Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter Ninety-four: Granite Cave conundrum
After waking up in the hotel room they got, Dawn and Kenny got freshened up, dressed, then headed down to the dining room area of the hotel, where the staff were inviting them to take part of the complementary breakfast buffet. Dawn and Kenny, in addition to being guests of Steven Stone the champion of Hoenn, were recognized as heroes who have fought against Team Scorn; their actions fighting against Team Scorn back in Blackthorn City, Johto, have made the news. Also, Dawn is the champion of Sinnoh; an important foreign figure ought to be shown respect.
As such, Dawn and Kenny were able to eat their fill. Dawn was about to inquire if she and Kenny could also arrange for their respective on-hand parties of Pokémon to be fed, but they were met up by Steven before Dawn could look into it. "So chief," Kenny began as he and Dawn talked to Steven, "What are we looking at in the Granite Cave situation?"
"There's a mining effort being done in Granite Cave," Steven began to explain, "As reports of rare stones and minerals, along with the occasional precious and semi-precious gems, were found over at Granite Cave in recent events. Enough to send a mining team to begin a full scale mining effort."
Dawn nodded along in understanding. "I can see why there'd be worry about Team Scorn trying to raise hell there. They would be after the treasures that are mined up, in the hopes of being able to make a mint." Dawn then had a look of considering concern on her face. "...Although..."
Kenny was able to pick up on what his friend and fellow reborn trainer was thinking about. "Yeah. When Team Scorn was acting up in Azalea Town over in Johto, they were in a prime position to take tails from the Slowpokes over there, given that Slowpoke tails apparently sell for a cool paycheck. But they were apparently only after the magic apricorn pokéballs that Kurt could make, and only took six Slowpoke tails because some grunts got the idea to do so."
"Well this time there's a lot more certainty that Team Scorn is behind the trouble here," Steven said, "There's literally nothing else of any consequence here on the island that could possibly be of any even remote interest to Team Scorn. The rare stones, as well as precious and semi-precious gems, that are being mined up over in Granite Cave are bound to be what Team Scorn is after."
Folding her arms over her chest, Dawn said, "We must also consider the possibility that someone other than Team Scorn is the party that's up to trouble here. Maybe another villainous organization like Team Rocket, or perhaps it's just at least one wild Pokémon."
Steven, holding a hand to his chin, wore a look of consideration on his face. "...That might very well be a possibility. As a matter of fact, Sableye can be found in the wild sometimes over in Granite Cave, and they're known to dig up rocks. It could be possible that at least one Sableye is behind the mess in Granite Cave, due to wanting the rare stones, precious and semi-precious gems, and other minerals being dug up."
"But we still can't dismiss the possibility that this is a Team Scorn scheme," Dawn remarked.
Steven nodded his head once in agreement, a solemn look on his face. "We need to be prepared for whatever may lay ahead of us over in Granite Cave," Steven said. After everyone talking was done eating, they got up and took off right for Granite Cave. They were prepared for the worst, but they're not going to go in guns ablazin'. Assuming that this did turn out to be a Team Scorn scheme, Dawn and the boys had to treat this as a stealth mission.
The mission would require that the heroes all show a certain level of finesse.
Later over in Granite Cave, Dawn and the boys were sneaking around so as to avoid catching the attention of potential Team Scorn members. They were also using glow sticks to illuminate the way for them. Although very potent compared to other more common brands of glow sticks, the ones that Dawn and the boys were using weren't as strong as high end flashlights. Furthermore, they can be lowered and ducked behind something to prevent people from noticing them.
"We're getting close to where the mining effort here in Granite Cave is located," Steven whispered to Dawn and Kenny as they followed behind him, "The wild Pokémon living here in Granite Cave tend to leave the mining effort alone, although some do wander over in the hopes that the miners will give them some food."
"Speaking of food," Dawn whispered back, "Don't wild Sableye eat the rocks that they dig up? What of there's dug up rare stones and other mined-up goods left behind, and a wild Sableye finds a pile of them and sees it as a free all you can eat buffet?"
