw something that caught his eye; a stick tied to a very long string. Following the string, the man eventually came to in front of his stall, saw the small footprints of what had to be a Pokémon (humans can't make footprints like that) in the dirt in fronts of his stall, then looked up and saw three empty spots that should have been occupied by some prepared chocolate-coated bananas. "Some trickster Pokémon stole from my stall!" the man exclaimed angrily.
It was this scene that Kenny and Shallot came across. Seeing the man repeatedly stomp his foot in frustration, Kenny asked, "You alright, sir?"
Turning to face Kenny, the man said, "No, some Pokémon stole three chocolate-coated bananas from this stall which I'm running. It must have been a sneaky and devious little bastard, given that it had set up a pile of stuff it made fall down and startle me by pulling a string tied to a stick, then used the time I was looking away to steal from my sta-"
*URRRP*
The man stopped short when he, Kenny, and Shallot all heard a small burp. Going to investigate, Kenny, the man, and Shallot soon entered a mini alleyway between all of the stalls. It was there that the three of them found, to their surprise, a shiny Sneasel, sitting on a small wooden crate as it ate a chocolate-coated banana. There were two bare sticks lying on the ground at the feet of the pink Sneasel, sticks that once held chocolate-coated bananas.
"Well it looks like your thief is a shiny Sneasel," Kenny said to the man. It was Kenny's speaking up that got the shiny Sneasel's attention. Looking over, it saw Kenny and the man, but it also saw Shallot. After quickly eating the last of the last chocolate-coated banana, the shiny Sneasel got up and began approaching the guys.
"Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised," the man remarked, "That Sneasel must be a wild Pokémon from the Ice Path. Every year during the festival, wild Pokémon tend to wander on into Mahogany Town due to smelling the wide variety of food available. Those wild Pokémon also tend to be more rambunctious, so this Sneasel simply stealing three chocolate-coated bananas by using a distraction is pretty tame. It's a bit of a surprise to see a shiny Pokémon, though."
Shrugging, Kenny said, "Meh, it's not as surprising as you'd think, but then again I speak from personal exper-WOAH!" Kenny suddenly stopped short when the shiny Sneasel began flirting with Shallot in a clearly (very) sultry manner. For his part, Shallot who was sitting was trying to lean away from the flirtatious pink Sneasel. Pointing at the wild Sneasel, Kenny said, "That Sneasel is being a thot towards Shallot!"
The shiny Sneasel caressed Shallot's face with its right hand as it spoke to the named Glaceon, clearly trying to entice him into joining for a good time. So focused was Sneasel on Shallot that both Pokémon failed to hear another Pokémon come out of its ball. Suddenly, Sneasel's right wrist was grabbed, and the shiny Pokémon found itself being hoisted up by its right arm. Soon, Sneasel was face to face with a very angry looking alpha Hisuian Lilligant, that being Priestess.
Before the shiny Sneasel could try anything, Priestess pulled her right fist (she grabbed Sneasel with her left hand) back as it glowed with the use of Drain Punch, then she slugged the Sneasel in the gut with Drain Punch, hitting hard enough to knock Sneasel out. Priestess then dropped the knocked out Sneasel on the ground unceremoniously. Seeing Shallot breathe a sigh of relief had confirmed to Priestess that Shallot was merely a harassment victim of the thot who she defeated.
Looking down at the knocked out Sneasel, Kenny shrugged and said, "Why not?" Kenny took off his bag and searched through it for empty pokéballs. Kenny found them and, upon noticing that he still had all of the apricorn pokéballs that Kurt made for him, decided that now would be a good time to take one for a spin. Selecting a Love Ball, Kenny expanded it and threw it at Sneasel, who was taken into the Love Ball which then fell to the ground softly and shook for a bit before it had made a ping sound, indicating capture.
Picking up the Love Ball that held his newly caught shiny Sneasel, Kenny scanned it with his pokédex to get the general info on the Sneasel. "Hey, it's a girl!" Kenny remarked, "That makes her the second girl Pokémon that I caught! It also explains why she wanted to mack a bit on Shallot." Hearing that bit from her and Shallot's trainer, Priestess held Shallot close to her, clearly intent on not sharing Shallot with any other girl Pokémon.
