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-nine: Burning Battles
It was the morning following Team Scorn's attempt to attack Lavaridge Town for the Pokémon fossils that were being kept there. Dawn and Kenny woke up in the bunk room of the local Pokémon Center, got freshened up and dressed, and had a small breakfast. "So what Pokémon are you going in with, my main man?" Kenny asked, "You're still training your now Dustox, right?"
"Kind of," Dawn said, "I instructed Coupins and Holger to work with Jessie over at Professor Oak's lab ranch to train him up, as they're more experienced than he is. That being said, I don't have any of them on hand. It'd be asking for trouble to bring bug Pokémon into a fire Pokémon gym, especially adorable bug Pokémon like Mothim, Venomoth, and Dustox."
Kenny couldn't help but snicker a bit in amusement. "Imagine if Misty were here and she heard you address your trio of moth Pokémon as adorable."
"I'll fight her tooth and nail on the matter if I have to," Dawn said, "But more on that later. As for the Pokémon I'm bringing with me to Flannery's gym, I got Chi-Chi, Tsukune, Shadow, Lynn, Argent, and Zatch."
"You're bringing your Palkia to a gym battle?" Kenny asked, looking a bit surprised.
"...Technically yes, as Tsukune's one of my on-hand Pokémon," Dawn answered, "But it's not like I'm going to use Tsukune."
"You used your Palkia against Blaine back on Cinnabar Island."
Dawn nodded in agreement to what Kenny pointed out. "Yes, but Tsukune was forced in because one of Blaine's Pokémon had used Roar. To be honest, Tsukune's on hand right now mainly because we'll be zooming to Rustboro City when were done here in Lavaridge Town, and Tsukune's my ride."
Kenny nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I can see that. It's the same reason I'm bringing Black with me, even though I don't plan to use Black. That's what I got Kermit, Elay, Godzilla, Goofy, and Ban for."
Dawn saw that her friend had made good choices; hell, given Godzilla's immense durability and physical power, Kenny could realistically sweep Flannery using just Godzilla. The two reborn trainers finished their small breakfast, then got up to head on over the Lavaridge Town gym, where Dawn would be going up against Flannery first to see what Pokémon she'll be packing.
A short while later, Dawn and Kenny arrived at the Lavaridge Town gym and went inside. Upon entering, they saw Flannery, wearing her outfit from the anime, walking out of a side room, but she stopped short upon seeing that Dawn and Kenny had arrived. "Ah, you guys came," Flannery said, "I was wondering during breakfast just now if I would have to send for you."
"Nope, we're delivering the whooping that you'll be getting," Kenny replied in a casual tone without missing a beat.
Flannery let out an amused laugh at that. "Ah ha ha! Now that sounds like you've got a fire in your belly!"
For reasons that escaped her, Dawn suddenly thought of a pink-haired fire mage wearing a trademark scarf. "Kenny's... just excited in his own way. Anyway, I'll be the first to challenge you."
"Fair enough," Flannery replied, before gesturing for Dawn and Kenny to follow her out to the battlefield, which was outside behind the gym. Dawn had a game plan in mind for how to run the battle against Flannery, although she may have to improvise depending on what Pokémon that Flannery would be using. At the very least, Dawn figured that Flannery would be using Torkoal, but wasn't sure if the rest of Flannery's party would be her in-game party from the Hoenn games in Dawn's previous life, or Flannery's anime team from the anime in Dawn's previous life.
There was only one way to find out.
...
Within quick order, everyone was outside, with Dawn and Flannery standing on opposite ends of the battlefield. "This is an official Lavaridge Town gym battle between the gym leader, Flannery, and the challenger, Dawn!" the referee announced, "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!"
"Go, Meg!" Flannery said, sending out a Slugma.
Dawn was surprised by a gym leader using a Pokémon with a nickname, but didn't let that distract her. Tossing up a Luxury Ball, Dawn said, "Alright, Zatch! Let's get goin'!" Coming out was Dawn's named shiny Makuhita.
"Oh ho ho! A shiny Makuhita!" Flannery remarked, "It's not everyday one encounters a shiny Pokémon!" Dawn, her expression dry and mildly unamused, had to resist the urge to tell Flannery to try telling what she just said to Kenny. Pointing forward, Flannery said, "Meg, use Smog!"
"Zatch that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon out, "Alright, Lynn! Let's get goin'!" Taking the place of Zatch the shiny Makuhita was Lynn the Floatzel, who got clipped by Meg's Smog attack on her lower right side. Lynn snarled challengingly at Meg, and it was clear that Smog failed to poison Lynn. Pointing forward, Dawn called out, "Lynn, use Waterfall!"