Steven shuddered a bit, as if he couldn't help it. "...The idea of an awesome rare stone being eaten by a wild Pokémon fills me with dread, but if I have to choose between that and Team Scorn getting a hold of the goods to either sell in the black market or keep for themselves, then I'll choose letting a wild Pokémon eat the goods. At least it'll go to a good cause."
Kenny nodded in agreement. "I'm not into collecting stuff like that, but I do agree that between letting a Pokémon eat its fill or letting Team Scorn cash in a paycheck, the former is by far a much better cho-"
Kenny was cut off when Dawn, who peeked ahead at something that laid ahead, gestured for the boys to be quiet. "...There's movement ahead at some mining gear left behind," Dawn whispered to Kenny and Steven, "I don't think there's any human movement, but we ought to be careful either way." Kenny and Steven peeked ahead as well to see what Dawn had spotted, hoping that there's no danger for the time being.
Ahead of where the reborn trainers and Steven were hiding, they saw a number of wild Pokémon native to Granite Cave ahead. A few Aron were knocking over abandoned lunch boxes and trying to get them to open, some Zubats were perched on the handles of shovels and pickaxes left behind, and an Abra was sitting leaning back in the seat in the driver's compartment of a digging machine. Just wild Pokémon playing around in an area left behind by humans.
Steven smiled in mild amusement at the sight. "...It figures that the wild Pokémon living here in Granite Cave would wander over to the mining effort site and play around when humans aren't here trying to wor-"
"ARON!"
Steven and the reborn trainers perked up when they heard one of the wild Aron cry out. Looking over, the heroes saw the wild Arons fiddling with the abandoned lunch boxes standing protectively over said lunch boxes, as if they were chests filled with treasure, while all of them looked in the same direction. Listening closely in the direction that the wild Arons were growling in, Dawn and the boys could hear either someone or something approach.
The Arons acting up got the attention of the other wild Pokémon, who all looked in the direction that the Arons were looking in. After a few moments, something appeared in the shadowed distance, but a few more tense moments revealed that it was just a wild Sableye. It had its hands on its hips, with elbows pointed back, and it was slightly hunched forward as it walked. Sableye was clearly giving off vibes that it was confident and amused.
The Arons growled angrily at the Sableye as they tried protecting their proverbial treasure chests, although Sableye after looking at the Arons and seeing what it was that they were protecting clearly couldn't care less about what was in the lunch boxes. Sableye turned its attention to a wooden crate behind the digging machine the wild Abra was sitting in. Steven saw the wooden crate as well, and could tell what was in it.
"That wooden crate that the Sableye is heading towards contains the goods dug up by the mining effort here in Granite Cave," Steven said, "Sableye is probably going to bust the crate open to get at and eat some of what the miners have dug up!"
Dawn looked on ahead, a look of mild relief on her face. "...It's looking like that the trouble here at Granite Cave stems from that wild Sableye. I don't think that Team Scorn is involved here after all."
Kenny, similar to Dawn, was also relieved that there was no apparent Team Scorn activity going on in Granite Cave. Steven, however, was tense as he saw the Sableye go for the crate that held all of the goods dug up by the mining effort. "We have to stop that Sableye from opening that crate," said the champion of Hoenn, "If it does, then it'll dig in for a big mea-"
"HITA!"
Steven was cut off when he and the reborn trainers heard a wild Pokémon cry out over on the direction of the wild Sableye. Looking over, they saw it that a wild Makuhita quickly slid in front of the wooden crate to keep Sableye from getting to it. However, upon seeing the Makuhita, Steven and the reborn trainers were surprised by it, and for a very good reason.
"That's a shiny Makuhita!" Steven said, "Normal Makuhita have dark gray fists, and similarly colored bib like marks around their collarbone area, and the circle marks on their cheeks are a pale light pink. But shiny Makuhita like that one confronting the Sableye has rust red fists, bib mark, and cheek circles!"
Dawn turned to look at Kenny. "...You are NOT going to catch that shiny Makuhita, Kenny."
Kenny was surprised by the tone and expression Dawn was using. "...Why not?" Kenny asked, "I mean, it would put me at the full six I need to-"
"Because I'M going to catch it," Dawn said firmly, her tone brokering no quarter. Back in Dawn's previous life, the one shiny Pokémon she had gotten and raised in the video games, the one that she had really tried for, was a shiny Makuhita, which she had evolved into shiny Hariyama. It was the one shiny she honestly wanted, and there was one right there, ripe for the catching.
