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 seventeen: Nimbasa News
Kenny and Trip had to be roused from their slumber in the back of the jeep they and Dawn rode in when the archaeologists' jeep convoy entered Nimbasa City. The jeeps first drove to some archaeology society building in Nimbasa City so they can drop off the recovered equipment, then Mina the archaeologist drove the reborn trainers over to the Nimbasa City Pokémon Center. There, Dawn and the boys handed over their Pokémon to the Nurse Joy for being looked over and treated; Kenny and Dawn especially, given that Kenny had his two new catches on hand while Dawn had her new catch on hand. The Nurse Joy, after taking their Pokémon to give them a look over, remarked that Dawn and the boys also looked like they needed some rest, and directed them to the Pokémon Center's bunk room.
The reborn trainers, tired as all get out, were barely able to change into sleepwear before passing out in beds. They didn't wake up until a little bit past two-thirty in the afternoon, by which point all of their Pokémon were fully checked out and rested. "Hey Kenny," Dawn said as she and the boys were alone, "I've been meaning to ask why you were acting... well... different from normal last night. Unless of course it's too touchy a subject for you, in which case I apologize for overstepping any bou-"
"No no, it's fair you'd ask that," Kenny replied, a hint of trouble entering his expression. Kenny let out a troubled sigh. "...My Frillish Mina, she reminds me of a girl that I knew in my previous life," Kenny said, catching the attention of Dawn and Trip. "A sweet enough girl," Kenny said, "Always tried to go along with me wherever I went, always wanted to be in my company. Even I could tell full well she was romantically interested in me. At first, I kept her away, but eventually she won out." Kenny offered a small but sad smile. "I guess she got to me, huh?"
"I guess so," Dawn said, "So... what was her na-"
"Mina." Dawn and Trip both stopped short when Kenny gave the name of the girl he was romantically involved with. "...Yeah, it's part of why I got so worked up when the Frillish I would eventually catch tried getting close," Kenny said, "Why I was taken by surprise by Mina the archaeologist giving us her name." Sighing, Kenny went on, "I was also pretty much the only person in our neighborhood who bothered to show enough care for her. She... was something of a pariah due to rumors that she engaged in self-harm."
Both Dawn and Trip sucked in cringing breaths. "Yeouch," Trip remarked.
"No foolin'," Kenny replied, "There was this one mean girl who seemed to have it out for Mina, although she never did anything serious. ...Up until I had publicly humiliated the mean girl by giving her a dressing down that pointed out what all was wrong with her as a person, similar to how Brian in that one episode gave Connie a dressing down while drunk, except I wasn't drunk when I gave the mean girl a dressing down. I think she swore vengeance on me for that, because she promised that she'd make me hurt for daring to embarrass her."
"What did she do to you?" Dawn asked, worried what the answer would be.
Instead, Kenny gently shook his head. "...That bitch did nothing to me, at least directly. But she DID lead an attack on Mina, brutalizing her and landing her in the hospital." Dawn and Trip were both shocked to hear what Kenny said. "...Yeah. It... it really messed me up what happened to Mina," Kenny said, his tone getting a little bit quieter, "Silver lining, all of the guilty persons were charged and sentenced, and the bitch even got life without chance for parole." Kenny let out a sigh. "...I didn't learn of the attack on Mina until after I got back from a convention. It was another friend of mine, I forgot his real name but I wanna say it's Darius, who told me what had happened to Mina."
Dawn and Trip had no idea what to say. "I'm... I'm sorry about that, Kenny," Dawn remarked.
Kenny nodded once in acknowledgement. "I was waiting for her to wake up in the hospital at the time I died saving a kitten from getting run over. I was hanging with some other friends, Lin and Kyo, at the time. I think I remember seeing Lin collect and hold the kitten I saved before I died, and when I woke up I saw that I had Isekai'd. The rest is history."
"Lin and Kyo," Trip remarked, "Your Purrloin and Zorua." Kenny nodded in confirmation. Dawn also noted how Kenny said that it was Lin the friend who held the kitten he died saving, and Kenny named his Purrloin, who's basically a kitten Pokémon, Lin. Might it be that it was the reason why Kenny named his Purrloin Lin?
