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-five: Brawlin' with Brawly

It was mid afternoon after Dawn, Kenny, and Steven had checked out the situation at Granite Cave, confirming that there was no evidence of any Team Scorn activity going on over there. The three of them were having a small lunch together, Steven's treat as he wanted to thank the reborn trainers for helping him with protecting Hoenn, although it had actually turned out that there wasn't much to worry about after all. During said meal, Steven supplied Kenny with a Razor Claw, with which he'd be able to evolve Android 21, his shiny Sneasel, into a Weavile.

As the three of them ate, Steven said, "Oh yeah! You all want to challenge the gym here in Dewford Town, don't you?"

Both Dawn and Kenny nodded in the affirmative. "We'll be needing time to rotate our parties around," Dawn said, "But yes, Kenny and I do both intend to challenge the local gym leader. Brawly, right?"

Steven nodded in the affirmative. "He uses fighting type Pokémon. Although I should probably tell you this." Dawn and Kenny both looked curious when Steven told them he had something to tell them. "Brawly had recently come under a bit of fire from the Pokémon League Commission for the Hoenn region when it was reported to them that he was using his Hariyama against all challengers who came to his gym."

"Is that a problem?" Kenny asked.

"For challengers who have at least four Hoenn gym badges before challenging Brawly, no," Steven began to explain, "Because the Hoenn PLC believes that trainers can handle opposing Pokémon of a level like that by the time they have at least half the badges they need to qualify for the Hoenn League Conference. But like I had said, Brawly used his Hariyama against every challenger, without care about how experienced challengers are."

Dawn could see where this was going. "I... guess that Hoenn has different rules for how its gyms are allowed to take on challengers, compared to gyms in other regions."

"Typically here in Hoenn," Steven said, "Gym leaders aren't supposed to use most evolved Pokémon unless the trainer challenging them has a certain number of badges. This rule also applies to Pokémon who don't evolve but the Hoenn PLC considers them strong enough on their own anyway."

"And Brawly has been breaking that rule," Kenny said.

Steven nodded in confirmation. "I heard that you guys battled Norman, as well as his daughter May, over in Petalburg City, and they used evolved Pokémon against you. But given your reputations, Dawn's especially, that all was permitted without issue. But what Brawly had been doing was, by the word of the Hoenn PLC, illegal."

"Wait, wouldn't his gym's referee report him?" Dawn asked.

"Technically yes," Steven said, "But the referee honestly didn't know that he was supposed to report Brawly's violations of Hoenn PLC guidelines, or that Brawly was violating any guidelines period. He's going through classes to learn what he should and should not permit as a referee."

Gesturing to Steven, Kenny asked, "Is there at least any referee to officiate matches against Brawly? I mean I think it can be done without a referee, but-"

"In emergency situations with gym leaders who are trusted, yes," Steven interrupted, "But Brawly's actions have soured the Hoenn PLC's ability to trust him to be fair. His matches have to have a referee approved by the Hoenn PLC before he can have them."

Getting up from the table, Dawn said, "Well now, I guess there's only one real way to find out."

The group went to the Dewford Town Pokémon Center, where Dawn and Kenny rotated their respective parties, before they headed on over to the Dewford Town gym. Upon entering the gym, Dawn and the boys saw an official looking member of some committee, this member being a woman, talking to Brawly, who was dressed as he was from the RSE games. The official looking person was stern, but seemed to not be really unamused with Brawly.

"You fought that battle fairly against that boy from Sinnoh," the official looking person said, "Granted, he did bring a surprising amount of power to the battle and won soundly as a result, but at least it wasn't a battle of you decimating an inexperienced trainer by using your evolved Poké-"

"Holy crud!" Brawly said, interrupting the official looking person in the process. While the official looking person was looking down at her clipboard, Brawly's eyes wandered and as a result they fell upon the sight of Dawn, Kenny, and Steven. ...Well to Brawly, it was Steven Stone the Champion of Hoenn, accompanied by two kids. The official looking woman looked up at Brawly, then followed his line of sight to see what had caught his attention.

As such, she jumped a bit in surprise upon seeing Steven as well. "Champion Steven!" the official looking woman said, "What are you doing here?"

Gesturing to Dawn and Kenny, Steven explained, "Dawn and Kenny here were both interested in challenging Brawly in the hopes to each earn the badge he awards to trainers who best him. We're here to see if there's a Hoenn PLC approved referee who can officiate the match, as well as see if Brawly can battle."