Kenny could tell Dawn was serious about this. "...Fair enough," Kenny said, "Just let me catch that Sableye. I'm getting vibes from it that it'll be a solid fit into my cringe posse." Carefully, Dawn and Kenny brought out Chi-Chi and Zarbon, then they snuck over to try to catch their respective targets.
...
Over where the wild Pokémon were playing around the mining effort, the others were all watching as Sableye was being told off by the shiny Makuhita. Although Sableye looked as if it couldn't care less about what the shiny Makuhita had to say; Sableye had a cocky, self amsued smirk on its face, and it felt more than ready to attack the shiny Makuhita if it kept on staying in the way between Sableye itself and the crate full of the cool (and tasty) rocks the humans had dug up.
Right as Sableye was about to jump at the shiny Makuhita, it and the other wild Pokémon heard a human call out, "Okay, let's call for a time out here!" Sableye and the shiny Makuhita turned and saw two humans, one male and one female, walk over while accompanied by one Pokémon each; these were Dawn, Kenny, Chi-Chi, and Zarbon. The other Pokémon in that area kept a cautious eye on the humans, especially the Abra in the digging machine, who ducked to hide behind the back of the seat in the digging machine.
Gesturing to the two arguing wild Pokémon, Dawn said, "From what I can tell, Makuhita here is trying to keep Sableye from getting to the crate. Would this be accurate to say, yes or no?" Nodding vigorously in agreement with Dawn, the shiny Makuhita cried out a bit in an agreeing tone before shifting to an accusatory tone while pointing to the Sableye.
Turning to look at the Sableye, Kenny said, "Sableye, bruh, you can't go prying open crates like that. The humans who left it here worked hard to gather up what all is in the crate, and you prying it open to help yourself to what's inside is no es bueno."
Sableye turned to look at Kenny, gave him a cocky, smug, amused look. "Sab Sab Sabl Sab Sab Sabl Sableye?" the wild Sableye said, holding its arms up at its sides.
"I'm not sure if you're trying to intimidate me, but if you are it's not working," Kenny said, "Because I find it difficult to be intimidated by a Pokémon who lacks nipples."
Sableye looked surprised by what Kenny said, looking down at its chest before looking back up. Next to Kenny, Zarbon the Machamp cried out in an upset tone, "Machamp champ Ma Machamp, Machamp champ champ?" The named Machamp then let out a somber cry before sitting down on a stack of wooden beams left behind by the humans working the mining effort, resting his face in the hands on his upper arms as he sat hunched over.
Looking between Kenny and Zarbon, Sableye said, "Sab Sab Sabl Sab Sableye Sab Sabl."
Looking from Zarbon to Sableye, Kenny said to the latter, "I'm not sure what you said, but your lack of nipples has made Zarbon both flaccid AND depressed." Kenny then folded his arms over his chest as he looked at Sableye. "I hope you're happy, you monster."
Dawn, Chi-Chi, and the wild shiny Makuhita just looked on at Kenny using the power of cringe in what Dawn thought was Kenny's attempt to confuse Sableye into submission. That actually ended up being the case as Sableye fell to its hands and knees in front of Kenny. Smiling mildly, Kenny said, "It'll be fine soon, Sableye. Say, I can always use more able hands in the cringe posse. What say to you joining up? You'll be provided with free room and board, and go with me as I seek out further adventure."
Looking up at Kenny, Sableye thought about it for a moment before ultimately nodding once in agreement. Kenny then took out one of the ten Luxury Balls he recieved as a reward back at Devon Corporation in Rustboro City, expanded it, and tossed it at Sableye. It was taken into the Luxury Ball, which then fell softly to the ground and shook for a bit because making a ping sound, indicating capture. Kenny smirked for a bit before picking up the ball that held his new Sableye.
Kenny took out his pokédex and used it to scan the ball that held his newly caught Sableye. "it's another dude joining the cringe posse, I see," Kenny said, "Very well." Looking at the ball that held his Sableye, Kenny said, "Imma be naming you Ban."