Kenny nodded once. "I... I will admit that I was trying to run from some dark thoughts," Kenny said, "A lot of my friends in my previous life were dealing with some heavy stuff. But Mina... she helped make my heavy stuff not so heavy. She helped to do away with some of the stuff that was weighing me down, allowing me to be the funny fun-loving guy that a lot of people in this world know me as." A hint of depression entered Kenny's expression. "...Then I died before she woke up. I'm loath to think what Mina would do when she hears that, especially since she actually did have physical evidence of engaging in self-harm. I... I try not to think about it, which is part of why I'm focusing on finding the perfect cringe with which I can sustain my lifeforce."
"And how you freaked over Yamask?" Dawn asked.
Gently shaking his head, Kenny explained, "Majora reminded me of my friend who I think his real name was Darius. He was the kind of guy who boldly took on challenges whenever they came up, to the point that he blurred the line between bravery and recklessness. He made even me look cautious at times. He also had a fondness for TLOZ games, to the point that he gave himself the nickname Majora, and used it more often than his real name." Folding his arms over his chest, Kenny said, "I guess Majora using his self-given nickname is why I'm not entirely sure on what his real name was."
Dawn folded her arms over her chest, wore a serious yet understanding expression on her face. "That would explain why you freaked upon seeing Majora go down against Zancrow back when they were both still wild Pokémon, as well as why you went balistic on that Dwebble when it knocked out Mina the Frillish when she was still a wild Pokémon."
"Well, you caught Mina and Majora now," Trip said to Kenny, "They're rolling with you. That means you won't have to worry about leaving them behind again."
Kenny sniffled a bit. "...Yeah, yeah I don't have to worry about abandoning either of them ever again."
Stretching her arms into the air, Dawn checked the time on a wall clock in the bunk room she and the boys were in. "...We ought to get ready for what parts of the day are left. That includes having to meet with the financiers backing Daniel's archaeology group and confirm that Team Scorn really did show up to cause some ruckus over at the Relic Castle." Kenny and Trip both nodded in agreement, then after they all got dressed and had something to eat, they left to go see Daniel to tell him they were ready to give their side of the story to help explain what had happened, in the hopes that it'll convince the financiers backing the archaeologists to not be TOO mad that the expedition had floundered.
"I don't give a Rattata's fanny about the equipment! It's enough of a win for me if you and all of the men with you got away from Team Scorn safely!"
Dawn, Kenny, and Trip stood behind Daniel and Mina (the archaeologist) as they all stood in a large office room on the top floor of an office building run by the financiers who backed the archaeology expedition into Relic Castle. The group was currently meeting with the head financier, a man in his early sixties, dressed in a brown business suit with matching dress pants. He also wore a white dress shirt under the suit top, a red tie, and shiny black dress shoes. The man was fair skinned, was balding but had a semi-ring of graying hair around his head, he had a bushy mustache of similar color, and he was very clearly obese, looking to weigh well over 190kg.
He showed some anger with Daniel and Mina, but it was clearly borne solely for concern for the well-being of them and their archaeology expedition. Calming down, the head financier said with a concerned expression, "I'm just glad that you guys are all alright. I'd be besides myself with worry if one of you got hurt." As Daniel and Mina apologized to the head financier, the reborn trainers could tell full well that the archaeologists were worried about their financiers reading them the riot act for being forced to leave the equipment behind for nothing. The financiers were clearly wholly benevolent people, especially the head financier who was clearly a model for kindly older men everywhere. Dawn even felt that he'd be the perfect grandpa.
"Now then," the head financier went on, "Regardless of the outcome of the incident, we'll still need to fill out an incident report. And you said that the trainers behind you helped drive Team Scorn away from Relic Castle, right?"
"Dawn and Kenny even each caught a Pokémon at Relic Castle," Mina said. True to form, Dawn and Kenny called out Zancrow and Majora to show to the head financier. When talking about what to put down in the incident report concerning Team Scorn's involvement, Majora indicated that he had seen Team Scorn up to their evil. Seeing the Pokémon indicate that they encountered Team Scorn helped to further back the claims of Team Scorn involvement at Relic Castle, and the head financier even found some delight in giving treats to Majora and Zancrow, as did a few other older gentlemen who were part of the financier company when said men came into the office.
The older gentlemen expressed surprise that Majora gobbled up the red spicy poképuffs, but got some kindly chuckles out of it when Zancrow delighted in eating the pink sweet poképuffs. They did find it strange that Majora refused to eat the pink sweet poképuffs and Zancrow refused to eat the red spicy poképuffs, but Dawn and Kenny explained that Majora doesn't like sweet flavor while Zancrow doesn't like spicy flavor, which brought understanding to the older gentlemen. Soon enough, the incident report was filled out, and the reborn trainers were allowed to take their leave.
