Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai

Chapter One-hundred and five: Space Center Shuffle, part two

Dawn and Kenny, following along behind Steven Stone, Mossdeep City gym leader Tate, and Tate's parents Jin and Rachel, were rushing off towards the Mossdeep City Space Center. The reason being that it was currently under attack by Team Scorn, a new up and coming villainous organization that first cropped up while Dawn and Kenny were going through the Johto region as part of their Gym Challenge tour. The heroes had no idea what exactly Team Scorn would be wanting with the Mossdeep City Space Station, but the villains had to be stopped either way.

To make things worse for the heroes, Tate's twin sister and co-gym leader for the Mossdeep City gym, Liza, had previously blew up emotionally and ran off right before word reached the heroes that Team Scorn was attacking the Space Center. The reason being that she ultimately fears that Tate, who had finally been able to achieve some degree of being able to stand on and by his own after scoring his first win against her in a Pokémon battle, won't be needing her anymore, and in that way she'll 'lose her brother'. Although concerning to the heroes, it was something that they had to tackle later. Team Scorn attacking the Space Center takes priority.

Upon rushing right into the Space Center's front lobby, the heroes saw a scant few trainers trying to fight off Team Scorn members. The normal grunts on their own outnumbered the heroic trainers trying to fight them off just a bit over two to one. But that wasn't all; Kimura, Felecia, and Goemon, the Assistants of the two Captains and one Admin of the Team Scorn Sector in Hoenn, were there as well, standing by and supervising the conflict. Seeing that the Officer's Assistants were the biggest names on the ground floor of the Space Center, Dawn, Kenny, and Steven went right for them.

"What manner of chaos are you trying to pull off here at the Space Center, Team Scorn?" Steven demanded angrily.

Shrugging, Felecia replied, "I'm not quite sure. All that Admin Ninja said as he took Captains Katou and Ayumu upstairs with him was that they were planning to send some manner of surprise to the Devon Corporation in Rustboro City."

The champion of Hoenn instantly became alarmed when he heard the Officer's Assistants of Team Scorn's Kunai Sector mention his father's company. "Send a surprise to my father's company? From the Space Center in Mossdeep City?"

"Ninja actually specified that the 'surprise' that he and the Captains were going to send was for the company itself," Goemon spoke up, "And not for any one person in or at the company. I think he means the surprise is for the company's building itself."

Shrugging, Kenny scoffed, "What does the Admin and his two Captains plan to do, huh? Mess with the control panels or whatever to have a rocket sent flying straight at the Devon Corporation building to destroy it?"

Kimura opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped short upon realizing that Kenny had made a decent guess. "...That might actually be a valid guess."

"It would also be totally disastrous if it ends up happening," Steven said, his expression firm and serious yet he was sweating as well as paling a bit, "If the Devon Corporation building is destroyed like that, the the last major business in Hoenn not affected by the casualties from the recent riot in Lilycove City will be ravaged. It'll help to compromise Hoenn's economy even further, not to mention how many lives will be lost."

"If it helps," Kimura began, "Ayumu-sama, Captain Katou, and Admin Ninja are aiming for this to claim as few lives as possible. Team Scorn isn't in the business of taking lives without very good reason."

"There's never a good reason to take lives!" Steven said as he tossed up a pokéball, "Skarmory, I choose you!"

Tossing up a Luxury Ball, Kenny said, "Okay, Ban! Let's make it cringe!"

Dawn tossed up a Luxury Ball as well as she called out, "Alright, Zatch! Let's get goin'!"

Skarmory stood in the middle as a Sableye appeared on its left and a shiny Hariyama appeared on its right. Kimura, Felecia, and Goemon sent out a Salandit, an Eelektrik, and a Sableye respectively.

"Huh, that's actually pretty amusing," Goemon said to Kenny, "You and I not only both have Sableyes, but we're using our respective Sableyes against each other right now as we speak! Mirror matches can be pretty amusing, you know!"

"Yeah, but there's a difference between your Sableye and Ban here," Kenny remarked, his tone and expression serious.

Goemon looked on a bit with a mildly confused look on his face. "...You nickname your Pokémon and I don't?"

"...Well that too," Kenny replied, "But what I was talking about is the fact that Ban, unlike your Sableye, is strengthened by the power of cringe! Just like all of my other Pokémon!"

"Power..." Kimura said, looking and sounding mildly confused, "...Of cringe...?"