"Meg, use Body Slam!" Flannery ordered.
The two battling Pokémon rushed one another, but Lynn, cloaked in a violently surging veil of water, was faster by far, ramming right up into Meg with sufficient force, making the named Slugma cry out in pain. It was thrown back, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process. When the dust had settled, everyone saw it that Meg had been knocked out.
Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Meg is unable to battle! The winner is Lynn!"
As Flannery recalled her fainted Slugma, Dawn remarked, "Your referee addressed Pokémon with nicknames by said nicknames. Usually, referees in battles against gym leaders that I fight against address my Pokémon by their species name instead."
"Well some of my Pokémon have nicknames," Flannery replied, "Like you're about to find out more about! Go, Mag!"
"Lynn that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her named Floatzel out, "Alright, Zatch! Let's get goin'!" Once more, Dawn's shiny Makuhita took to the battlefield, this time greeted by a Magcargo.
Pointing forward, Flannery called out, "Mag, use Flamethrower!"
"Zatch that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said, swapping her Pokémon back out, "Alright, Argent! Let's get goin'!" Zatch was, once again, swapped out, and taking his place was Argent, Dawn's named alpha Hisuian Arcanine. He took the Flamethrower from Mag, but same as Mag, Argent is dual fire rock type; fire on that will hardly do anything at all, and Argent was at no risk of being burned. But where as fire against dual fire rock will barely tap the target, ground against dual fire rock will hurt, as Dawn was about to show Flannery. "Argent, use Bulldoze!"
Argent proceeded to quickly stomp the ground with such speed and force that it triggered a mini quake that slammed Mag with seismic waves, making the named Magcargo cry out in pain as it was hit. By the time the attack was over, Mag fell over onto its side with a passed out look on its face, clearly unable to continue with the battle. "Mag is unable to battle!" the referee announced while holding up a hand, "The winner is Argent!"
Flannery was too enraptured with Argent's appearence to show any other emotion as she recalled the fainted Mag. "...That Arcanine is beautiful. Way bigger than what I normally see from Arcanine, too. Also his appearence is different."
"Getting into detail about Argent will take a while," Dawn admitted.
Nodding once in understanding, Flannery replied, "Yeah, you can dish after our battle! Speaking of, go Torkoal!"
"Argent that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon around, "Alright, Zatch! Let's get goin'!" For a third time, Zatch the shiny Makuhita appeared on the battlefield.
Flannery looked a bit confused. "...You like seeing your shiny Makuhita sparkle upon coming out of its pokéball, don't you?"
"That's... one way to put it, I suppose," Dawn replied, not wanting to tell Flannery that her making sure Zatch faced off against all of Flannery's Pokémon at least once was part of training Zatch, believing that Flannery wouldn't get it.
Shrugging, Flannery said, "Whatever, I got a battle to win! Torkoal, use Overheat!"
"Zatch that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said, swapping Zatch out of battle yet again, "Alright, Argent! Let's get goin'!" For a second time, Argent the alpha Hisuian Arcanine was swapped into battle, and although he took a fire attack with a higher base power this time, it still hardly phased him. Pointing forward, Dawn called out, "Argent, use Bulldoze!"
"Torkoal, use Iron Defense!" Flannery called out.
Torkoal began shining like polished metal as it was hit by the seismic waves generated by Argent using Bulldoze. Torkoal was barely able to hang on by the skin of its proverbial teeth, but even so one more solid hit, even from an attack that may not be super effective, was looking to be enough to knock out Flannery's Torkoal. But it wasn't like Flannery was going to go down without a fight. "Torkoal, use Sludge Bomb!" Flannery ordered.
"Argent, use Iron Head!" Dawn commanded.
Argent, his head shining like polished metal, charged straight at Torkoal, aiming to ram his shining head into the fire turtle. Torkoal fired its Sludge Bomb attack, but it burst apart against Argent's shining head without consequence to the alpha Hisuian Arcanine. Argent then rammed his Iron Head attack right up into Torkoal, making it cry out as it was thrown back, landing on the back of its shell where its head hung over with a knocked out look on its face.
"Torkoal is unable to battle!" the referee announced, "The winner is Argent!" Gesturing to Dawn, the referee declared, "Victory of this battle goes to the challenger, Dawn!"