...
Outside of the financiers' building, Dawn and Trip stretched their arms as Kenny called out Majora and Mina. He gave his ghost Pokémon a serious look before relaxing his expression and gathering Majora and Mina into a group hug, making both ghost Pokémon give happy cries. Kenny, the smile on his face small but calm and at peace, then recalled Majora and Mina. "...Sorry, I just had to do that," Kenny said to Dawn and Trip.
Shrugging, Trip replied, "Hey man, it's no big deal. Our Pokémon need to know that we care about them."
Stretching her arms into the air, Dawn said, "We ought to get our respective parties ready, boys. We're in Nimbasa City now, meaning we're in range to challenge the Nimbasa City gym."
"The leader's Elesa, and she uses electric Pokémon," Trip remarked, "So ground types are the way to go."
Kenny looked a bit troubled, feeling like he didn't want to rotate his party. But he realized that he needed to be strategic if he wanted to get Unovan gym badge number four, especially since Mina, who's a Frillish which is dual water ghost, would get zapped hard in an electric gym. As such, the reborn trainers all went back to the local Pokémon Center so that they could rotate their parties to best help them against Elesa the electric Pokémon user.
Dawn rotated her party around so that she had Shadow (her west sea Gastrodon) and Germany (her Garchomp) on hand for dealing with Elesa's gym. Dawn also kept Chi-Chi on hand (she knew Earthquake), and kept Zancrow (her Volcarona) on hand as well because she wanted to work on his training. Zancrow already knew both Flamethrower and Bug Buzz, but Dawn also wanted him to pick up Psychic and Giga Drain, hence why Dawn also had Leni (her Lucario) who knows Psychic, and Akiza (her Roserade) who knows Giga Drain in her party to round things off.
Kenny was going in with a team of Roshi (his Torterra), Elay (his shiny Sandslash), Priestess (his alpha Hisuian Liligant) who is resistant to electric attacks, Giyu (Kenny still wants to train him), Moista Fista (his Ursaring, who he says hasn't seen any action in a while thus needs to stand up), and finally Godzilla (who knows Earthquake). As for Trip, he was going in with Fourze (his Electivire), David (his Gliscor), an east sea Gastrodon named Tsunade, Veda (his Abomasnow), AkiBot 966 (his Golett, who he wants to try to get some training in for), and lastly Deelia (his Dialga, who Trip says is just there to look cool).
Given the time of day, the reborn trainers figured that Elesa would only be able to take one challenge from them, with Kenny volunteering to go first. Dawn and Trip, wanting to see where Kenny was going with this, decided to humor him. Thusly, with the plan of Kenny going first against Elesa, the reborn trainers made their way to the Nimbasa City gym.
Upon arriving at and entering the Nimbasa City gym, the reborn trainers saw Elesa herself talking to, surprisingly enough, the local Officer Jenny. Elesa, who looked as she did in the anime from the reborn trainers' previous lives, didn't look to be in any legal trouble, and was merely giving a statement. By chance, Elesa looked over and saw Dawn and the boys. "Oh, I didn't know I'd be getting challengers right now," Elesa said, alerting the Officer Jenny to the presence of Dawn, Kenny, and Trip.
"We... didn't come at a bad time, did we?" Dawn asked.
"I was just getting a statement from Elesa here about her spotting some Team Scorn members in Nimbasa City early this morning," Officer Jenny said, "Around five in the morning or so. The citizenry of Nimbasa City are still nervous about the last time there was Team Scorn presence here, especially since a Team Scorn officer had straight up murdered a man during the last time Team Scorn was here in Nimbasa City. And that guy used a friggin' longsword, no less."
Dawn nodded in understanding. "We know. We got some details since a friend of me and Kenny's, Ash Ketchum, were involved and had battled the Team Scorn officer who murdered a victim." Dawn and the boys then proceeded to give their names when asked.
"Well I'll be!" Officer Jenny said, "The rumors really were true! Sinnoh Champion Dawn Berlitz is in Unova!" Relaxing a bit, Officer Jenny went on, "I take it you're here in Unova to help fight off Team Scorn?"
"That," Kenny replied, "And earn gym badges from the gyms here. Also, we're hoping to catch up to Ash."
Elesa smirked in amusement. "Well that will explain why you all are here. Although with what I got caught up in, I really only have time to take one challenge from you kids."
Pointing to Kenny, Trip said, "Yeah, Kenny said he wants first crack, although I believe we should wait until after Officer Jenny here is done getting a statement from you. We don't wanna obstruct justice or whatever."
