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-six: Slateport Struggles

Dawn and Kenny had just arrived in Slateport City, after the both of them had earned a Knuckle Badge each from the gym in Dewford Town. "Well alright, Slateport City!" Kenny cheered, "From here it'll be just a short jaunt up north in order to reach Mauville City, where the next gym is located!"

Dawn nodded in agreement; after all, she herself was also itching to get her next Hoenn gym badge. But she knew that she and Kenny couldn't skip over Slateport City. They along with Professor Birch and Hoenn Champion Steven had reasoned that there were a number of targets in Slateport City that Team Scorn would be interested in going after. Until they figured out what exactly was here in Slateport City that Team Scorn was after, they had to go over everything carefully.

The Sinnoh champion turned to her friend. "We need to check out the shipyard, the harbor, and the oceanic museum here in Slateport City, Kenny."

"...Oh yeah," Kenny replied, "One of them could get hit by Team Scorn." Stretching his arms into the air, Kenny said, "We'll have to split up. I'll tackle the harbor."

"I'll check the..." Dawn began, but she stopped short. "...Damn it. There's three potential targets and only two of us. We're one person shy to-"

"So it seem we did end up meeting up again in Hoenn after all!" a familiar male voice called out, making Dawn and Kenny turn to see Ideku Badorigo, a wandering trainer they befriended back in Johto, come walking up to them. A Persian was walking alongside next to Ideku.

The two reborn trainers were both glad to see that they ran into an old familiar face. "Oh, Ideku!" Dawn said, "Boy am I glad we've run into you! We could use another trainer."

Ideku looked a bit curious by Dawn saying she and Kenny needed him. "What's up?"

"Here's the deal, my good man," Kenny began to explain, "Firstly, do you remember Team Scorn?"

The wandering trainer scowled bitterly. "...How could I forget? Especially after what all they've done in the Johto region."

"Yeah, we've encountered Team Scorn here in Hoenn a few times," Dawn said, "Nothing too dangerous, although they were able to score a partial success due to pulling a switcheroo on us. But that's besides the point. We have reason to believe that Team Scorn will go after either the harbor, the shipyard, or the oceanic museum here in Slateport City. Kenny and I were going to split up to check the locations out, but we're a person short to check all three locations."

Ideku nodded in understanding. "Fair enough. I'll go check the oceanic museum. You two can cover the shipyard and the harbor."

Dawn gave a single nod. "Kenny already called the harbor, so I guess I'm hitting up the shipyard."

Pounding a fist into his hand, Kenny said, "Alright, let's bring the hurt to Team Scorn!" The three trainers then rushed off to go deal with protecting the potential targets from Team Scorn, with Ideku recalling his Persian along the way.

Over at the harbor, Kenny was talking to a manager of the harbor. "Yes, I was called by Champion Steven who warned us here at the Harbor that Team Scorn may try to target us," the manager said, "Thanks again for warning us."

Gesturing to the manager, Kenny said, "Can you think of any reason why Team Scorn might be interested in the Harbor here?"

The manager thought about the matter for a moment. "...Maybe they want to use it as a point of entry into Hoenn for some boats carrying more members? I did hear of a news report out of Johto where a similar incident occured over in Olivine City, and that a gym leader over there got into a bit of major trouble because of it."

Kenny was able to recall the grim news that the manager was talking about, how Jasmine had been coerced into assisting Team Scorn and lost her gym leader position because of it. "Good point on how Team Scorn may want to use the harbor as a place for a ship carrying a lot of their fellows to dock," Kenny replied, "More security ought to be arranged to prevent Team Scorn from pulling a fast on on us here."

"The security that was arranged by Champion Steven has proven helpful," the manager said, "But he was only able to arrange for so much. And there's multiple possible places Team Scorn may target if what I heard is true. As such, the security that Steven had arranged is stretched thin. Each of the possible targets here in Slateport City was only able to get three guards each."

"Maybe you can look into drumming up a bit of local militia here in Slateport City to help supplement the guards arranged for and sent by Steven?" Kenny suggested.

"The shipyard fellows suggested doing the very same thing," the manager said, "But there's not enough in the budget allocated for defence for Slateport City against Team Scorn to pay a militia force for helping out. Especially since some of the upper crust fellows who run the oceanic museum are keen on doing as much as possible while spending as little as possible of the budget allocated for defence since we'll be allowed to keep any extra."