Looking a bit concerned, Brawly asked, "How many badges do they have so far here in Hoenn?"

"We have two each so far," Dawn explained, "From Petalburg and Rustboro."

Brawly then gently shook his head. "Sorry kids, but my party for challengers with less than four badges isn't up for Hey wait a minute, did you say you got badges from Petalburg?"

Steven nodded in confirmation. "I can personally verify that they are both strong enough to handle your party for challengers with four or more Hoenn gym badges, despite having only two so far."

Turning to look at the official looking woman, Brawly asked, "Well, what say you?"

"If Steven Stone vouches for them like that, then I fail to see why you can't use a stronger team," replied the official looking woman, "But I will be keeping a close eye on the battle."

Arching a wry eyebrow at the official looking woman, Brawly replied, "Well you're probably going to serve as the referee, like you did with the battle I had lost earlier to that boy from Sinnoh with the Togekiss."

Dawn looked curious at that. "Boy from Sinnoh with a Togekiss?"

Looking to Dawn, Brawly replied, "I can fill you in on it later if you like. Now, who between you and your friend here will I be battling?"

"That'll be me," Dawn replied, stepping forward.

Chuckling, Brawly said, "If it wasn't for my less than four badges party being defeated before you all got here, I could have taken both challenges one right after the other. Sorry, but your friend here will have to wait until tomorrow."

"That's fair," Kenny replied with a shrug, right before Brawly led everyone into his gym's arena to have the battle against Dawn.

The official looking woman stood off to the side of the battlefield while Brawly and Dawn stood on opposite ends, with Kenny and Steven sitting in the audience. "This is an official Dewford Town gym battle between the gym leader, Brawly, and the challenger, Dawn! Each trainer may use up to three Pokémon, and the battle is over when all of one trainer's allocated Pokémon are unable to battle! Also, only Dawn can substitute Pokémon out at any time. Now then, begin!"

"Breloom, I choose you!" Brawly called out, sending out a Breloom.

Dawn was a bit surprised by Brawly having a Breloom, as well as the battle having a three Pokémon per trainer limit. But Dawn wasn't going to knock it. And with Breloom being dual grass fighting, it ought to be quick work for the first Pokémon Dawn was sending out. "Alright, Coupins!" Dawn said as she sent out her named Mothim, "Let's get goin'!"

Pointing forward, Brawly said, "Breloom, use Bulk Up!"

"Coupins, use Air Slash!" Dawn called out.

Breloom was trying to flex its muscles really hard to make them stand out, but Coupins conjured a slashing force of wind and cast it at Breloom, striking it and throwing it back before it hit the battlefield and eventually skidded to a stop, where everyone saw that it was knocked out. "Breloom is unable to battle," the official looking woman announced, "The winner is Mothim!"

Brawly, a bit surprised, recalled his fainted Breloom. "...Not bad," Brawly said, "You took advantage of how Breloom has a very bad weakness to flying type attacks." Holding up another pokéball, Brawly went on, "But this one is another tale! Machoke, I choose you!"

"Coupins that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon around, "Alright, Holger! Let's get goin'!" To Brawly's surprise, Dawn's second Pokémon for their battle was a Venomoth.

"...Huh," Brawly said, sounding genuinely surprised and curious, "No offence, but I'd never imagine a young girl like you carting around bug Pokémon. Most girls around your age who I've seen tend to shy away from most bug Pokémon, except for ones they define as pretty such as Beautifly."

Dawn smirked a bit in amusement. "I raise the Pokémon I wanna raise, regardless of what girls my age would normally be interested in. As a matter of fact, I'm raising a Cascoon that I caught a short while ago so I can get him to evolve into Dustox."

Brawly chuckled a bit in amusement. "Now that's the attitude all Pokémon trainers ought to have! Raise the Pokémon that you wanna raise, not what society would expect you to raise! Let's see how far that right attitude you got will serve you! Machoke, use Karate Chop!"

"Holger, use Psychic!" Dawn called out.

Machoke ran at the named Venomoth to chop at him, but all that Holger had to do was conjure up a psychic energy that made his eyes glow before he used that same energy to blast at Machoke, sending it reeling back until it fell over onto the battlefield, clearly defeated. "Machoke is unable to battle," the official looking woman announced, "The winner is Venomoth!"

Brawly recalled his fainted Machoke, surprised that he was on the ropes because of a young girl who brought a bunch of bug Pokémon with her. "Heh, there's all kinds in the world out there," Brawly remarked, feeling only amused by how this battle was going. Tossing up the pokéball that held his last Pokémon for that battle, Brawly said, "Hariyama, I choose you!"