As Kenny held up Ban's ball while cheering in victory, Dawn and Chi-Chi turned to the shiny Makuhita. "...Similar to how my friend here caught the Sableye," Dawn said, getting Makuhita to turn to look up at her, "I'm going to be wanting to capture you." Makuhita seemed mildly amused at the notion, then proceeded to do some sumo stomps while crying out challengingly at Dawn, indicating that it wanted to tussle first.
At that prompting, Chi-Chi simply rushed forward, grabbed the shiny Makuhita by the back of its head, pulled it up easily, then slammed it down into the ground, stunning Makuhita. Given how the named Infernape snarled at the shiny Makuhita, Dawn thought that Chi-Chi was pissed because it seemed like Makuhita was trying to challenge Dawn herself, rather than be willing to face whatever Pokémon Dawn sent out against it.
Kneeling down, Dawn said to the shiny Makuhita, "You... weren't trying to challenge me directly, were you?" Makuhita, while in pain, gently shook its head in the negative, right before passing out. Dawn, despite how Chi-Chi misread the situation, took the opportunity to catch the shiny Makuhita either way. Taking out one of the Luxury Balls that she got, Dawn expanded it and threw it at Makuhita, who went into the Luxury Ball before it fell to the ground. After it had shook for a bit, the Luxury Ball made a ping sound, indicating capture.
Dawn then picked up the ball that held her new shiny Makuhita and used her pokédex to scan it. It was male, had a jolly nature and, to Dawn's surprise, the Sheer Force ability. "...Wow, that's pretty lucky," Dawn muttered to herself. Looking to the ball that held her shiny Makuhita, Dawn said, "I'm going to name you Zatch." After Dawn and Kenny had seen their respective catches be sent away to Oak's lab, Steven came over to them.
"Are the goods mined up by the mining effort safe?" Steven asked.
"Oh yeah," Kenny replied, "I got Ban to join the cringe posse before he could have popped the crate open." Turning to look at Zarbon, Kenny went on, "Isn't tha-" Kenny stopped short upon seeing that his named Machamp was still sitting with his face in his upper hands. One of the Arons was nudging against Zarbon's right shin while giving off concerned whines, a Zubat was perched on his left shoulder, and even the Abra was patting him on the back.
"...Oh yeah," Kenny said upon seeing how his Machamp was doing, "Ban had made Zarbon upset."
A short while later, Dawn and the boys were seen walking out of Granite Cave. "So as it turned out," Steven said, "It was just a wild Sableye that was causing problems. There was no evidence that Team Scorn was aiming to rob the mining effort at all." The champion of Hoenn let out a relieved sigh. "That's one less thing to worry about, especially since Kenny here had ended up catching the Sableye in question."
Kenny nodded in agreement. "And Dawn also caught a shiny Makuhita. That's the first shiny she had caught, whereas I'm up to five shiny Pokémon under my ownership right now."
Steven shot Kenny a surprised, somewhat incredulous look. "...Is he serious?" Steven asked when he looked to Dawn, "I thought that he was joking earlier when he said that it would have been his sixth had he been the one to catch the shiny Makuhita instead."
"Kenny does indeed own five separate shiny Pokémon right now," Dawn pointed out before she began listing them off, "Scizor, Sandslash, Ariados, Sneasel, and most recently a Skitty."
"Oh, two haven't evolved yet," Steven said, "Well I do technically own a Moon Stone to evolve Skitty into Delcatty, but I only have the one Moon Stone, so I'm hesitant to part with it."
"I don't plan to evolve Jibanyan," Kenny stated simply.
Steven nodded in understanding, as well as giving off a sense of relief. "Fair enough. However, as thanks for assisting me in checking out what was going on at the mining effort in Granite Cave, would you like me to supply you with a Razor Claw so you can evolve Sneasel into Weavile?"
Nodding in agreement, Kenny said, "That'd be pretty dope, yeah." The three humans then shared a good laugh as they made their way back to Dewford Town, where they relaxed a bit after having checked out the mining effort over at Granite Cave. They were tired, so they needed to rest up for a little bit before looking into anything else.
