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 sixteen: Relic Castle Raid
Dawn, Kenny, and Trip made it onto Unovan Route 4 just as the sun was setting for the night. The plan was for them to travel through Route 4 as much as possible while it was dark out and therefore cooler, in the hopes of making it through to Nimbasa City, not only putting them in range of their next gym battle in Unova, but also of catching up to Ash and his group. Dawn took out a map and read it while occasionally looking up from it, in order to figure out where exactly she and the boys were at right now. She looked back and forth from the map before nodding to herself, putting the map away.
Pointing straight ahead, Dawn said to Kenny and Trip, "If we just go straight ahead, it'll be the quickest way from here to Nimbasa City. We might even get there before sunrise."
"Hopefully there won't be a sandstorm catching us up on the way," Trip remarked, "It'll take ages for us to get the sand out of our hair."
Kenny inhaled through his nose, then exhaled through his mouth. "...I don't think there's gonna be a sandstorm catching us up. Well, unless a wild Pokémon uses the move while we're here on Route 4."
"According to the info that I got before we left Castelia City," Dawn began, "Route 4 usually doesn't have heavy sandstorm weather when it's dark. Only the Desert Resort area has constant sandstorm weather."
"Desert Resort?" Kenny repeated in a confused tone.
Dawn was about to speak up, but she got cut off before she could get even one word out. "My word!" an older gentleman's voice called out in surprised amazement, "Are you really Sinnoh Champion Dawn Berlitz?" Dawn and the boys turned in the direction that they heard the voice come from, and as such they saw an older gentleman dressed as a classical archaeologist come walking up. fair skinned, white hair with a white bushy mustache, he wore large round glasses, and his tan archaeologist clothes were pants and a matching long-sleeved top. He also wore sturdy boots that would come in handy in his line of work.
The reborn trainers were surprised by this archaeologist coming up to them. "May... may we help you, sir?" Dawn asked, "And yes, yes I am that very same Dawn Berlitz."
"Well first allow me to introduce myself," the archaeologist said as he gestured to himself, "I am Professor Daniel Forest, professor of archaeology."
"Oh, an archaeology professor," Kenny said, "Funny, the bros here and I have only ever met Pokémon professors so far, like Oak, Elm, Birch, Sinnoh's own Rowan, Juniper, and Juniper mentioned her dad is also a professor."
"Given that you all are Pokémon trainers, that'd make sense," the now identified Daniel said, "Anyway, my archaeology expedition and I have a campsite set up near the waters over in that direction." Daniel pointed west from where Dawn and the boys were going to trek upward. "We were originally doing work in the Relic Castle ruins in the Desert Resort," Daniel explained, "But our entire group was forced to flee."
That caught the attention of the reborn trainers. "You guys were forced to flee?" Dawn asked, "Why? What happened?"
Gesturing for the reborn trainers to follow him, Daniel replied, "I can explain at camp," Daniel replied before leading the way. A nagging voice in the back of her head told Dawn that there would be some merit to hearing out Daniel and his team, so Dawn had Kenny and Trip follow along behind her as they all went with Daniel to his group's campsite near the waters along Unovan Route 4.
...
"Team Scorn invaded the Relic Castle?"
The reborn trainers were shocked to hear that Daniel and his archaeology group were forced to flee from Relic Castle because Team Scorn had swarmed in. Looking around, Dawn saw that all of the others in Daniel's group, dressed similarly to him but with some mild variations here and there, and some of them looked like they had to do some fighting off recently.
One member of the archaeology team stood out to the reborn trainers, though; a young adult female archaeologist, slender of body and fair of skin, with yellow eyes and (surprisingly enough) pink hair, wearing cargo shorts rather than a pair of pants like what Daniel wore but the girl did wear a traditional 'archaeology' hat. This girl was tending to, to the surprise of the reborn trainers, a shiny Machoke, who looked like it had done a particularly great amount of fighting and had wounds that needed tending as a result. And that shiny Machoke was far from the only Pokémon of the archaeologists who needed tending to.