Kenny rolled his eyes dryly. "Oh joy."

Over at the shipyard, Dawn was talking to a ship builder, explaining to him what all was happening. "Yes, I'm more than prepared to do what it takes to repel Team Scorn from Slateport City," the ship builder said, "Hell, we got here what I think would be a good reason for Team Scorn to try to attack the shipyard."

Dawn then followed the ship builder over to where an incredibly large ship was in the warehouse, just having finished being built. "A ship this big can probably carry the whole of Team Scorn from region to region I wager," the ship builder said, "What say you, Sinnoh Champ?"

"...Yeah, this would be an awesome prize for Team Scorn," Dawn replied, worried about how much more trouble Team Scorn could get up to if they had a ship this big in their fleet. Team Scorn was able to do a lot of damage in Blackthorn City back in Johto with only a ship carrying about forty members supplementing their efforts already there.

But the big ship before Dawn could easily carry far more than forty persons comfortably between regions. Dawn turned to the ship builder, asked him what security he had for the shipyard. "Aside from what was permitted to us from what Steven was able to send to Slateport City, just the guys who work here in the shipyard already," the ship builder explained.

Gesturing to the ship builder, Dawn asked, "How much additional security was Steven able to rustle up for the possible targets here in Slateport City?"

"Three guards per target," the ship builder said, "For a total of nine guards. One of the fellows here suggested hiring some additional guards from the locals here in Slateport City, you know, like a sort of militia force. But the fat cat folks who run the oceanic museum shot that down since it would expend more of the budget permitted to Slateport City for defense against Team Scorn, and we had been told any extra money from that we were allowed to keep."

Dawn scowled in annoyance. "...Really. They'd rather fatten their pocketbooks than help to ensure that things are properly protected from Team Scorn."

Shrugging, the ship builder replied, "What can you do? They're from families from the high society neighborhood who live over in Lilicove City."

"High society neighborhood?" Dawn asked.

The ship builder nodded in the affirmative. "Oh yeah, those rich folks who more or less run high society here in Hoenn. Granted, all of the folks here in Slateport City are from the lower end of said neighborhood. Still incredibly rich mind you, but the top families still have them beat by a mile and a half at least."

Dawn folded her arms over her chest. "So Hoenn's upper crust is divided up into levels."

"Exactly," the ship builder said, "Sadly, the top families in the upper crust were actually pretty chill. They aren't greedy like those on the lower end of high society." Nodding once, the ship builder went on, "Why, no family from Hoenn's one percent were better examples of good people than the Senbon family."

"Senbon family?" Dawn asked.

The ship builder nodded once. "Oh yeah. The family consisted of who at the time was Hoenn's wealthiest man, his wife who ran multiple philanthropic efforts, and their mid teens daughter who with all due respect looked stereotypically geeky." The ship builder then let out a troubled sigh. "...Then, a little over two years ago, the Senbon family, along with most of their servant staff, were all murdered."

Dawn looked alarmed to hear that. "Murdered?"

"Yeah," the ship builder went on, "The Senbons, along with most other agreeable upper crust families living in that neighborhood, were attacked when loads and loads of lower class types all decided to attack them, raiding their mansions and estates. The top five familes, along with a combined fifty servants from said families, were all killed. Loads of valuable goods were stolen that night as well, as the lower class folks believed that the upper crust had a responsibility to share the wealth so that none of them had to suffer in squalor."

"But... but weren't the Senbons trying to help them?" Dawn asked.

The ship builder nodded in the affirmative. "They were. All of the murdered upper crust families were. The lower class folks simply thought that it wasn't enough." Letting out a sigh, the ship builder went on, "To make matters worse, all that was left after the lower class folks decided to give the top five upper crust families the Royal Kalosian treatment were the greedy upper crust families. And they all got careful and cautious after the top five were killed. Things for the lower class right now are arguably worse than they were back before the siege on those families' mansions."

Dawn was rather horrified to learn what had happened, especially when the nuances of what all happened as a result are considered. She was hoping to look into this matter some more, provided that the effort to investigate Team Scorn's activities here in Hoenn would permit it.