(FLASHBACK, UNKNOWN LENGTH OF TIME AGO)
Sasuke was using a long handled pool net to clean some stuff out of the local pool where the two girls his friend Goemon was flirting with worked at. The handsome boy had time on his hands, and a need to earn some money. Unfortunately, he was failing to find any work period; there's only so many jobs available in their neighborhood, and demand in that field is vastly outstripping supply. Things were not looking all that good for the lower class.
Sasuke finished up cleaning the pool out and put the net away before going to talk to Goemon who, once again, was flirting with those two girls. To the blonde haired boy's interest, his Vulpix was looking up at the girls while giving off an unamused humming growl; Goemon was taking time to feed his Pokémon, Shuppet, Shedinja, and Sableye, as well as Sasuke's own, Frogadier, Ninjask, and the aforementioned Vulpix. The other five were nearby, watching Goemon, Vulpix, and the girls.
"What's going on?" Sasuke asked as he came over, getting the attention of Goemon, Vulpix who trotted right over to Sasuke, and the girls.
"The girls here wanted to pet and cuddle your Vulpix, but he made it clear he's not in the mood for cuddles," Goemon explained.
Gesturing to where Vulpix was now hiding behind Sasuke, the blonde girl said, "But your Vulpix is just so cute, Sasuke! It's kind of sad he's standoffish towards us."
Shrugging, Sasuke said, "Sorry, but Vulpix is like that towards everyone new to him." That was actually something of a lie; Sasuke was able to tell that his Vulpix was able to sense that the two girls weren't the most good natured of people out there, their personalities and feelings twisted and warped by how they had a life seemingly permanently stuck in lower class forced upon them. But regardless of the excuse, the girls were still, when you got right down to it, mean; Vulpix could tell that the girls were mean girls, and thus he shunned them.
Right as he got his Vulpix to settle down, Sasuke's attention was drawn to the front gate leading into the public pool. Goemon and the girls also turned to see, and as such they saw two girls enter the pool. Both were fair skinned, with the first one entering the pool area being slender and notably lovely and having her dark hair braided in a ponytail that reached halfway past her shoulder blades, save for chin length bangs she allowed to frame her face. She wore a short sleeved pale light grey blouse left unbuttoned, showing her similarly colored bikini top visible to show it was match to the bikini bottom she was wearing as well.
As for the second girl entering the pool area, she was also slender like the first girl. The second girl let her long dark hair, styled in a hime style cut, flow down her back without any braids or ponytails, letting it flow freely. The second girl wore a pastel light lavender colored variation of what the first girl was wearing. This second girl, although she did have a rather cute face, was with all due respect rather on the geeky looking side of things; she had signs of acne problems from the past, and her cute eyes were hidden behind large round glasses. The second girl was also carrying a beach basket, as well as some towels, and a hand bag.
Hearing the girls with him and Goemon both scoff in bitter annoyance, Sasuke turned his attention back to them to see what was wrong. "Oh great," the pink haired girl scoffed, "That spoiled bitch Sakura Senbon is here. Watch it, we're going to be expected to wait on her hand and foot."
"Senbon..." Sasuke said, feeling like the name was important, "...Oh, that's the name of the wealthiest family living around here."
"And rich folk like them act like they're better than everyone else!" the blonde girl complained, "It's especially bad with those at the very top, like those bastards in the Senbon family like that spoiled bitch Sakura."
Goemon turned to look in the direction of the two girls who had just shown up. "...Neither of the girls are giving off 'spoiled brat' vibes to me," Goemon remarked, "But I can see why you girls would think that that Sakura girl would expect others to wait on her hand and foot. I mean, she's not only got a hot, slender body, but she's also very attractive and-"
"Goemon that's Kana," the pink haired girl pointed out in a dry tone, mildly unamused with Goemon's oblivious mistake, "She's only a servant of the Senbon family." Pointing out the second, very geeky looking girl to Goemon and Sasuke, the blonde girl went on, "That's Sakura."