Gesturing to Dawn and the boys, Daniel said, "Yes. We were getting some charcoal rubbings of hieroglyphs that we found when we were confronted by Team Scorn. They drove us out while boasting that they were going to find whatever treasure there was for the taking down in Relic Castle."
"We were also forced to leave behind some rather expensive equipment," said the archaeologist girl tending to the shiny Machoke, "Our financiers will be very upset to hear that, although they might be mollified somewhat if we can prove we were forced to abandon it because Team Scorn attacked us."
"So Team Scorn drove you guys out of Relic Castle because they're aiming to raid the place for treasure," Trip summed up, "Makes sense for them to pull a stunt like that. Hopefully they won't get the idea to take any of the equipment they forced you to abandon, given that you guys said it was expensive."
Standing forward boldly, Kenny declared, "Worry not, good people who dig into the past! For I am certain I speak for Dawn and Trip when I say that the lot of us shall-" Kenny got cut off when he and the others heard something splash out from the waters behind them. Turning to look, Kenny was the first to see that it was just a wild Frillish; its solid pink coloration made it clear that it was a female Frillish. Seeing Kenny staring right back at her in a curious yet mildly confused manner, the Frillish gave a small but cute smile before crying out a bit.
Everyone then saw it as Frillish rose out of the water and floated right towards Kenny, nuzzling up against him. A bit surprised by this turn of events, Kenny with a look of slight remembrance in his eyes gently pushed the Frillish away. "Sorry, but not now," Kenny said, "My friends and I have to go rescue some valuable equipment that these good archaeologists were forced to leave behind." The wild Frillish looked a bit dejected, her expression Kenny caught a slight glimpse of before he turned to look back at the young lady archaeologist. "...What's your name?"
"Oh, I'm Mina," replied the now identified Mina as she gestured to herself. Once again, a spark of remembrance flashed in Kenny's eyes, albeit only briefly. But Dawn and Trip were able to catch it.
Gesturing to Mina, Kenny said, "So... Mina... can you lead us to Relic Castle?"
"Just let me recall my Machoke," Mina replied before she recalled her shiny Machoke. After that, she picked up a few full canteens of water; even though the desert was going to be cooler due to how it was night time, it was STILL a desert, so bringing water was always a good idea. The archaeologists offered some full canteens to the reborn trainers, but they had brought plenty of water with them before venturing out onto Unovan Route 4, anticipating the heat. With all preparations made, Mina led Dawn and the boys off to go to Relic Castle in the hopes of, at an absolute minimum, recovering the expensive equipment. The reborn trainers and Mina said that, if all goes well, they'll return to camp with the equipment at or shortly before sunrise.
Dawn noticed Kenny looking back to the camp a few times as they left, until it was no longer possible for them to see the camp.
Within short order, the reborn trainers and Mina made their way through the Desert Resort area and right to the entrance to the ruins of Relic Castle. "So what all were you guys doing down in Relic Castle before Team Scorn drove you out?" Trip asked as Mina led him, Dawn, and Kenny down into the underground ruins.
"We were studying the ruins themselves," Mina explained, "I believe that Professor Forest mentioned charcoal rubbings of hieroglyphs, but that's far from the only thing we were doing."
"You guys were planning on being respectful to the ruins, right?" Dawn asked, "No intention of raiding the place for treasures like what Team Scorn's up to?"
"Oh heavens no!" Mina replied, "We aren't even permitted to take out anything we find! Just survey the place and get maps drawn up for the second team that'll come in to collect only a few items to take out! We are allowed to do the charcoal rubbings, as well as take some photos. And whatever goods the second team does recover will go straight to a museum for examination, some research, and eventual display." Turning back to look forward, Mina said, "Anyway, we need to be sneaky here. We don't wanna alert Team Scorn to our presence, do we?"
As the group snuck on in deeper, Dawn turned to look at Kenny, who seemed lost in thought with a melancholy look on his face. "...Something up, Kenny?" Dawn asked, getting his attention.
Kenny gently shook his head, flashed a smile. "No, it's nothing, my dude." The group soon reached the bottom of the stairs that they were going down. Entering a hallway with a high up ceiling, the group snuck around carefully, not wanting to alert anyone to their presence.