Over at the Oceanic Museum, Ideku was up on the second floor. He got distracted from his job when he looked around the museum, and eventually settled on a display that talked about the now extinct species of Pokémon, Anorith and Lileep. They were both known to inhabit the seabed back in ancient times, but today they and their respective evolved forms exist solely as Pokémon revived from fossils that were dug up.

Ideku gently traced the tips of his right hand fingers down the glass cover of the display, a look of longing on his face. He always thought that it'd be cool to own a Pokémon revived from a fossil, but the chance never came up to him. He wished it did, though; it didn't matter to him what fossil Pokémon he ended up getting. Having just one would have been awesome. Just one would have been more than enough for the second born Badorigo son.

As he was looking at the display, Ideku's attention was piqued when he heard cries of panic from over a ways. Ideku turned to look, and as such saw a number of Team Scorn members harassing the other museum patrons. Most of them were grunts, although one was clearly an officer given his different uniform.

The obvious officer wore a dark blue Gakuran with yellow trim, and a yellow fairly large bowtie with a brooch securing it to around the collar; the brooch was a heater shield shaped badge that resembled the Team Scorn insignia. The officer also had shiny, dark blue dress shoes, and he had somewhat messy blue hair with a hair antenna sticking up. The obvious officer was accompanied by a male Team Scorn grunt whose only thing making him stand out from the rest of the rank and file was that he had pink hair.

To Ideku's worry, the officer and the male grunt with him came walking over to where he was at. "Is there anything I can help you gentlemen with?" Ideku asked, being a little sarcastic but also careful to not rile up Team Scorn too much.

The officer gestured for Ideku to move out of the way. "We're here to steal what all is on display here at the Oceanic Museum in regards to the native Pokémon that can be revived from fossils. We want what all we can carry away from that display behind you, so move."

"...Yeah," Ideku said, getting two pokéballs out, "I don't think so."

"How dare you!" the male grunt snapped at Ideku, "You show disrespect to Captain Ayumu, Second Captain of Team Scorn's Kunai Sector! I will not stand for any disrespect to Ayumu-sama!"

"Easy there, Kimura," the now identified Ayumu said. Turning to regard Ideku, Ayumu tossed up a pokéball to call out a Salazzle. At that prompting, the now identified Kimura sent out a Salandit. "We'll just beat him down and make him move out of our way by force," Ayumu went on.

Ideku tossed up the two pokéballs he held as he called out, "Go, Snobilikat and Blitzkrieg!" Coming out to fight of Team Scorn's Pokémon were Ideku's Persian and shiny Raichu. Ideku gave the two members of Team Scorn he faced a serious look. "...Believe you me," Ideku said, his tone and look on his face firm, "I'm the last person that you guys wanna cross."

Outside of the Oceanic Museum, Dawn and Kenny met up with one another as they both ran to the museum. "So the museum ended up being the target!" Kenny said, "Ideku's there alone with Team Scorn! We gotta go save him!"

"He's a strong trainer, Kenny," Dawn said, "He should be fine for long enough for us to get there and help defeat what Team Scorn members are there!"

The two reborn trainers reached the museum and rushed inside, and to their worry they saw a number of Team Scorn grunts harassing the other patrons inside. One female grunt was even trying to steal an Igglybuff from a young boy who was crying as he kept what was obviously his pet from being stolen. "Chi-Chi, go stop that Team Scorn member trying to steal the kid's Igglybuff!" Dawn called out as she sent out her named Infernape.

Without waiting, Chi-Chi rushed the female Team Scorn grunt and slugged her in the left side of her ribcage, making her let go of the boy's Igglybuff and sending her slamming into a fake potted plant before she fell to the floor and laid there. Dawn came running over to meet up with her Pokémon, before turning to look at the young boy and his Igglybuff. "Little one, are you okay?" Dawn asked.

"That mean girl tried to steal Igglybuff from me," the young boy, who couldn't be more than five, said as he looked up at Dawn, "Thanks for saving us, nice girl!"

Kenny meanwhile was tangoing with two more Team Scorn grunts, both male. Kenny had out Ban and Zarbon, while the grunts had out a Poochyena and a Zubat. "Yeah, this ain't gonna end well for the two of you," Kenny said, "You two are going down!"

"We'd like to see you try to take us down, would-be hero!" the first Team Scorn grunt said.

"Totally!" said the second, "We got you outnumbered two to one! We're going to unleash a whole world of punishment right up into your sorry little butt!"