Sasuke gave the second girl of the pair who had just shown up to the pool, with said girl being identified by the blonde girl as the wealthy heiress Sakura Senbon, a look of consideration. Even he, like Goemon before him before the blonde girl corrected things, expected the first girl of the pair to be the daughter of the area's wealthiest family, given that said girl is conventionally attractive. But it turned out that the first girl of the pair, actually named Kana, was merely just a family servant to the Senbons, while the second girl was really Sakura.
"...Huh, interesting," Sasuke thought as he saw Sakura and Kana set up an area at the pool for them to relax in.
(FLASHBACK OVER)
Sasuke, now going by Admin Ninja of Team Scorn's Kunai Sector, snapped out of his memories, coming back to sitting at his desk in his office at the undisclosed location that his sector of Team Scorn was using while operating in the Hoenn region. He was holding a framed photo, six inches wide by eight inches long, of himself with his left arm around the shoulders of a happy and laughing Sakura, while a Ninetails was sitting on the floor on Sasuke's other side.
With a longing look on his face, Ninja opened the top right hand drawer at his desk, before placing the framed photo face down into the drawer before closing it. A second after he closed the drawer at his desk, Ninja heard a knock at his office door. "Enter," Ninja called out, and a second later it was opened and into the office walked Goemon, Ninja's Admin's Assistant and his friend from before the both of them had joined Team Scorn.
"Admin, bruh, I come bearing news," Goemon said.
Ninja arched a wry eyebrow at Goemon. "Go on."
Goemon walked over to Ninja's desk and placed something on it while keeping his hand covering the item, sliding the item over to Ninja before removing his hand to uncover it. A single flashdrive. "The lads that Captain Ayumu sent to collect the goods that one guy working in Devon Corporation as part of the fossil revival team weren't able to nab the paper notes," Goemon began, "But they were able to pull the ol' switcheroo, taking this flashdrive by replacing an identical looking one in its place before the heroes going after them could see it."
Ninja picked up the flashdrive, held it with his right index finger and thumb with the pressed against the ends of the flashdrive. The admin of Team Scorn's Kunai Sector allowed himself a smirk. "...Not too shabby, Goemon," Ninja remarked, "Not too shabby at all." Ninja placed the flashdrive back down on his desk. "Tell Captain Ayumu that I'm impressed that the men working directly under him were able to pull a fast one like that to at least partly succeed in the mission to find out about those two Pokémon fossils that were found."
Nodding in understanding, Goemon agreed as Ninja handed the flashdrive back to him while telling him to have someone go over the data stored on it. Goemon accepted that as well before taking off, two tasks in mind. He closed the door behind him, leaving Ninja alone once more. Ninja let out a tired, resigned sigh, one laced with melancholy nostalgia as he recalled something from his past he had once known, and had known it dearly.
He threw his head back while sitting in his chair at his desk, his eyes closed. He opened them to reveal a somber expression as he looked up at the ceiling in his office.
END, CHAPTER NINETY-FOUR
Author's notes;
This chapter sees Dawn and Kenny go with Steven into Granite Cave, due to the Hoenn champion hearing talk of troubles facing the mining effort in Granite Cave and (understandably) fearing that Team Scorn is up to no good there. As it turned out, it was just a wild Sableye that Kenny ended up catching, with Dawn also catching the shiny Makuhita who was trying to tell the Sableye off. That's right, Dawn caught a shiny Pokémon this time, not Kenny.
Meanwhile, some more backstory is shown for Sasuke Hanzo, AKA Admin Ninja of Team Scorn's Kunai Sector, showing a girl named Sakura Senbon who is apparently important to Sasuke's past. A quick bit at the end with Goemon (who followed Sasuke into Team Scorn) showed that the grunts who were harassing the Devon Corporation employee from the fossil revival team at the company were actually somewhat successful in getting away with some goods. This will come up over the course of the next few chapters, so keep your eyes peeled.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Leni (female Lucario), Froppy (female Toxicroak), Pakura (female Torchic), Souji (male Rampardos), Jessie (male Cascoon)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Zarbon (male Machamp), Godzilla (male Tyraniar), Priestess (female Liligant; Hisuian; alpha), Jibanyan (male Skitty; shiny), Husky (male Mudkip), Endive (male Chikorita)