Dawn breathed a sigh of relief after the battle had officially come to an end. Argent turned around and trotted over to Dawn to sniff at her, before giving her face a lick as if he were a friendly, affectionate dog. It was like a thick, damp towel wiping upwards against Dawn's entire face, due to how big Argent was. As Dawn gently stroked the side of Argent's face to pet him, Flannery came walking over, having recalled her fainted Torkoal. "You obviously have some well-trained Pokémon," Flannery said to Dawn, "And I still want details about your epic Arcanine here. But before we get into that, this is for you."
Flannery then handed Dawn a Heat Badge, which put Dawn at five Hoenn gym badges earned. Dawn then recalled Argent before saying to Flannery, "Well while you get your Pokémon treated over at the local Pokémon Center, I can-"
Dawn was cut off when Zatch suddenly came out of his ball before hopping up and down and crying out excitedly. Suddenly, Zatch began to glow brightly, his entire form now a white silhouette. His form shifted as it grew larger, and when the size shifting and growing ended, the glowing faded to reveal that Zatch had evolved, giving Dawn a shiny Hariyama now. "Wow, I guess getting some time in battle helped give your Makuhita the push he needed to evolve into a Hariyama," Flannery remarked to the reborn trainer, "Congrats on your Pokémon evolving."
Dawn herself was likewise surprised by Zatch evolving; he had been on hand for a while to passively gain experience from all of the battles Dawn had taken part in. The mess yesterday involving Team Scorn's shenanigans must have been a big boost too, combining with what Zatch got from the battle against Flannery to finally evolve into Hariyama. Dawn doubted that Zatch will see any action in the gyms in Fortree City and Mosdeep City, but she was still happy to see that the first shiny Pokémon she got had finally evolved.
...Maybe Zatch will get to have some fun with the gyms in Unova, when Dawn and Kenny get there.
The next few hours were spent at the local Pokémon Center as Flannery was having her party treated in preparation for the battle against Kenny. While Kenny was going over his team elsewhere, Flannery was allowed by Dawn to admire Argent. Flannery was practically squee-ing over the awesome large Arcanine, while Dawn as she had promised told Flannery more about how she (Dawn) had come to get Argent, as well as provide details about Argent.
After sufficient time for treatment was given, Flannery's Pokémon were ready to take on Kenny. The group went back to the Lavaridge Town gym, with Dawn this time sitting off to the side with Zatch, so that the two of them could observe Kenny's battle against Flannery. Kenny ended up winning against Flannery, with Kermit taking out Meg, Elay (Flannery expressed surprise upon seeing the shiny Sandslash) taking out Mag, and Godzilla taking out Torkoal. Within quick order, Kenny got his own Heat Badge, putting him at five Hoenn gym badges as well.
It was after Dawn and Kenny left the Lavaridge Town gym that the Nurse Joy from the local Pokémon Center came out to greet them, as well as inform them that she got a call from Steven Stone over at Devon Corporation, saying that the two Pokémon fossils taken from Lavaridge Town to Rustboro City had been revived, and that they were more or less waiting on Kenny to come before giving him and Ideku (who was already waiting at Devon Corporation) the chance to pick between the two fossil Pokémon Anorith and Lileep.
Dawn and Kenny immediately called out Tsukune and Black, hopped onto their respective legendary dragon Pokémon, then took off for Rustboro City.
...
Within a few minutes, Dawn and Kenny landed outside of Devon Corporation, recalled their legendary dragons, then rushed inside when Kenny excitedly ran in as if he couldn't contain his excitement, forcing Dawn to jog to try to keep up. They were stopped when Ideku, who met them on the ground floor, halted Kenny thus giving Dawn the chance to catch up.
"I'm just as excited as you are, Kenny," Ideku said, "But there's no need to run so fast you might accidentally ram into something. I mean, you almost left Dawn behind in the dust from the looks of it."
"Kenny has always had energy to spare," Dawn commented, "I often wonder where he gets his seemingly unlimited energy from."
The older roaming trainer nodded in understanding. "I got it from Katsuku that some of his classmates are of a similar vein. Well anyway, we need to go up to the second floor. That's there Devon Corporation's Pokémon fossil revival machine is located, as is the two Pokémon revived from those fossils that are waiting for me and Kenny to pick from."
"Lead the way, my good man," Kenny replied, gesturing for Ideku to lead him and Dawn up to the second floor. Nodding in understanding, Ideku gestured for the two reborn trainers to follow him.
...