"Well since that shiny Sneasel is your Pokémon now, if she steals from my stall again I can just charge you," the man said to Kenny.
"No need to worry, I won't let my Pokémon steal anything from anyone," Kenny replied, "I'll even compensate you for the chocolate-coated bananas that Sneasel stole before I caught her. Oh, she needs a name!" Kenny then wore a look of consideration on his face as he thought about what to name his shiny Sneasel. "...She's mostly pink... has a thing for sweets if her stealing chocolate-coated bananas is any indication... she acts like a thot... AHA! I got it!" Looking at the Love Ball that held Sneasel, Kenny said, "I shall name you Andriod 21!"
Later, Dawn was walking around the festival, having soundly won her challenge against Pryce at the Mahogany Town gym. With Chi-Chi walking at her side, Dawn looked at the Glacier Badge that she had earned. "We ought to catch up with Kenny and have him wait for Pryce to meet us here at the festival," Dawn said to her named Infernape, "Pryce wants to enjoy some of the festival with us, so we ought to afford him some courtesy in that rega-"
"Hey, that boy over there has a shiny Sneasel!" a random woman was heard calling out, catching Dawn's attention.
"A shiny Sneasel?" Dawn said after securely putting her seventh Johto gym badge away. The reborn trainer then rushed over to see the supposed shiny Sneasel, with Chi-Chi following after her. Upon reaching a crowd of people gathered around, Dawn was able to peak through the crowd and, sure enough, saw a shiny Sneasel; the length of its lone feather in the one ear indicated to Dawn that it is a female Sneasel. Seeing a shiny Pokémon is always a surprise.
However, upon seeing that the trainer who had the shiny Sneasel is Kenny, the surprise that Dawn felt was greatly lowered. "Kenny!" Dawn called out, catching Kenny's attention. Upon seeing Dawn in the crowd, Kenny was able to have her let through to join him. Gesturing to the shiny Sneasel, Dawn said, "Did you really catch this shiny Sneasel?"
"You mean Android 21? Yeah, I caught her," Kenny replied, "Used one of the three Love Balls from the compliment of three each of the magic apricorn pokéballs Kurt made for me to catch her."
Gently holding a hand to her face, Dawn said, "This makes four different shiny Pokémon under your ownership right now, Kenny. What, are y-"
"He owns four different shiny Pokémon?!" one man in the crowd exclaimed, "Holy geez! He's one lucky kid!" The crowd of persons were clamoring to see Kenny's other shiny Pokémon, but he called back Android 21 and quickly left with Dawn, needing to get away from the folks clamoring to see so many rare Pokémon.
...
"So Chi-Chi won you the Glacier Badge single-handedly, ehh?" Kenny said as he and Dawn ate some jumbo soft pretzels from a stand; Kenny got a standard one and Dawn got some cinnamon sugar coated variant.
"Pryce's only Pokémon are Dewgong and Piloswine," Dawn said, "One dual water ice and the other dual ice ground."
"That gives me ideas on what to expect, thanks," Kenny replied. Leaning back in his seat, Kenny went on, "You think I can wind up catching two more shiny Pokémon? Have an entire party?"
Dawn gave Kenny a wry look. "You aren't aiming to become a shiny hunter, are you?"
Shrugging, Kenny replied, "Well if the shoe fits." A few minutes later, the reborn trainers were met up by Pryce, who said he had just dropped his Pokémon off at the local Pokémon Center to be taken care of so that they will be ready for when Kenny comes challenging him later that evening.
"In the meantime," Pryce said, "I'm taking you young ones to go find the yakisoba stall that's always up whenever this festival happens. You haven't lived until you've had yakisoba served hot and fresh at this festival! It'll be my treat!"
"Sounds like a plan, sir," Dawn said as she and Kenny got up. After recalling Chi-Chi, Dawn asked, "Oh, I don't suppose you've seen Ideku around the festival, have you?"
Looking a bit resigned, Pryce replied, "Sadly, I believe he's rushed off to Blackthorn City anyway, despite my suggestion he take time to have fun at the festival." Shrugging, Pryce went on, "Oh well, his loss. Now, let's go find that yakisoba stall!" Dawn and Kenny, a bit sad that Ideku rushed off to Blackthorn City apparently, still went with Pryce to find the yakisoba stall.