As the were about to turn a corner, Mina held an arm out to keep the reborn trainers from proceeding. Dawn had heard the voices ahead before Mina, so she helped to keep Kenny and Trip back. Peeking around the corner, the heroes saw a group of a dozen Team Scorn grunts, plus a thirteenth grunt standing next to a tall dark-skinned man who, judging by his unique outfit, had to be an officer at least. He wore a dark blue short-sleeved cloth coat over a yellow shirt, pants matching the coat, dark blue boots with yellow laces, and a midriff exposing leather body armor (hence why the shirt was visible) that was dark blue. A yellow Team Scorn shield insignia with a dark blue 'S' was on the leather armor, above the man's left pectoral.
He was tall, sturdily built and had some notable muscle. He had dark skin, and was bald on his head although he did have a black goatee. The grunt standing with him was dressed like standard grunts, although he had handsome eyes (the rest of his face couldn't be seen due to his mask), and solid blue hair. Dawn and the boys focused on the tall dark-skinned man and his blue-haired companion. "...That must be the officer and his Assistant," Dawn remarked in a hushed whisper, "I'm betting they're a Captain and a Captain's Assistant respectively."
Over at where Team Scorn was meeting, one of the rank and file grunts said, "So what are we looking for again, Captain Hiroki?"
"Anything that looks valuable enough to sell on the black market for some scratch," the now identified Hiroki replied, "Although if anything is small enough and looks nice enough, it might be good to save it for the boss so he can put it on display in his office."
Holding up a hand, a female grunt in the grup said, "What about that fancy equipment left behind by the archaeologists we drove out of here?"
Mina was worried when she heard that female grunt mention the equipment, but relaxed a bit when Hiroki dismissively waved a hand. "All of that stuff is too big for us to make off with quickly, not to mention how some of it looks a bit unruly as well. Let's just focus on artifacts and treasures we can carry away easily."
Over where the heroes hid, Mina breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness they aren't planning to steal any of the equipment."
"Still," Dawn whispered, "They are planning to try making off with-"
"Mask?"
Dawn was cut off when she and the others heard something call up from behind them, thankfully not loud enough to alert Team Scorn. Turning around, Mina and the reborn trainers saw a wild Yamask looking up at them out of curiosity. Relieved that it was only an innocent wild Pokémon, Dawn and Trip tried to shoo it away, but they stopped short when Kenny, snapping out of his melancholy temporarily, gestured for Yamask to come over to him. Curious, the wild Yamask obeyed and slinked right up to Kenny's side.
Kenny pointed out the Team Scorn members while keeping himself and Yamask hidden. "...Those are bad guys, little one," Kenny explained to Yamask in a whisper, "We need to be-"
"Yamask!" the wild Yamask said, a determined look on its face as it immediately tried going to confront Team Scorn, only for Kenny to hold it back.
"Little one, we need a plan of action here," Kenny explained to Yamask, "Bravery alone won't win us the day here, especially since we're outnumbered."
As the wild Yamask settled down, it was Mina who first saw one of the Team Scorn grunts, with a Sandile by his side, go into a room off to the side while said grunt was saying, "Hey, I see a couple of antique looking vases in there! They might be worth something!" Mina and the others looked on after they saw the grunt and his Sandile go into that room. To their great surprise, however, the grunt and his Sandile both came rushing out a few moments later, and furthermore they were both on fire.
That caught the attention of the heroes. "That grunt and his Sandile go into a room," Trip muttered, "But then come rushing out with both of them on fire?"
Seeing the rest of the Team Scorn complement go into that room the fiery grunt came rushing out of, Dawn said, "...I have a bad feeling about what could be lurking in that room all of Team Scorn had just gone into."
"Oh yeah, now I remember," Mina said, "Another reason why my group was forced out of Relic Castle was because-"
"AHHH!" Mina was cut off when she and the others looked over at the entrance that Team Scorn had gone into, only for all of them save Hiroki and his blue-haired Assistant come rushing back out with some of their Pokémon, all of them common fare for villainous teams in Unova to use. Some of those Pokémon, as well as two of the male grunts, were also on fire.