"It's a Kenny thing," Dawn replied, "Anyway, it's clear that you won't let us pass without a fight, even if Steven didn't initiate things here." Pounding a fist into her hand, the Champion of Sinnoh went on, "I hope you're ready, because Kenny, Steven, and I are about to show the lot of you why we're as strong as we are!" The three Officer's Assistants in Team Scorn's Kunai Sector readied themselves for what was bound to be one of the toughest battles that they would face as part of their sector's work there in the Hoenn region.

Meanwhile, in the large, spacious control room of the Mossdeep City Space Center, Ayumu and Ninja stood by as Katou was working a command console. "You've verified that the rocket we're going to be sending to crash into the Devon Corporation building in Rustboro City is unmanned, right Katou?" Ninja asked.

"It's one-hundred percent occupant-free, Admin Ninja," Katou replied as he fiddled away with typing in commands, "Technology is truly becoming more and more marvelous by the day. What all we're doing to send an unmanned rocket to fly into and destroy the Devon Corporation building would have been impossible this time a little over a decade and a half ago. But then again with funding issues in the Hoenn region, even back then, it's kind of a given."

Ninja nodded in understanding, folded his arms over his chest. "Good. As soon as the rocket's sent blasting off to its destination, we'll call ahead to warn whoever is in the target to at least give everyone a chance to vacate and flee before the building's destroyed. It'd be rather difficult to issue a warning to someone if the someone in question is dead."

As the Team Scorn officers continued to talk and carry out their scheme, Liza was hiding nearby, having previous run into the Space Center to be alone after her blowup. The female twin was shocked to hear what the villains were talking about; they really were going to send a rocket flying off to crash into and destroy the Devon Corporation building over in Rustboro City. It does little to alleviate the situation that Team Scorn is specifically sending an unmanned rocket, and they plan to warn the people over in the Devon Corporation building so that they have time to vacate.

As she hid, Liza froze up when she heard a Ninetales call out, "Nine?" in a curious tone. Liza turned her head and saw that a Ninetales was casually trotting up to her. It sniffed at the side of Liza's head for a moment, then proceeded to lick her ear, gently swaying its tails as it did so.

"Shhh," Liza hushed to the Ninetales, then pointed out where Ninja, Ayumu, and Katou were. Whispering, Liza said to the Ninetales, "Those are bad guys over there. They're trying to-"

Liza was cut off when the Ninetales's disposition towards her instantly soured for some odd reason; its expression looked unamused, and it was even growling in a likewise tone. The female twin, unsure and a little worried about why the Ninetales suddenly became hostile, tried to get the Ninetales to calm down, but that all went flying out the window the moment that Ninetales loudly cried out, "NINETALES!" in an aggressive tone.

The all of Ninetales was instantly picked up by Ninja, Ayumu, and Katou although the last of those three didn't turn away from his work. "Ninetales?" Ninja called out, "What's wrong, buddy?" Hearing one of the Team Scorn officers address the Ninetales in a friendly manner made Liza realize something that she should have picked up on; Ninetales belonged to one of the bad guys. No wonder its disposition towards Liza soured when she referred to the Team Scorn officers as 'bad guys'. It doesn't take kindly to people addressing its trainer in a negative manner.

Ninetales raised its head up as a a dark sphere of energy appeared in front of its open muzzle, then it lowered its head in a rush at Liza as it tried hitting her with Dark Pulse. Screaming as she rolled out of the way like a rolling Graveler, Liza soon got up and ran out of the room to flee. "There was someone hiding in here?" Ninja said, "Ayumu, go after that girl!"

"On it, sir!" Ayumu replied as he immediately took off to pursue Liza.

With the Second Captain running off to track down and apprehend Liza, Ninja said, "Katou, I'll be searching around this room for any other persons hiding out. You keep working on getting that rocket to blast off towards the destination we've picked out for it."

"I've never stopped working on getting that ready, sir," Katou assured his admin, "And I won't stop until our mission here is a go." As Katou continued to work away, Ninja and his Ninetales proceeded to search around the room for anyone who could be hiding around there. It was bad for them that there was one person who was hiding and was able to run out; Ninja had to send Ayumu after that girl, which reduced the number of Team Scorn members there to get that rocket sent flying right towards the Devon Corporation building in Rustboro City. They couldn't really afford to divvy up their forces that they brought with them.

But with a loose end like the girl that Ninetales had found and alerted them to to presence of? Ninja needed to make sure that there weren't any other persons hiding in the room, and any who are found would be apprehended and bound to keep from being able to throw a wrench in their plans.