The collective moods of the group went up when it turned out that Ideku didn't rush off to Blackthorn City after all, as he was sitting at an outdoor dining table next to the yakisoba stall, eating his own serving of yakisoba. Dawn, Kenny, and Pryce ended up joining Ideku with their own servings of yakisoba, letting all of them eat together.
Later in the late afternoon, Ideku broke off from the group, saying that he had his fill of festival fun and now intended to head straight to Blackthorn City. "I never got to enjoy festivals like this when I was growing up," Ideku said, "So I decided to take Mr. Pryce's idea to heart. Bought a small souvenir, played a few games, rode that tilt-a-whirl ride, brought and ate festival food. You know, get the full festival experience."
Dawn, remembering what Professor Elm told her and Kenny about Ideku, had a mildly sinking feeling about the reason why Ideku never got to enjoy festivals like the one going on right now as he was growing up. "Well so long as you had fun," Dawn said, "Oh, since you'll be heading to Blackthorn City, Kenny and I will be seeing you there soon as we'll be heading in that direction once we're done here in Mahogany Town."
Ideku nodded in the affirmative before turning around and tossing up a pokéball while he called out, "Dragoran!" The Pokémon that came out ended up being Ideku's Dragonite. Ideku got on, and then had Dragoran take off into the sky. Dawn, Kenny, and Pryce then saw Ideku fly into the horizon in the direction of Blackthorn City.
After the roaming trainer was out of sight, Pryce turned to look at Kenny. "Well now Kenny," Pryce began, "I do believe that you are to challenge me at my gym now? My Pokémon are rested and ready to give your Pokémon a tanning."
Kenny smirked at Pryce's challenging attitude, which was clearly Pryce being playful. "I've been ready since before I was born." Pryce laughed in sincere amusement at Kenny's attitude before the group all headed to the Mahogany Town gym so that Kenny and Pryce could have their battle. A fierce battle as it was, Kenny still proved to be triumphant in the end, using Cell and Godzilla to defeat Pryce's Dewgong and Piloswine, and without either Cell or Godzilla going down (Kenny did swap Pokémon out as needed, however).
With his own Glacier Badge, Kenny same as Dawn was now one Johto gym badge away from having eight. The two reborn trainers thanked Pryce for his time, then took off to the local Pokémon Center to rest a bit. Normally they'd rest the night then leave for Blackthorn City on foot first thing in the morning. But given that Team Scorn's other known scheme is set to go off in Blackthorn City, the reborn trainers decided to wait until the middle of the night, call out Tsukune and Black, then take off into the air and head straight to Blackthorn City.
Team Scorn had already succeeded on three separate occasions, one of which Dawn and Kenny were directly involved in trying to foil but failed. They can't afford to allow Team Scorn to succeed in any of their other schemes.
(FLASHBACK, UNKNOWN NUMBER OF YEARS AGO)
Long ago before he became an admin of Team Scorn, Admin Brother was a child of only eight years old when he sat seiza style in front of an older woman in her late sixties. Both Brother and the older woman were dressed in traditional kimonos appropriate for their respective genders. They sat facing one another in a large room at an elaborate mansion that had been built in the traditional Kantonian style, with a hint of old Hisuian style dashed in.
The older woman smiled gently, kindly, at the young boy whose ultimate destiny remained unknown to all parties there. "...Natsuki, my grandson," the older woman began, "The entirety of our family is in a peculiar spot right now."
Brother, his true given name revealed to be Natsuki, looked to the older woman who identified him as her grandson. "What do you mean, grandmother?" Natsuki asked, looking curious.
Gesturing to Natsuki, his grandmother explained, "You see, tradition in our family dictates that the duty of leading the whole family falls to the first born daughter. It has been that way for countless generations."
Natsuki nodded in understanding. "I know. Mother had explained that to me."