Seeing the chaotic situation, Dawn said, "Guys, we're moving in." Turning to look at Mina, Dawn said, "You got a Pokémon who can fight, or is your shiny Machoke your only Pokémon?"
"I also own an Arbok," Mina replied, taking out and readying a pokéball.
Nodding in understanding, Dawn had everyone follow her, with Dawn herself calling out Chi-Chi, Trip calling out Mr. Popo, and Kenny about to call out Priestess but the wild Yamask insisted on helping out so Kenny got Yamask to agree to follow him. Thusly, the whole group ran out to where all of the Team Scorn grunts, none of them in any shape to fight the heroes, were trying to literally cool off, with some of the on fire grunts and Pokémon rolling around on the sandy floor. "I don't suppose that you villains need a hand?" Mina asked, her tone and expression bitter.
One of the female grunts calmed down enough to recognize Mina. "Hey, you're one of those archaeologists we drove out of Relic Castle so Captain Hiroki could lead us in to collect any and all treasure we could find."
"Just tell us what happened," Dawn demanded, her expression scowling.
Pointing to the room everyone had rushed out of, the male grunt with the Sandile said, "I saw some vases in that room, they looked small enough for all of us to carry out. I figured that they'd make for some decent treasure to haul out of here. But there's this powerful fire Pokémon in there, and it took me and Sandile out in no time! That thing in there is a monster!"
"It sent all of us packing too!" a second grunt called out, "Hell, I think Captain Hiroki and Captain's Assistant Nobuyuki are still in there!"
Looking at the present members of Team Scorn and knowing that they couldn't fight back, Dawn said, "Trip, Mina, keep an eye on our guests here. Kenny and I will look into that room." With Trip and Mina keeping an eye on the Team Scorn grunts, Dawn and Kenny, with the wild Yamask following Kenny, peeked into the large room that all of the Team Scorn members, aside from Captain Hiroki and the now identified Captain's Assistant Nobuyuki, came running out of. What the three of them saw took them by surprise.
Hiroki and Nobuyuki were both laying face down on the ground, both of them out of it but their bodies were slowly shifting with their breathing, showing that at least they were both still alive. However, flying in place before the knocked out Team Scorn members was a wild Volcarona, who was clearly steamed that its dwelling had been invaded by foul humans of ill intent. Turning her head back to look at Trip and Mina, Dawn said, "It's a wild Volcarona."
"Well that explains the fire," Trip said dryly, "So what's the situation?"
Gesturing to the room, Dawn said, "The Captain and his Assistant are unconscious and laying in the room with Volcarona flying before them. As much as they are bad guys, we still ought to go in and pull them out."
"How do you plan to do so with that Volcarona in the way?" Mina asked.
Pulling out a bag of red poképuffs, Kenny said, "This here bag of spicy poképuffs can be used to lure the Volcarona away. It's a fire Pokémon, so it ought to-" Kenny stopped short when the wild Yamask sniffed at the bag of spicy poképuffs, then cried out in a happy tone, signifying that it was enticed by the treats. Curious, Kenny pulled out a spicy poképuff and offered it to Yamask, to took it and bit into it; its eyes widened with enjoyment as it gave another happy cry before gobbling up the rest of the poképuff it was given. "...So you like spicy food, huh?" Kenny said, "That gives me an idea, assuming you're willing to help out, Yamask."
"What is it?" Dawn asked.
Gesturing to Yamask, Kenny said, "Yamask here takes the bag of spicy poképuffs in with it to go up to Volcarona, then offer it one after eating one from the bag to show Volcarona that they're good. While Yamask has Volcarona distracted with grindage, you and I go in and pull out the Captain and his Assistant."
"That's incredibly risky," Mina said, "And I'm fairly certain that Yamask as a species are somewhat skittish, so Yamask here may not want to-"
Yamask cut Mina off by confidently crying out, its expression like an assured grinning smirk, as it flexed its ghostly arms in a gesture to show that it was actually quite fearless. Seeing that Yamask was agreeing to help out, Mina didn't object further. Kenny then handed the bag of spicy poképuffs to Yamask and sent it in to go get the Volcarona's attention. The heroes saw Yamask go in but move off to the side while calling out to Volcarona, clearly trying to lure it away from where Hiroki and Nobuyuki both laid on the ground out of it.