Back down on the ground floor of the Space Center, Dawn, Kenny, and Steven had just finished defeating Kimura, Felecia, and Goemon. Ban was panting with exhaustion, Skarmory took some heavy hits and was hissing in pain, and Zatch like Ban was exhausted but not as badly as Ban. "It looks like these guys will have to sit out the fight against the Team Scorn officers trying to hijack a rocket here at the Space Center," Kenny remarked as he regarded the Pokémon that he, Dawn, and Steven all had out at the moment.

As the heroes recalled their tired Pokémon, Goemon shrugged as he said, "So you whooped me, Kimura, and Felecia. Big whoop." Pointing at the heroes, Goemon went on, "We kind of figured that we'd go down to you three. I mean, Kenny alone had previously defeated me AND Ninja in a two-v-one, and I know both Steven and Dawn are region champions. The other Officer's Assistants and I losing this battle was pretty much a safe bet from the get-go." Goemon then gave Dawn and the boys a rather serious look. "...But we didn't have to beat you."

"...You all were simply buying time for your Officers to carry out their plan," Steven scowled.

"Ding-ding," Felecia said, "That's the idea."

"Well good luck trying to stop us from getting to your Officers now!" Kenny laughed, "Because we'll-"

Kenny was cut off when he and the others heard a blasting sound as the ground rumbled. "A rocket was just sent blasting off!" Jin yelled from where he was grappling with a Team Scorn grunt while Rachel held the heads of two other Team Scorn grunts under her arms, one each per arm, "I don't know what Team Scorn has planned, but that rocket has to be taken down!"

As the Officer's Assistants turned to look back at the heroes with gloating expressions, Ayumu came running down the stairs from an upper floor. "Kimura!" Ayumu called out, "Have you seen a girl running around her-" Ayumu stopped short upon spotting Tate. "That's the girl right..." Ayumu began, but stopped short, "...No, that's a boy! But the girl I'm looking for looks very much like that boy!"

"Liza's here at the Space Center?!" Dawn exclaimed, catching the attention of Tate, Jin, and Rachel, "Where is-"

"Hey Ayumu!" a voice came on over some intercom system at the Space Center, "This is Katou from the control room! That girl you were chasing out of the room? Yeah, I just saw a video feed of her scrambling into one of the rockets outside! Go check to see which rocket she's hiding in!"

Looking to Kimura, Felecia, and Goemon, Ayumu said, "You guys, back me up on this one!"

As the Officer's Assistants ran with Ayumu, Dawn said, "Kenny, Steven, you go stop them! I'm going to go after that rocket and take it down!"

"How do you intend to take down a rocket?" Rachel called out.

Dawn took out one of the pokéballs that held an on-hand Pokémon of hers. The ball in question was a Master Ball. "I'll have Tsukune strike it down out of the sky with Spacial Rend," Dawn said, "I'll also have it aimed to land in the water."

Jin turned to look at Kenny and Steven. "My wife, son, and I will go with you guys. We can-"

"I..." Tate spoke up, catching his father's attention, "...I think that I ought to go with Dawn instead. If that can be managed, that is."

"Tsukune can carry more than just me," Dawn replied, "It shouldn't be a problem." The heroes, now divvied up into two groups, ran to their respective destinations, with Dawn and Tate running outside to fly after the rocket, and Kenny and Steven leading everyone else after the Team Scorn members going outside to check the rockets that didn't blast off.

...

Standing outside the front entrance of the Space Center, Dawn called out Tsukune, her Palkia. Tate was awestruck to see the legendary Pokémon right before his eyes. "Tsukune," Dawn began to her dragon, "A rocket was launched from the Space Center here. We believe it's going to fly into and destroy an important building over in Rustboro City. Tate and I need to climb onto your back, take off, and chase down the rocket. Do you understand?"

Tsukune nodded in agreement as it turned around so its back was to Dawn and Tate. The two humans got onto the back of Palkia, then the legendary Pokémon took off into the skies above. Flying with the general aim towards Rustboro City, Dawn and Tate were looking around for signs of the rocket. Tate, as if sensing something, turned his head to look, and lo and behold, he spotted the rocket, flying in a path from Mossdeep City to Rustboro City as if it were more a missile than a spacecraft. "It's over there!" Tate called out.