"As she should," Natsuki's grandmother said, "For your mother is my first born daughter. That makes her my heir to inherit leading the family. And as your mother's only daughter, your little sister Akari will follow in your mother's footsteps." Natsuki's grandmother sighed. "However, the diagnosis that your little sister got earlier today, although it explains why she's had trouble in her six years of life so far, makes her duties as one directly in line to lead our family difficult for her."
Natsuki perked up a bit. "Oh, you mean how Akari was diagnosed as autistic by the specialist that she was taken to see earlier this morning?"
Natsuki's grandmother nodded in the affirmative. "It's not a death sentence, and your little sister is just as sweet and dear to everyone as ever. But she will be needing help in her life, especially so when she one day takes over leading the family. That's where you come in." Pointing directly at the boy, Natsuki's grandmother explained, "You'll be assisting your little sister, helping her manage her way in life. This will, in a way, make you and Akari co-heads in leading our family one day."
The young boy nodded in understanding; he always helped with looking after Akari, although he not once ever felt burdened by that. And it made the most sense that he would be charged with being Akari's minder; she followed him around as much as she can anyway, and she always loved getting to play with his Pokémon. Natsuki nodded to his grandmother, both in understanding and accepting the task assigned to him.
...
Later at the smaller but still fairly large home (same style as the big one) where Natsuki lived with his immediate family, Natsuki sat on a patio outside in a backyard area with his mother, who looked like his grandmother save for having non-graying dark hair and not wearing glasses. Natsuki and his mother watched as a little Akari ran around the yard with an Oshawott, a Mareep, and a Mankey. The three Pokémon that her older brother owned.
"Why is Aunt Natsumi so upset with you, mother?" Natsuki asked.
Sighing, Natsuki's mother explained, "It's because of how, due to the way our entire family is structured, only members of the leading branch of the family get to enjoy the privilege that comes with being a large and wealthy family. Your Aunt Natsumi, who is my younger sister and your grandmother's second born daughter, ended up being made to fall into a side branch of the family, which means she has to pay tribute to the leading branch and sees little for herself."
Natsumi scowled, partly out of unamusement and partly out of confusion. "...That doesn't seem to be all that fair."
"I agree," Natsumi's mother said, an amused smile on her face due to being happy her son is showing promise, "Which is why I was planning on easing things up in that regard when leadership of our family is passed to me by your grandmother, either because she's no longer able to do her duties or if she passes. Although if it's the first case, I'll have to wait until your grandmother passes. She's a traditionalist and would blow her lid if she knew what I was up to."
Natsuki smiled as he looked up at his mother. "Your secret is safe with me, mother." The two then turned back to look at where Akari was in the yard, gently petting Natsuki's Mareep on the head. Natsuki's Mankey got her attention, got her to hold her hands out, then deposited a small handful of acorns into Akari's hands. Akari giggled cutely at Mankey's gesture, which got Mankey as well as Mareep and Oshawott to laugh as well.
...
(TWO YEARS LATER)
It was night time when Natsuki, now ten, was leading a crying Akari by the hand through their family's big estate, where they had been spending the night with the rest of their family's leading branch. The estate was on fire, having been attacked by assailants unknown. Akari was freaking out due how she and Natsuki had come across the murdered bodies of their mother and grandmother, not to mention the rest of the leading branch of their family.
This grimly meant that they were in charge of their entire extended family now. Assuming that they survived the attack on their family's estate tonight.
The two siblings rounded a corner, only to encounter a man with a lead pipe. "Oi, there you kids are," the man said, "Gotta kill you to finish the job. The client wants everyone in your family's leading branch killed, heh heh h-"
"Go Dewott!" Natsuki said, calling out his now Dewott, "Use Razor Shell!" The Dewott rushed forward and slashed at the man threatening its trainer and trainer's sister with Razor Shell, striking him and making him stumble back until he crashed through a window that took him outside, only letting him fall to the ground below from a second story window. Natsuki recalled Dewott and continued to flee with his little sister.
Even though it would have been quicker to simply flee immediately since they were on the ground floor when they were awoken by the sounds of the estate being attacked, Natsuki told Akari that there was one item that they couldn't afford to leave behind, and said item was on the second floor of the estate. After stepping around bits of shattered glass on the floor, Natsuki led his special needs little sister to a room near the end of the hall that they were in.