Dawn and (especially) the boys were amazed to see the Anorith and Lileep that were revived from the fossils that they had worked hard to help Steven defend back in Lavaridge Town from the thieving mits of Team Scorn. Speaking of Steven, he was there, as was his father. "Yes, it does make sense for heroic trainers to get priority on deciding on if they want to pick from between Anorith and Lileep," Mr. Stone remarked, "They can be trained and used to help fight against Team Scorn, rather than end up as non-combative pets owned by wealthy and or important figures of foreign region governments." Gesturing to Kenny and Ideku, Mr. Stone went on, "I'll leave the decision on who gets which one to you boys."
Ideku turned to look at Kenny. "I'll be fine regardless of which one between Anorith and Lileep I get, so you can pick first, Kenny."
Kenny nodded in understanding to Ideku before turning to look at Anorith and Lileep, both of which were looking up at him. Kenny took a few moments to decide before ultimately turning slightly to focus mainly on Lileep. "Yeah, I'm honestly really feeling Lileep," Kenny admitted.
"Then I guess I'm taking Anorith," Ideku remarked.
Both boys were given the pokéballs that their respective fossil Pokémon went into, with Kenny using his pokédex to scan Lileep's pokéball to get quick details on the newest addition to his cringe posse. "Huh, Lileep's a girl," Kenny remarked, then after a moment of thinking about it went on, "I'll name her Sophie."
"Anorith is a boy," Ideku said as he scanned Anorith's pokéball with his pokédex, then after a moment said, "I'll name him Garnele."
The two fossil Pokémon both were happy to be going home with trainers, and also both accepted the nicknames they were respectively given. After Kenny and Ideku recalled Sophie and Garnele respectively, Steven asked in a casual, conversational manner what Dawn and Kenny were doing prior to them rushing to Rustboro City. At that, Kenny explained how he and Dawn had respectively earned Heat Badges from the Lavaridge Town gym, as well as how Dawn's shiny Makuhita had evolved into a shiny Hariyama.
Steven and the others were amused by the progress Dawn and Kenny were making in the Hoenn portion of their gym challenge tour, and Steven congratulated Dawn on evolving her shiny Makuhita. After that, Steven asked the three roaming trainers where the three of them were going next. Ideku said that he was going to head on over to Petelburg City to look into challenging the gym there, while Dawn and Kenny, who already had the badges from Norman, were planning to head on over to Fortree City, to challenge the gym there.
"Oh, you'll be passing the Weather Institute on the way," Steven remarked, "It's a very interesting place that you can learn a lot from, so I recommend that you check it out."
Kenny flashed Steven a thumbs up. "Will do, chief."
After all was said and done, the trainers took off from Devon Corporation. After they stepped outside of the company, Ideku called out his Dragonite, Dragoran, hopped on, and wished Dawn and Kenny luck before taking off into the air to head right to Petelburg City. After Ideku was out of sight, Dawn and Kenny called out Tsukune and Black, hopped on, and flew for Mauville City; the map told them to go east from Mauville City and go along Route 118, before making a turn to head north along Route 119 where the Weather Institute was located. After that, they'll eventually make a turn to head east in order to reach Fortree City.
But first, they'll visit the Weather Institute as Steven suggested.
Later that evening, right as sunset was fading into starry night, Dawn and Kenny had made camp on the intersection of Routes 118 and 119, planning to make for an early start in the morning to reach the Weather Institute. Before they went on Route 118, however, they stopped in Mauville City to rotate their respective parties a bit to prep for the battles they'll respectively have against Winona, the gym leader over in Fortree City.
According to the cheat sheet supplied to Dawn and Kenny by May and Max, battles against Winona will be four Pokémon per trainer, and that Winona will come at them with a team of Skarmory, Altaria, Pelipper, and a shiny Swellow. That being said, Dawn brought Chi-Chi to tango with Skarmory (a bit risky as Skarmory's flying trumps Chi-Chi's fighting but Chi-Chi's fire trumps Skarmory's steel), Germany to tango with Altaria (dragon versus dragon), Luna to tango with Pelipper (Luna is a Luxray, an electric Pokémon, to fight the dual water flying Pelipper), and Souji to tango with the shiny Swellow (rock beats flying). Tsukune and Zatch were still in Dawn's party, but she wasn't planning to use either of them against Winona, Zatch especially.
As for Kenny, he was going in with a party of Shallot, Android 21, Juan, Godzilla, Sophie, and for some odd reason Priestess. "Yeah, I'm not going to be using Priestess against a flying type gym," Kenny remarked.
"Then why did you rotate her into your party?" Dawn asked.