Seeing Yamask take out a poképuff and eat it while Volcarona watched, Dawn and Kenny quickly snuck in while Yamask took out another poképuff and offered it to Volcarona, luring it closer to it and further from the downed humans. "Good, Volcarona hasn't seen us yet," Kenny remarked as he and Dawn were halfway to Hiroki and Nobuyuki, "Let's just grab the-"
"VOLCARONA!"
Kenny and Dawn stopped short upon hearing the Volcarona cry out in clear distress, shaking its head as Yamask looked surprised; a half-eaten spicy poképuff laid on the floor in front of Volcarona. "Crap, the Volcarona doesn't like spicy food!" Kenny exclaimed, "Yamask needs to get out of there!" Rather than try fleeing, however, Yamask tossed the bag of spicy poképuffs aside and, with its same confident expression, flexed its arms as it looked to be challenging Volcarona. All this did was net Yamask a Flamethrower right to its face from Volcarona, taking Yamask down instantly.
Kenny, who was aiming for Hiroki to carry out of there, immediately ran right to where Yamask fell against Volcarona. "Kenny!" Dawn called out, "What are you doing?! You're rushing right into danger-"
"I already left her behind!" Kenny called back, a determined look on his face as he turned back to look at Dawn, "I refuse to leave Yamask behind!" Dawn also saw a hint of troubled melancholy in Kenny's eyes, although all that hint did was fuel his determination to rush in and save Yamask, consequences to himself be damned. Seeing that Kenny could not be dissuaded from his reckless charge, Dawn resigned herself to confronting Volcarona directly. It was a good thing that Dawn didn't rotate her on hand party from when she battled Burgh for the Insect Badge, because she had with her Pokémon well equipped to deal with enemy bug types.
Especially the one she sent out to battle the wild Volcarona. "Alright, Souji!" Dawn said as she sent out her named Rampardos, "Let's get goin'!" The named Rampardos cried out in a challenging manner at Volcarona, getting its attention. Pointing forward, Dawn ordered, "Souji, use Rock Tomb!" Souji summoned down large rocks to fall down on and around the wild Volcarona, not only trapping it and keeping it pinned, but also doing significant damage to it. Looking over, Dawn saw Kenny scoop the wild Yamask up into his arms.
Dawn let out a relieved sigh, glad to see that Yamask was saved at least. Looking at where Volcarona laid pinned under the rocks, Dawn saw that it was on the verge of passing out. Seeing the opportunity before her for what it was, Dawn took out a Net Ball, expanded it, and threw it at Volcarona while saying, "Go, Net Ball!" The Net Ball flew at Volcarona, hit it, then took it inside before falling to the ground. The Net Ball then shook for a bit before it made a ping sound, indicating capture. Dawn then went over to collect the Net Ball that held her newly caught Volcarona.
Scanning the ball with her pokédex, Dawn saw the Volcarona was male, had a timid nature ("That explains why it freaked out badly upon being fed spicy food," Dawn said), and its ability was Flame Body. Looking at the Net Ball that held her newly caught Volcarona, Dawn said, "I'm going to be naming you Zancrow." After sending Argent who was on hand to Professor Oak's lab to make room in her party for Zancrow, Dawn turned her attention to where Kenny was holding the wild Yamask. But she wasn't prepared quite so for what she saw.
Kenny was crying. Tears in his eyes as he held the wild Yamask, Kenny apologized to Yamask over and over for literally having sent it into the fire, even rocking back and forth slowly as he sat on his shins. Dawn walked over and got a look at the wild Yamask, who was slowly coming to. "...It just needs a Revive and at least a Super Potion from what I can tell," Dawn said, "Then be allowed at least a night's worth of rest. Yamask will be good as new after that."