Natsuki rushed in with Akari, closing the door behind them. Natsuki even jammed the door with a chair to buy time, although that wasn't necessary as he knew where to find what he and Akari could not leave their family's now doomed estate without. The older brother rushed over to a wardrobe against the wall, opposite of the foot end of the bed in the room. Natsuki threw the doors of the wardrobe open and found what he was looking for.
A katana. It had a three foot blade and a six inch hilt, with a plain black circular hilt guard. The blade rested in a plain black scabbard. This was Natsuki's and Akari's grandfather's katana, made to his specifications when he commissioned it. Although he could have very easily afforded to get as elaborate and beautiful of a katana as possible, Natsuki's grandfather specifically wanted a katana that was as plain looking and unassuming as possible for a katana.
But what the heirloom blade lacked in looking flashy, it more than made up for in durability and ability to retain a keen edge. Natsuki's grandfather was a firm believer in the value of function over form, and he wanted his katana to reflect that. Natsuki took the katana from the wardrobe, pulled it out of its scabbard a bit; solid black, just like everything else about it.
Natsuki slid the katana back into its scabbard, slipped the scabbard into a loop in his belt (he fell asleep before changing into sleep clothes), then opened a window and had Akari follow him in climbing out onto the roof portion that was there below the window. Natsuki then called out his now Primeape and said, "Primeape, I need you to carry me and Akari on your back and leap off the roof here to get us to safety! Can you do it?"
Primeape turned around and gestured for its trainer to get on its back. Natsuki did so, and was able to convince Akari to join him. "Okay, we're both on!" Natsuki said, and without further prompting, Primeape leapt off of that roof portion and into the night, taking Natsuki and Akari with it.
...
(FLASHBACK OVER)
Natsuki awoke from his dream he had, a dream that replayed a part of his past. He woke up sitting at a desk in an office at a Team Scorn base located in an unknown location. Having woken up from a dream of the past and now awake in the present day, Brother looked around the office he had at the base.
There was the large desk he sat at, with two chairs in front of the desk, a very soft and plush black leather couch against one wall, a bookshelf along the wall opposite of the sofa, a single fake potted plant on the sofa's left (if you're facing it), a small side table on the sofa's right (again, if you're facing it), and finally a coffee table in front of the sofa.
Akari was laying on the sofa, having fallen asleep while waiting around for her brother to be ready. Brother paused for a moment as he looked at where his little sister had fallen asleep. Despite how Akari was now in her early teens (Brother is in his mid teens), Brother thought that Akari was being adorable. The Admin of Team Scorn's Katana Sector supposed that, in a way, Akari will always be that sweet little girl who ran around in the yard playing with his Pokémon.
Brother got up from his desk, stretched a bit, cracked his neck a little. He walked over to where Akari had fallen asleep, placed a hand on her right shoulder to gently shake her awake. She was a bit startled upon being awake, but immediately relaxed when she saw that it was just Brother, her admin and actual brother. "Sorry, Akari," Brother apologized, both his tone and expression sincere and gentle, "But I kind of need you to be awake. I'm about to call Quaid and his Captain's Assistant in so we can go over the mission in Blackthorn City."
Akari nodded in understanding before getting up from the sofa to stretch a bit before her big brother called in their sector's First Captain and the guy's Captain's Assistant. They would soon be discussing the plans for carrying out the mission in Blackthorn City, and they all needed to be up and at 'em for the discussion.
Especially so since it's going to be the Katana Sector's biggest job in the Johto region.
END, CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE
Author's notes;
This chapter sees Dawn and Kenny get a Glacier Badge each, as well as enjoy a festival in Mahogany Town with Pryce and Ideku before heading off for Blackthorn City; Kenny even caught a shiny new member for his cringe posse, although Priestess will be keeping an eye on the new girl. But it wasn't all fun, as there was also some backstory on Admin Brother of Team Scorn's Katana Sector, his real name revealed to be Natsuki, as well as talk of discussing how to go about the job in Blackthorn City. Stay tuned for more.
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) Android 21 (female Sneasel; shiny), Godzilla (male Pupitar), Shallot (male Glaceon), Priestess (female Liligant; Hisuian; alpha), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Black (Giratina)