At Dawn's order, Tsukune turned and flew right to the rocket. However, what they saw upon getting close enough alarmed them as well as set a great degree of fear into Tate's heart; Liza was seen looking out of one of the windows of the rocket that Dawn was going to have her named Palkia take down. "Is that Liza?!" Dawn exclaimed, "What the hell is she doing in there?!"

"...No wonder I was able to sense where the rocket was," Tate said grimly, "My twin sister's inside of it!"

"Tsukune, change of plans!" Dawn said, "We need to rescue the girl inside of that rocket before you can take it down!"

The named Palkia nodded in understanding as it flew towards the rocket. The rocket was big enough for Tsukune to land standing on it, making things look like the legendary Pokémon was riding the rocket as if it were a surfboard. Tsukune bent over, ripped the door that Liza was looking out of the window of out, and held its hand out for Liza to take. When Liza, understandably, was too scared to move, Tate climbed over, shimmied down Tsukune's outheld arm, then reached in and grabbed his twin sister's hand, pulling her out of the rocket and into his arms.

After Liza was rescued (she was also able to blurt out that she was the only person in the rocket), Dawn had Tsukune take off from where it stood on the rocket. Luckily for the named Palkia, it held out its left arm, which Tate had shimmied down as previously mentioned, and now Tsukune was holding both twins in its left arm. This left its right arm free, which was important as Tsukune is slightly more accurate with Spacial Rend when doing it right handed. Flying about thirty feet above the rogue rocket, Tsukune conjured and cast its Spacial Rend attack, striking the rocket below with enough force to bend it slightly, as well as send it sinking straight down to the surface that was located directly below everyone.

The rocket landed with a gargantuan splash in the waters of Route 124, but kept torpedoing straight towards the sandy shores located at Lilycove City. Luckily, the downed rocket began losing momentum, giving those on the beach who saw it approach plenty of time to flee. By the time that the downed rocket reached the shores of Lilycove City, it only slid in by about a hundred feet before it came to a complete stop, laying there like a beached Wailord.

Dawn, having seen all of that, let out a sighing breath of relief. She then perked up when she heard a girl crying out loud; looking down, Dawn saw Liza crying as Tate held her as Tsukune held the both of them. The female twin was crying due to being scared by what happened, as well as crying out of relief. Liza was overwhelmed in an emotional sense, so she had to let it out. Tate, for his part, merely continued to hold his sister, wanting to keep her close. Seeing that everything was a-okay now, the Champion of Sinnoh let out a sigh.

"We're going to have to zoom back to Mossdeep City," Dawn said, "Get you twins back home. I'm going to tell Kenny, Steven, and your parents what had happened. I have no doubt what happened here will make the news. Steven is going to be busy for quite some time yet, I bet." At Dawn's direction, Tsukune turned around and flew off towards Mossdeep City. As the group flew, Dawn noticed it as Liza eventually fell asleep in her brother's arms, feeling as if things were going to be okay now, given that her brother was there.

It was a sight that made Dawn feel a sense of longing for something as she directed her legendary dragon towards Mossdeep City.

When Dawn got back to Mossdeep City, she was greeted by Kenny, Steven, Jin, and Rachel, the the last two of that list receiving Tate and Liza from the named Palkia. Dawn was also updated by Kenny and Steven about the Team Scorn situation. It turns out that Kenny's crazy guess (which Kenny admitted was nonsense that he pulled out of his ass) about Team Scorn sending a rocket to fly and crash into Devon Corporation in Rustboro City was actually wholly accurate, although he also got it that Team Scorn specifically wanted to hijack and send an unoccupied rocket, and they were planning to phone ahead to Devon Corporation to warn them and give the people there time to run away.

Steven even got it that his father received the threatening phone call in question, and that Devon Corporation was still in the middle of evacuation. According to the timing estimates Steven got from his father, everyone would have barely gotten out of there in time. Of course, Dawn taking down the rogue rocket by having her Palkia strike it down with Spacial Rend saved loads of trouble. Dawn's actions even made the news and painted her as a hero, even more so when it was revealed she helped to rescue someone in the rocket before taking it down.

Dawn asked about the presence of Team Scorn, and Steven replied that they all withdrew while the heroes and all other persons were distracted by the rocket going off on a crash course towards Devon Corporation. Although Team Scorn got away, they didn't get away with their ultimate scheme here, even though they were trying to work it to ensure as few as possible (they would prefer zero) lives were taken. The reborn trainer had no idea what to make of Team Scorn's ideology when it came to the taking of lives; Kimura said that Team Scorn 'isn't in the business of taking lives without very good reason'.