"Holger that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon around, "Alright, Jessie! Let's get goin'!" To the surprise of everyone especially Kenny, Dawn sent her named Cascoon out to battle against Brawly's Hariyama.

Brawly chuckled in amusement. "This is that famous Cascoon of yours you had mentioned earlier, isn't it?" After Dawn nodded in the affirmative, Brawly said, "Well if he's part of your swarm you've got going, then he's got more to him that what meets the eye! Hariyama, use Arm Thrust!"

"Jessie that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said, swapping her Pokémon around again, "Alright, Holger! Let's get goin'!" Before Hariyama was able to attack Jessie the Cascoon, Dawn swapped Jessie out to send in her named Venomoth again. Holger ended up taking three hits from Hariyama's Arm Thrust, but each hit hardly did anything, due to Holger having a times four resistance to fighting type attacks like Arm Thrust. Pointing forward dramatically, Dawn ordered, "Holger, use Psychic!"

"Hariyama, use Knock Off!" Brawly called out. Hariyama tried to slam down on Holger, but the named Venomoth was quicker, his eyes glowing with the psychic power that he was conjuring up, right before said power blasted into Hariyama, sending it flying back a bit until it hit the ground of the battlefield, kicking up some dust in the process. When the dust settled, everyone saw it that Brawly's Hariyama was knocked out.

Holding up a hand, the official looking woman announced, "Hariyama is unable to battle! The winner is Venomoth!" Gesturing to Dawn, the official looking woman declared, "Victory of this battle goes to the challenger, Dawn!"

Brawly recalled his fainted Hariyama as he let out a sigh. "...Yeah, that one was my loss," Brawly said, then he cracked a smile. "...Thanks for the awesome battle, as well as showing that not all young ladies like you shy away from bug Pokémon like the stereotype would suggest."

Dawn nodded in understanding after recalling Holger. "Kenny and I know a girl who'd drop dead out of fright if Holger or Coupins or-" Dawn was cut off when Jessie came out of his ball suddenly, then hopped up and down while crying out excitedly. "Jessie, little guy," Dawn said, "What's gotten into-" Dawn was cut off again when Jessie began glowing brightly in white, before his form began to shift and grow. By the time the shifting and growing stopped, the glowing faded to reveal that Jessie had evolved into Dustox.

"Ah ha ha!" Brawly laughed in amusement, "It looks like you got your Cascoon to evolve into Dustox a lot sooner than you had imagined!" Dawn herself was a bit surprised by Jessie evolving this soon, but it did present her with the chance to focus on Pakura and Zatch more. The moment was fully completed when Barely awarded Dawn the Knuckle Badge that she had rightfully earned.

Given that Brawly's other party was out of commission, he couldn't take Kenny's challenge, so that battle would have to wait until morning. Until that time, though, Dawn and the boys saw Brawly over to the local Pokémon Center, while the official looking woman took the evening off, given that the gym couldn't take anymore challengers for the day.

At least it gave Dawn and the others time to talk things over with Brawly, given that there was something important that they needed to address with him.

Over in the Dewford Town Pokémon Center, Dawn and Steven, after allowing Kenny to use his phone to take a picture of Dawn with the three moth Pokémon she had, sat down with Brawly while all Pokémon who had battled at the gym that day were being treated. In that time, the reborn trainers and Steven discussed with Brawly the matter that is Team Scorn, and their rise to prominence in recent events.

"...Yeah, I got the gist of how uncool those Team Scorn dorks are," Brawly said, a hint of unamused seriousness in his tone, "Luckily the Hoenn PLC doesn't care what Pokémon I use against criminals like Team Scorn, so I'm free to go full force against them." With a single nod, Brawly added, "Which I intend to do."

"Dawn, Kenny, and I were actually in Granite Cave earlier," Steven said, "Checking out rumors that Team Scorn was disturbing the mining effort over there. It turned out that it was just a wild Sableye that Kenny here ended up catching, but given the reason we had, we couldn't take any chances."

Brawly nodded in agreement. "That's smart. We can't be too careful when it comes to dealing with Team Scorn." Turning to look at Kenny, Brawly said, "So, you caught a Sableye over in Granite Cave, now did you?"