"MAAAAAAACHAAAAAAAP!" Zarbon the Machamp cried out in aroused, sensual pleasure. Kenny then sent his Pokémon in to fight Team Scorn's Pokémon, with Zarbon one shotting the Poochyena and Ban keeping the Zubat occupied to prevent it from going after Zarbon. When the Poochyena was taken down, Zarbon sent a Stone Edge at Zubat on Kenny's command, taking it out and giving Kenny the win over the two Team Scorn grunts.

The grunts backed up a bit after recalling their respective defeated Pokémon. "This is bad," the first grunt said, "With a strong trainer like this kid, it'll only be a matter of time before the fellows here all go down, leaving no one to keep things down here busy for Captain Ayumu!"

"So a Captain is here, ehh?" Kenny said. Turning around, Kenny called out, "Hey Dawn! A Captain is here at the museum!"

Dawn watched it as Chi-Chi defeated the Pokémon of another Team Scorn grunt before turning around. "They're probably up on the second floor! Hopefully Ideku is up there and helping to fight off the Captain!"

"Feh, yeah right!" the second grunt defeated by Kenny called out, "Like anyone can defeat Captain Ayumu! You'd have to at least be at the level of an Admin of Team Scorn to so much as have a shot at standing up to Captain Ayumu in a battle for very long!"

"Totally!" said the second grunt defeated by Kenny, "I bet that Captain Ayumu already has what we came here to grab from the mu-"

The second grunt was cut off when a few Team Scorn members, led by Ayumu and Kiruma, all ran down the stairs from the second floor. "Everyone, we're falling back!" Ayumu called out, "We're going to be overwhelmed here!"

The two grunts defeated by Kenny looked surprised. "Captain Ayumu?" the second grunt said, "What's going on?"

"Did you get what we were aiming to get?" the first grunt asked.

"A boy with a Persian and a shiny Raichu confronted and defeated all of us," Kimura explained, "He was even able to overcome Ayumu-sama, although I heavily suspect that he cheated somehow."

"We failed to collect what we came to get from the display," Ayumu said in a mildly annoyed and resigned tone, "So we're out of here!" The Team Scorn members soon filed out of the Oceanic Museum, marking the event as a failure for Team Scorn but a success for the heroes. After the last of the Team Scorn members were all gone, Ideku came walking down the stairs, followed by his Persian and shiny Raichu.

Looking around, Ideku asked, "Where did Team Scorn go?"

Dawn let out a sigh. "...They all withdrew after their Captain was defeated." The reborn trainer arched a wry eyebrow at Ideku. "I believe you're the one we have to thank for defeating the leader of the scheme that took place here."

After Ideku nodded in acknowledgment, a few officers ran into the Oceanic Museum. "Is everyone in here alright?" asked one of the officers. After everyone was confirmed to be okay, the police went about gathering statements.

...

"So there's a display up on the second floor," Dawn began, "Talking about Anorith and Lileep, who were native to the area of Hoenn before going extinct."

Ideku nodded in the affirmative. "They were known to live along the seabed in ancient times. That's probably why."

"And said display is also connected to those fossils that Team Scorn wants to get a hold of," Kenny added, "That's probably why they were interested in that display."

Ideku perked up a bit out of curiosity. "Fossils?"

Dawn sighed, realizing that Kenny had unknowingly clued Ideku in on something he shouldn't have been clued in on. "...Yeah," Dawn admitted, realizing that the damage has already been done, "There are two Pokémon fossils being guarded somewhere, and Devon Corporation plans to revive them into Pokémon to give to important persons on behalf of Hoenn's government in the hopes of trying to further secure alliances with other regions to band against Team Scorn."

The roaming trainer focused on Dawn. "Do you have any idea where the fossils are being kept? We need to arrange protection for them."

"Hoenn Champion Steven is already looking over them personally," Dawn explained, "There's no need to worry about them."

Ideku nodded once before saying, "Fair enough." Turning around, Ideku said, "Well anyway, I need to head on up to Mauville City. I'm also going through Hoenn to collect the gym badges here, and both Blitzkrieg and Snobilikat are well enough to not need to go to a Pokémon Center right now."