"Because I added both Shallot and Android 21," Kenny replied, "And I know Priestess won't like it if she's away while Android 21 tries to make moves on Shallot. And speaking of Android 21, I got a plan to power her up to help out with the battle against Winona." Dawn then observed Kenny take out the Razor Claw that he had been supplied with by Steven. Checking the time and seeing that it was a little past eight in the evening, Kenny nodded once in confirmation before applying the Razor Claw to Android 21. The item took effect instantly, causing Android 21 to glow brightly as a white silhouette as her form shifted and grew a bit.
After all was said and done, Android 21 was now a shiny Weavile. "Yeah, having a Weavile against the Fortree City gym will be a boon," Dawn remarked, "It's a solid choice to-"
"Weavile!" Android 21 cried out in annoyance, cutting Dawn off. Similarly, Priestess also cried out in annoyance, and when Dawn and Kenny turned to see what got Kenny's girls upset they saw the answer; Sophie was cuddling up against a surprised looking Shallot, even stroking the side of his face with one of her tendrils as she cried out in a cute flirtatious tone.
Kenny couldn't help but laugh in amusement. "Hot damn! Shallot's turning out to be a chick magnet!" Kenny laughed, "All three of my Pokémon who are girls are crushing on him!"
Seeing that Priestess and Android 21 were looking fit to march on over to where the new girl was trying to mack on their man, Dawn said, "You may wanna get the girls to settle down. They're looking fit to give Sophie a piece of their mind." Seeing what Dawn was on about, Kenny rushed over and picked Sophie up, holding her while getting his girls to settle down. Eventually, everyone had some dinner before packing it in for the night, wondering just what sort of wonderments awaited them over at the Weather Institute in the morning.
...
Meanwhile, at the undisclosed location where Team Scorn's Hoenn base of operations was set up, Admin Ninja was reviewing some papers in his office while Goemon sat on the small sofa off to the side. Ninja's Ninetales laid on the floor near Ninja's desk, fast asleep. "So what of Captain Ayumu's repeated failures in regards to our goals in getting a hold of those Pokémon fossils?" Goemon asked.
Ninja let out a mild sigh before turning his gaze up from the papers he had and over to his assistant. "Considering the combination of factors working against him," Ninja began, "Mainly with how certain trainers kept popping up to fight him off and the fact that the Kunai Sector is being stretched thin a bit in Team Scorn's operations here in Hoenn, it wouldn't be fair to Ayumu to penalize him too much. Although he did technically fail ultimately, Ayumu did as much as he could with what little he had. The most being done to penalize Ayumu is revoking a few bonuses he could have otherwise gotten with successes."
"And what of Captain Katou?" Goemon asked, "How will he fare?"
Setting down his papers, Ninja gave Goemon his full attention. "Unlike with Ayumu, Katou really can't afford to fail in his mission to raid the Weather Institute on Route 119 for a Castform that will be given to the assistant that... he... recently got. The only saving grace that will be allowed to Katou if he does fail will be if there honestly aren't any Castforms at the Weather Institute at the time of his raid."
"Let's hope for his sake that your First Captain is as gifted at planning ahead as I heard he is," Goemon remarked.
Ninja nodded in agreement. "Yeah, because if Katou fails and there's no valid excuse for it, then it won't just be his rear end that will be grilled. I have a bit of a stake in this as well." Goemon gave a single agreeing nod before stretching out on the sofa while Ninja went back to his papers. Although the efforts Team Scorn gave to try to steal those fossils ultimately failed, they by no means had any intention to fail in their other jobs here in Hoenn.
END, CHAPTER NINETY-NINE
Author's notes;
This chapter sees a lot of points covered; Dawn and Kenny earn a Heat Badge each putting both of them at five Hoenn gym badges respectively, Dawn's shiny Makuhita Zatch evolved into a shiny Hariyama, Kenny and Ideku get Lileep and Anorith respectively, Ideku heads off for Petalburg City, Dawn and Kenny make their way over to Fortree City with plans to stop off at the Weather Institute on Route 119 first, Kenny evolves Android 21 into Weavile, and Team Scorn secretly plots to acquire a certain weather controlling Pokémon to give it to a certain someone's new assistant.
Things will get exciting in the next chapter, which will be the one-hundredth chapter of this story.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Souji (male Rampardos), Zatch (male Hariyama; shiny), Tsukune (Palkia), Luna (female Luxray), Germany (male Garchomp)
Kenny's Pokémon: (one hand) Shallot (male Glaceon), Juan (male Pikachu; Libre), Android 21 (female Weavile; shiny), Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Sophie (female Lileep), Priestess (female Liligant; Hisuian; alpha)