Kenny looked from Dawn to Yamask, who looked up at him and gently assured him that it was alright. Kenny winced again out of regret for sending a wild Pokémon to do a dangerous job for him, before offering to bring Yamask with him into the cringe posse. Yamask, as boldly as it could given that it did just take a beating, accepted, leading to Kenny using a pokéball to try catching it, succeeding in doing do. Kenny then checked Yamask's pokéball with his pokédex; it was male, had a brave nature ("That explains why he liked the spicy poképuffs," Dawn remarked), and the ability Mummy. "He's... his name will be Majora," Kenny said.
Dawn could tell that Kenny was going through a lot, so she nodded gently and proceeded to lead him back over to Hiroki and Nobuyuki so they could carry them out of the room. With everyone rescued and everything settled, the heroes were able to go about getting what Mina came for and getting out of Relic Castle.
It was still dark out when everyone got out of Relic Castle and back into the Desert Resort; there were four large things of equipment total for the archaeologists, and the only reason why it was doable for the heroes to carry all of it back was because Kenny had brought Zarbon along (he figured Zarbon's Stone Edge would help against Burgh). "It was awfully nice of you Team Scorn criminals to help carry one of the pieces of equipment for me," Mina remarked, mildly bemused.
"Well you heroes DID save Captain Hiroki and Captain's Assistant Nobuyuki," said the grunt with the Sandile, "Also we have no interest in that gear anyway. And since none of us are in any condition to try anything, this mission's a bust so we're going to have to withdraw. You heroes can count this as a win for you guys." The defeated Team Scorn members then took off, most likely to lick their wounds.
After Team Scorn had left, the reborn trainers and Mina turned to look at one another. "Well we got the equipment," Mina said, "Let's head back to camp." Dawn and the boys all cheered as they proceeded to follow Mina back to the archaeologists' camp, victorious over Team Scorn without having to actually fight them. The heroes felt as if nothing could go wrong.
...
Their feelings were proven wrong the moment they came upon the archaeologists' camp being attacked by a group of wild Pokémon native to Unovan Route 4, all of them clearly looking to raid for some food. Acting quickly, Dawn and Trip sent Chi-Chi and Mr. Popo in to fend the wild Pokémon off; Kenny would have sent Zarbon in, but Mina said that the named Machamp is needed to guard the equipment. Even so, Chi-Chi and Mr. Popo were able to fend off all of the wild Pokémon, saving all of the archaeologists who were still recovering from being driven out of Relic Castle by Team Scorn earlier.
However, one of the wild Pokémon, a Dwebble, was able to slip past and, seeing Mina, decided to lunge right for her. "Damn, Mina's in danger!" Dawn called out. The female archaeologist cried out in panic as the wild Dwebble went for her, even covering her arms over her face in a bid to defend herself. Dawn was about to send Souji out to fight the Dwebble off, but stopped short when something rushed in to intercept the Dwebble.
To everyone's surprise, it was the same female Frillish from before, taking a Bug Bite from the wild Dwebble. Although ghosts like Frillish resist bug attacks, Frillish was still taken down by Dwebble's attack. "That Frillish..." Daniel called out, "...She helped to fend off the wild Pokémon before you guys got back. She even took a few out. But she took a beating in return." Gently shaking his head, the older gentleman said, "I'm surprised that Frillish lasted as long as she-"
"GODZILLA, USE BRICK BREAK ON DWEBBLE!" Kenny bellowed angrily, sending out his named Tyranitar to attack the wild Dwebble to took Frillish down. Godzilla roared angrily right at Dwebble, stampeeding in a beeline right for it before striking it with a Brick Break attack, striking the Dwebble so hard he sent it flying towards a billboard along the road of Unovan Route 4, getting stuck in the billboard as a result.
Dawn and Trip were surprised by how... how vengeful... Kenny sounded when he ordered his Tyranitar to attack the Dwebble. Dawn was especially surprised, as she never saw behavior like this out of Kenny. Dawn had to admit to herself that she's seen a lot of behavior out of Kenny that she wouldn't expect out of him normally, at least ever since they got to Unova, but especially since they first got to Unovan Route 4. Dawn was further surprised by seeing Kenny go for the defeated wild Frillish, scoop her up into his arms, and hold her close to him as he proceed to, for a second time, cry his eyes out.