"Dawn and I are going to wanna rest our Pokémon at the local Pokémon Center," Kenny said, "Maybe do a bit of party rotation, before heading on our way to Mauville City ourselves." The two reborn trainers then waved Ideku goodbye for now, and parted ways with him. With nothing else keeping them, Dawn and Kenny proceeded to make their way to the local Pokémon Center in Slateport City in order to rest and rotate their parties.

A short while later at the Pokémon Center in Slateport City, Dawn and Kenny were sitting together while their Pokémon they had at the museum were being looked over. "So Team Scorn was after a display at the museum that talked about the native fossil Pokémon of Hoenn," Dawn said to Kenny, "And they likewise were after the briefcase carried by that Devon Corporation fellow who's part of the company's fossil revival team."

Kenny slammed a fist onto the table he and Dawn sat at. "Those twizzlers," Kenny swore, "I bet that they're aiming to try to get those fossils so that they can revive them into Pokémon, then sell them on the black market to the highest bidder!"

Dawn nodded in agreement. "It does seem likely. Luckily Steven is watching over the fossils, so it's not an immediate worry." To Kenny, Dawn added, "What we really ought to be worried about is the gym battle awaiting us in Mauville City."

"What does the cheat sheet that Max supplied us with say?" Kenny asked.

Dawn got said cheat sheet out and went over it. She already knew what to expect, as did Kenny. But they had to play dumb and rely on the cheat sheet. "An electric Pokémon user named Wattson," Dawn said, "It says here his known Pokémon are Magnemite, Voltorb, Magneton, and Manetric."

Kenny folded his arms over his chest. "Huh. The third electric type Pokémon user gym leader that we've encountered thus far. And we've been through four regions counting Hoenn which we're going through right now." Looking up at Dawn, Kenny said, "The same strategy we had in mind for the last two electric Pokémon gyms we've challenged ought to work wonders against Wattson. Just whip out our best ground Pokémon."

Dawn nodded in understanding. "I got Albedo, Shadow, Germany, Inosuke, and Shalltear. I'm feeling that I'll want to start off with Shadow, however."

"Roshi and Elay are both ground Pokémon," Kenny said, "And I feel that Roshi ought to get back into the spotlight once again. He's the founding member of my cringe posse."

Dawn nodded to Kenny, showing that she could tell where he was coming from. Soon after that, Dawn and Kenny were notified that their Pokémon were all checked over and fully treated. After they collected their respective Pokémon, Dawn and Kenny proceeded to take care of some party rotation to make sure they had what all they thought that they would be needing.

Dawn wasn't planning to just mow down Wattson with overwhelming power; she remembered the episode from the anime in her previous life where Ash curbstomped Wattson and unknowingly left him depressed afterwards. She planned to go in with at least Shadow and Albedo; the large ones like Inosuke, Shalltear, and Germany would be too much. Dawn figured that Shadow and Albedo would allow her to apply a lighter touch.

Still, despite how she wanted to avoid making Wattson feel beat up, Dawn still wanted to win. Kenny was of a like mind, given that he was going in with Roshi and Elay. After making sure that they had what Pokémon that they felt that they would be needing, Dawn and Kenny then proceeded to take off right for Mauville City to the north. Their fourth Hoenn gym badge awaited them there, and nothing short of a Team Scorn scheme popping up would be able to slow them down for very long.

END, CHAPTER NINETY-SIX

Author's notes;

This chapter sees Team Scorn hit up Slateport City, where three potential targets for them are located. And it turned out that the Oceanic Museum was the target, due to a display talking about the Hoenn fossil Pokémon. Given that a pair of fossils that can be revived into said Pokémon are being guarded, there's a good reason for Team Scorn to be interested in getting a hold of the display from the museum.

There was also the reappearance of Ideku Badorigo, seen for the first time outside of Johto. There was also mention of the folks who make up Hoenn's high society, which have some manner of connection to a certain member of Team Scorn. But more on that later. In the next chapter, Dawn and Kenny will be going to Mauville City to challenge Wattson to gym battles in bids to each earn a Dynamo Badge. Don't turn that dial just yet, because things will be getting... electrifying.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Shadow (male Gastrodon; west sea), Zatch (male Makuhita; shiny), Pakura (female Torchic), Germany (male Garchomp), Albedo (female Gliscor)

Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Zarbon (male Machamp), Ban (male Sableye), Priestess (female Liligant; Hisuian; alpha), Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny), Roshi (male Torterra)