Kenny nodded in confirmation, then added while pointing to Dawn, "Dawn here caught a shiny Makuhita at the same time, so we bo-"

"She caught a shiny Makuhita?!" Brawly exclaimed suddenly, standing up from his seat in total shock, "No way, man!"

Dawn smiled. "...Surprised, aren't you?"

"Dude, you gotta let me see it!" Brawly said, "Do you know how rare shiny fighting Pokémon like that are?! Or any shiny Pokémon in general?!" Kenny looked like he was about to speak up, but suddenly decided against it and kept quiet. Things seemed like they were going to be pretty easy going from this point moving forward, not counting the times where they would have to deal with Team Scorn getting up to any of their foul business.

As the reborn trainers, Steven, and Brawly began making plans on how to up security for Dewford Town and the island it's located on if the need for it were to arise, the Nurse Joy working at the Dewford Town Pokémon Center came walking over. Seeing this, Brawly turned to face her. "Ah, I'm guessing that me and Dawn's Pokémon are all patched up now?" Brawly asked.

Surprisingly, Nurse Joy shook her head in the negative. "No, sorry. I got an urget call from Devon Corporation for Champion Steven. His father needs to speak with him." Looking mildly worried, Nurse Joy went on, "Judging by his expression in the video call, it can't be good."

Steven got up from where he was sitting. "Very well. I'll go see what my father needs to talk with me about." Turning to look at Dawn and Kenny, Steven added, "I would rather that my call with my father remain private, however I will call for you two if I feel that it's imperative that you ought to be in on the call as well."

"It's your dad, dude," Kenny said, "And he's proven to be a chill guy. Far be it from me to get in the way of that."

"I agree," Dawn added while nodding to Steven in agreement with Kenny. Dawn, back in her previous life as Don, lost his father while he was in the seventh grade; Don's dad died due to complications from the chemo that was treating his lung cancer. Dawn understood wanting to spend time alone with one's father, even if it was over video phone in the world she had been reborn into. As such, she was not going to stop the champion of Hoenn from talking to his dad.

Steven thanked Dawn and Kenny for their understanding before he went to go speak with Mr. Stone over the video phone. This left Dawn and Kenny alone with Brawly. "...So Brawly," Dawn began, "You want to see my shiny Makuhita, huh? Well, given that I'll be rotating the Pokémon in my party soon to help me better focus on-"

"DAWN! KENNY!" Steven yelled in what was clearly an alarmed and worried tone from where he was at, "YOU'RE GOING TO WANT TO HEAR THIS!"

Dawn and Kenny, aside from being surprised to hear Steven yell, were also surprised to hear the tone he used, one of worry and alarm. The two reborn trainers immediately got up and ran to go see what Mr. Stone had said that had rattled Steven so much.

...

"They managed to swap the flashdrive containing info relevant to the fossils in Lavaridge Town with an identical looking flashdrive?"

Mr. Stone nodded grimly in confirmation to Dawn's as he spoke to her and the boys on the video phone. "It must have been when you didn't see it," Mr. Stone said, "They took the crucial flashdrive, and in its place put an identical looking flashdrive that contains only a word document that's ten-thousand words long, mocking us for letting them take what they were able to get."

Kenny arched a wry eyebrow. "Ten-thousand words long? Wow, talk about dedication to ticking us off as much as possible."

Mr. Stone nodded in agreement. "Granted, a good one-fourth of the document is just typed out laughter, about a thousand words are actual mocking us for letting them get away with stealing from us, and the remainder is filler that's basically ranting on about Team Scorn rhetoric and how they'll get what all they want in the end ultimately, and said ranting is heavily peppered with very foul language. But I will agree the word count is impressive for what is essentially a note left behind by criminals to mock us."

Dawn grimaced in bitter annoyance at how Team Scorn was able to pull one over their eyes. "Do we at least have any idea of the date that those fossils are set to be moved from Lavaridge Town to Devon Corporation in Rustboro City?"

"No, we were relying on that flashdrive to hold the info for us," Mr. Stone admitted, "None of us here bothered to memorize the info. Our best bet is to have someone head straight to Lavaridge Town and just stand guard over the fossils until Devon Corporation is ready to receive them."

Standing up from his seat, Steven said, "I'll go to Lavaridge Town, father. I'd like to see any of those Team Scorn villains try to best me! I didn't get to become the Hoenn region's champion for nothing, I'll have you know!"

"Thank you, son," Mr. Stone replied with a nod, "You best head there at once. We cannot afford to let those fossils fall into the clutches of Team Scorn!" The video call was then ended immediately after that, so Steven hung up as well.