Smiling in mild amusement, Officer Jenny replied, "I was just about done anyway. Elesa was just describing a possible Team Scorn officer she saw, as well as a Team Scorn rank and file who was with said suspected Team Scorn officer."
"Oh yes," Elesa said, "I can't help but still think about the grunt who was with that possible Team Scorn officer. It was a young lady, mid to late teens, and I could tel full well even though she had a mask up that she had a cute and lovely face. That, combined with how plump she was, made me wish she wasn't a villain as she'd make for the perfect plus-sized model that the modeling agency I work for could sign on."
"A plus-sized model?" Kenny said, sounding mildly confused.
"Not every girl out there is as slender and petite of body as most fashion magazines would have you believe," Elesa explained, "The modeling agency that I work out of knows that, hence why it's looking for a cute fat girl to sign on as a plus-sized model."
Dawn nodded in understanding. "I actually know a plus-sized girl. She's the teenage daughter of a lady who my mom is friends with. Said girl is also rather keen on fashion."
"Get her in contact with me," Elesa said, "If she impresses me like that Team Scorn girl did, then I'll look into getting her signed on to the modeling agency. We're... actually rather desperate to find someone to fill up the plus-sized model position, especially since all other positions are filled up."
Shrugging, Kenny said, "Wow, I'm surprised a high end fashion line actually wants a fat girl to model for them."
"Girls come in all sizes," Dawn pointed out, "And expecting all girls to be one size just isn't fair, not to mention it's kind of shallow." After all other matters were settled, Officer Jenny took off, allowing Elesa to lead the reborn trainers into the stadium of her gym so that she could take Kenny's challenge.
As Dawn and Trip were expecting, Kenny defeated Elesa, thus earning the Bolt Badge. However, how Kenny earned it took Dawn and Trip by a bit of surprise. He sent Giyu, his Oshawott, out first thing against Elesa's Emolga. Right away, Elesa called for Emolga to use Electro Ball, hoping to score a quick and easy knock out and get a bit of a lead on Kenny.
Kenny had anticipated this, so he swapped Giyu out and sent in Elay, surprising Elesa by showing that he owned a shiny Pokémon, while also worrying her because said shiny Pokémon is a Sandslash. Elay took the Electro Ball without trouble, then went on to take Emolga down with Rock Tomb. Elesa recalled her fainted Emolga and sent out her Tynamo, to which Kenny swapped Elay out and Giyu back in.
Elesa called for Tynamo to use Tackle, but Kenny called Giyu back and sent out Roshi, who tanked the Tackle like a champ, right before lurching forward to use Crunch on Tynamo, taking it out quickly. Elesa then recalled Tynamo to send out her last Pokémon, Zebstrika, while Kenny recalled Roshi to send Giyu back out. Elesa, once again, tried calling for the use of an electric attack on Giyu, having Zebstrika use Wild Charge on Giyu.
Kenny called Giyu back and sent Elay back out, who took the Wild Charge without trouble, then used Earthquake after eating a Quick Attack from Zebstrika, taking out Elesa's final Pokémon and netting the win for Kenny. "Not bad, Kenny," Elesa said as she awarded Kenny a Bolt Badge, "You really had me guessing a whole lot during our battle just now."
Chuckling a bit, Kenny replied, "Well that my style. I like to-" Kenny was cut off when Giyu came out of his pokéball suddenly, hopped up in mild excitement (which was still a lot of excitment given it came out of Giyu), and cried out a bit. Before Kenny could ask what was going on, Giyu proceeded to glow brightly in white, his form both shifting in shape and growing slightly in size. When the glowing, growing, and shifting was done, everyone saw it that Giyu had evolved into Dewott.
"Well alright, Kenny," Trip said, "Giyu had evolved into Dewott."
"YES!" Kenny cheered, pumping a fist into the air, "Giyu is one step closer to achieving perfect cringe!" Giyu the (now) Dewott looked up at his trainer, giving him a dry and bewildered look. As for Dawn, she gently smiled a bit, glad to see that some of Kenny's known silliness had returned in full.
...
Back at the local Pokémon Center, Trip was watching Dawn work with Zancrow, Akiza, and Leni in a battlefield behind the Pokémon Center when Kenny came out to see them. "Well I rotated my party around again," Kenny said, "I kept Giyu and Moista Fista on hand, but rotated Lin, Kyo, Majora, and Mina into the team."