He also apologized to Frillish for leaving her behind, even though she indicated she wanted to party up with him. Kenny then asked Frillish if she still wanted to join the cringe posse, to which Frillish gave a weak but happy yes, still worn out from the fighting she did to help protect the archaeologists and their camp site. Similar to how he had previously caught Majora, Kenny used a pokéball to catch the Frillish, successfully catching her. Frillish was obviously female as she was a pink Frillish (males of the species are blue), and scanning her ball with the pokédex showed she had a gentle nature and the Cursed Body ability. After Kenny sent an on hand Pokémon to Oak's lab to make room in his party for Frillish, Mina asked, "So Kenny, you planning on naming your Frillish?"
Kenny looked down at Frillish's ball, thought about it for a moment, then turned to look up at Mina and the others. "Yes. I'm naming her Mina."
"Heh," Mina the archaeologist chuckled, "I'm flattered you'd name a Pokémon after me."
Dawn then yawned and stretched her arms into the air. "Hoo boy, what time is it?"
Checking his watch, Daniel said, "My goodness, it's almost five in the morning!" Looking to the rescued equipment, Daniel said to the other archaeologists, "Well let's get the gear loaded into our jeeps, then pack everything up. The expedition to Relic Castle was a bust, so we'll have to report to our financiers over in Nimbasa City."
"You guys are heading to Nimabsa City?" Trip said, "Huh. That's where Dawn, Kenny, and I were heading before we stopped short to help you guys out."
"You don't say?" Daniel remarked, "Well, would you kids be willing to accept a ride to Nimbasa City from us? We do kind of need you as eye witnesses to confirm to our financiers in Nimbasa City about Team Scorn's involvement at Relic Castle."
Yawning again, Dawn replied, "So long as Kenny, Trip, and I can rest both our Pokémon and ourselves first. I think the boys and I have been up for almost a full twenty-four hours by this point, so we REALLY need to get some rest." Daniel laughed in good nature as he accepted the condition, saying that he and his team need to rest as well. The reborn trainers were then directed to climb into a jeep and sit down while everything else is loaded up. It took a few moments, and Kenny and Trip both ended up clonking out before the packing up was done.
But soon enough, the jeeps all got going. The drive along the paved road of Unovan Route 4 was swift and smooth, and the group got to Nimbasa City in only one hour, whereas on foot Dawn and the boys would have taken most of the night. Before the group reached Nimbasa City however, Dawn looked to where Kenny fell asleep in his seat, a troubled look on his face as he slept. As the convoy of jeeps entered Nimbasa City, Dawn wondered if she could ask Kenny about why he had freaked as he did while they were in the desert.
She could only hope that Kenny would be willing to give at least a few details as to what was making him tic.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN
Author's notes;
This chapter ended up being a LOT longer than what I had been anticipating, but then again this WAS a chapter dedicated to trying to develop Kenny's character, trying to show that he's not one-hundred percent class clown all the time, that he DOES have his serious moments. This chapter also saw Kenny make two new catches while Dawn makes one, and in the end the group makes it to Nimbasa City. The next chapter will have some moments in the beginning dedicated to wrapping up a few loose strings from this chapter, as well as see Dawn and the boys vouch for what happened at Relic Castle to the financiers of the archaeologist expedition.
Also, the group is now in Nimbasa City, where Admin Swordsman killed Bianca's father, then battled Ash to a stalemate before fleeing when Ash collapsed from a sudden headache. The reborn trainers are going to be asking about that, no doubt about that. But it'll have to wait until later.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Souji (male Rampardos), Zancrow (male Volcarona), Phoebe (female Tepig), Sluggo (male Snubbull), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Zarbon (male Machamp), Mina (female Frillish), Giyu (male Oshawott), Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Majora (male Yamask), Black (Giratina)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Myde (male Empoleon), Byron (male Bastiodon), Fourze (male Electivire), Mr. Popo (male Magmortar), Deelia (Dialga), AkiBot 966 (Golett)