Turning to look at Dawn and Kenny, Steven said, "I'm afraid that this is where we part ways for now, Dawn and Kenny. But since you two are going after challenging the gyms of the Hoenn region, I get the feeling that I'll be seeing the both of you soon enough in Lavaridge Town."

"If you kick some Team Scorn butt over there before we meet up with you again," Kenny began, "Kick one of those butts for me, will you?" Steven allowed himself a small hum of a laugh before he nodded in understanding. He then strode quickly out of the Dewford Town Pokémon Center, which caused the reborn trainers as well as Brawly who was in the lobby still to follow him outside.

By the time that Dawn, Kenny, and Brawly were outside of the Pokémon Center as well, Steven was already flying off into the distance, on the back of a Skarmory. Brawly, seeing that Dawn and Kenny were both right next to him, turned to face them more fully. "The heck was that about?"

Dawn gently shook her head, a mildly lost and worried look on her face. "...Team Scorn turned out to have pulled a fast one on us."

It was hard to get to sleep that night, due to how Team Scorn was able to get away with at least part of what they were trying to steal from the Devon Corporation employee, but soon exhaustion was able to win out against the worry and allowed Dawn and Kenny to fall asleep. In the morning, the two of them after getting ready went back to Brawly's gym so that Kenny can try to earn a Knuckle Badge for himself.

The official looking woman from the gym battle yesterday returned to serve as referee and, due to remembering Steven's vouching, permitted Brawly to use his over four badges party against Kenny in the gym battle. Kenny still won, using a mix of Hisoka, Hoodini, and Spider-Frog, and thus he had earned the Knuckle Badge as well. Brawly was amazed to see a shiny Ariados, which reminded Dawn that Brawly wanted to see her shiny Makuhita. After Kenny got his badge and everyone went back out into the gym's lobby, Dawn called Zatch out to show to Brawly.

After that, Brawly advised the reborn trainers on where to go next. "You tight lil' dudes are gonna wanna take the next ship to Slateport City," Brawly said, "Go through there and head straight north, and you'll eventually hit Mauville City, where another gym that the both of you can challenge can be found."

Dawn nodded in thanks, although both her knowledge from her previous life and the cheat sheet supplied to her and Kenny by Max already not only told of the gym in Mauville City, but also told that it uses electric type Pokémon. "Thanks for the tip, Brawly," Dawn said, "But Kenny and I will take a bit of time to check out Slateport City first."

"Dawn has a point," Kenny began to explain, "There's a number of places in Slateport City that Dawn and I have discussed with Steven that might be possible spots for Team Scorn to attack for some odd reason or another. We're going to have to look around Slateport City to sniff out and snuff out any and all possible Team Scorn activity there."

Brawly smiled and nodded in agreement. "I'll be keeping a vigilant eye out here on the island that Dewford Town is a part of. My duties as Dewford Town's gym leader keep me here, but I won't let that stop me from doing what I can to bring a wave of hurt down on any and all Team Scorn dorks who are stupid enough to walk into my neighborhood."

The reborn trainers nodded in approval to Brawly before waving him goodbye before heading to the docks. There at the docks, Dawn and Kenny got passage onto a ship that, about five minutes after they got on board, took off for Slateport City. Things had already gotten bad, but Dawn and Kenny were determined to not let them get any worse. Team Scorn, regardless of what they end up trying to pull off, will ultimately be stopped in the end.

END, CHAPTER NINETY-FIVE

Author's notes;

This chapter sees Dawn and Kenny earn their respective Kunckle Badges from Brawly, who got into a bit of trouble with the League in Hoenn due to using the wrong Pokémon against the wrong level of challengers. But all of that falls to the side when it turns out that Team Scorn had not only gotten away with the flashdrive in the Devon Corporation employee's briefcase, but replaced it with one that looks identical but only held a mocking note.

Dawn and Kenny will have to keep an eye out for Team Scorn in the future, especially since the next chapter will see them in Slateport City, where multiple possible targets for Team Scorn to go after are all located. Things will be getting heated.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Coupins (male Mothim), Zatch (male Makuhita; shiny), Pakura (female Torchic), Holger (male Venomoth), Jessie (male Dustox)

Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Zarbon (male Machamp), Godzilla (male Tyraniar), Priestess (female Liligant; Hisuian; alpha), Hisoka (male Mr. Mime), Hoodini (male Noctowl), Spider-Frog (male Ariados; shiny)