Team Scorn did actively try to reduce casualties here to as low of a number as they could get, and during the riots that they participated in in secret, Team Scorn let the disenfranchised lower and working class rioters do everything, including taking all of the wealthy elite lives lost that day. But Dawn still knew that Admin Brother of the Katana Sector killed Ms. Akeno of Blackthorn City Academy, and Dawn heard that two teen girls from Lilycove City's lower class neighborhood went missing, with nothing but a stain of their mixed blood left behind on the floor. Dawn wasn't sure if that was related, or if the girls who left blood behind were alright.

All that she knows is that Team Scorn is, for lack of a better way to put this, anything but predictable.

...

"...So yeah," Kenny said to Dawn as they talked alone in private after things were settled. Holding up a Mind Badge, Kenny went on, "I was given this for my service in fighting off Team Scorn from their shenanigans here in Mossdeep City. Tate and Liza both agreed that I had more than proven that I was strong enough to show that I could beat them in a real gym battle."

Dawn nodded in understanding. "That, and Liza's probably too emotionally overwhelmed to properly focus on battling a challenger in a gym battle." Looking up into the skies above, showing that the sun was setting, Dawn went on, "So Tate and Liza talked things out a bit, and Tate assured Liza that he's always going to want her around, helping to do away with her fears of 'losing her brother'." Dawn had a somber, forlorn look on her face, in her eyes, as she looked into the orange sunset skies that were above Mossdeep City at that time.

Kenny did not fail to pick up on the silence coming from his friend, did not fail to see the look on Dawn's face, in her eyes. "...Dawn," Kenny began, "My main man, is there something that's-"

"Piper lost me."

"Piper?" Kenny reacted to a name he hadn't heard of prior to now. "Who the hell is Piper?"

Dawn let out a resigned sigh. "...My younger sister I had in my previous life. She was into Pokémon at least as much as me. If I recall correctly, Piper was a sixteen year old sophomore in High School at the time of my fatal asthma attack. Piper's a member of her school's Anime Club, which consisted entirely of girls just like her fangirling over all of the various animes they watched."

Kenny nodded along in understanding. "Hey Dawn," Kenny began, "You know how guys have anime waifus and girls have anime husbandos? Did this Piper girl have an anime husbando, and if so who is it?"

"Oh, Piper did indeed have an anime husbando," Dawn replied, a hint of amusement in her expression, "But that's a story for another time." Getting up from where she and Kenny sat, Dawn stretched as she said, "Anyway, we need to go see Steven and ask if he could arrange transport for us to Sootopolis City, or if we have to huff it there ourselves."

Shrugging, Kenny said, "Maybe we can convince one of the news helicopters that came here to get a scoop from us and Steven to give us a lift."

"If you think it'll work," Dawn replied, "But first we'll ask Steven." Regardless of what happened there in Mossdeep City, Dawn and Kenny still had to finish up the Hoenn portion of their Gym Challenge tour. As of right now, they only needed to hit up Sootopolis City, earn the badge from the local gym there, and then they'll be free to go back home to Sinnoh, where they'll relax before heading off to Unova.

To, among other things, catch up with Ash Ketchum.

END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND FIVE

Author's notes;

Here we see Team Scorn attempt their most heinous act to date. I say 'attempt' because not only are most of them defeated and they all flee in the end, but Dawn takes down the rogue rocket before it could even come close to causing significant damage. Liza is also reassured that Tate won't leave her hanging, and seeing the brother-sister bond between the twin gym leaders of Mossdeep City reminds Dawn of her sister Piper she had in her previous life as Don Barret. Dawn feels bad about how she had left Piper the way that she did. As someone who lost a sibling, it resonates with me.

Anyway, the next chapter will see Dawn and Kenny reach Sootopolis City, where they'll get their final Hoenn gym badges each before ultimately heading home to the Sinnoh region, where they'll take care of some surprises before heading off to Unova. Ash is still there in Unova, so the reborn trainers are hoping to play catch up, so as to travel with Ash again once more.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Souji (male Rampardos), Zatch (male Hariyama; shiny), Tsukune (Palkia), Luna (female Luxray), Albedo (female Gliscor)

Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Shallot (male Glaceon), Juan (male Pikachu; Libre), Android 21 (female Weavile; shiny), Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Sophie (female Lileep), Cell (male Scizor; shiny)