Trip turned to look at Kenny, shot him a knowing look. "...You're close to your Pokémon named after friends you once had, huh?"
Kenny nodded in the affirmative when Dawn called out, "Zancrow, girls, that's enough for today." Looking over, Kenny saw Dawn recall her Volcarona, Lucario, and Roserade. Walking up to the boys, Dawn said, "Well Zancrow's progress in learning Psychic and Giga Drain is going smoothly enough. I think that if I keep at it with the current pace I'm doing, Zancrow will get those moves down pat sometime before we hit Driftveil City."
"Volcarona is a powerful Pokémon," Trip remarked, "And I'm certain that there's at least one gym here in Unova that a Pokémon like Volcarona would utterly dominate."
Dawn nodded in agreement. "Yes, not to mention gyms beyond Unova." Given the time, the reborn trainers decided to pack it in for the night, given that Trip and Dawn had to challenge Elesa the following day. They needed to get as much rest as possible, hopefully being able to restore their slightly off kilter sleep schedule which was messed up by them being up for almost twenty-four hours before getting to Nimbasa City.
The following morning, after the reborn trainers got up, freshened up, and had some breakfast, they went over to Elesa's gym where Trip would have his go at Elesa. Similar to Kenny, Trip won on his first try, seeing Tsunade take out Emolga, Fourze take out Zebstrika, and AkiBot 966 take out Tynamo. It was a surprise to Dawn and Kenny that AkiBot 966, having hatched recently, was able to take out a gym leader's Pokémon, especially as it didn't have too much focus up until now. But Tynamo only knows the normal type move Tackle, and AkiBot 966, being a Golett which is part ghost, rendered all of Tynamo's efforts moot.
After Trip was awarded a Bolt Badge, Elesa's Pokémon needed to be rested before Dawn could take Elesa on. In the meanwhile, Dawn focused on getting in some more training for Zancrow, continuing to have Leni and Akiza work with him to help him learn Psychic and Giga Drain. It was during a break that Dawn had her Pokémon take during the afternoon that she was told by the Nurse Joy that Elesa was ready to take her challenge. Dawn nodded in acknowledgement before recalling her Pokémon she was working with so that she could go to the Nimbasa City gym to try to earn the Bolt Badge herself.
Dawn won against Elesa rather handily, seeing Chi-Chi take out Emolga, Shadow take out Tynamo, and Germany take out Zebstrika. With Dawn's victory over Elesa, this meant that all three of the reborn trainers now had Bolt Badges. This brought them one step closer not just to having eight Unovan gym badges, but also to catching up with (or in Trip's case, meeting) Ash. Something that they couldn't wait for.
...
"They thought that your shiny Machoke was a wild Pokémon?"
Before Dawn and the boys could leave for Driftveil City, they met up with Mina the archaeologist, whose group was getting ready to head out to a dig site somewhere that, according to Mina, the financiers backing her group said ought to put them far away from Team Scorn's known stomping grounds. "Oh yeah," Mina said, "Those evil jerks thought that my Machoke was wild and tried capturing him. They gave up upon seeing that Machoke wasn't a wild Pokémon, though."
Dawn wore a serious look on her face. "...I remember the boys and I being told that part of some prior Team Scorn-backed chaos here in Nimbasa City involved Team Scorn looking into rumors of a wild shiny Pokémon being brought in to the local Pokémon Center, but those rumors proved false." Dawn and the boys figured that what they had initially dismissed as a side-quest in foiling Team Scorn's efforts might need a bit more focus after all, although why Team Scorn was aiming specifically for a shiny Pokémon that was still wild was a mystery, as they could more easily steal a shiny Pokémon that belonged to a trainer already.
As they saw off the convoy of jeeps out of Nimbasa City, Trip stretched his arms into the air. "Well guys, I bet we ought to get going now."
"If we leave for Driftveil City right now and don't stop until we have to camp for the night," Dawn began as she took out and looked at a map, "Then we ought to get about halfway through Unovan Route 5."
"Sounds like a plan, my dude," Kenny said, leading the way as Trip and Dawn (who put the map away as she did so) followed him out of Nimbasa City, and onward to further adventure. However, none of them knew of the adventure that they would have between Nimbasa City and Driftveil City.
...Deelia might know of it, though.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN
Author's notes;
This chapter sees some tying up of loose ends from the previous chapter, as well as further explain why Kenny acted the way he has on and off since coming to Unova. The financiers of the archaeology expedition also show up, but prove to be wholly benevolent as opposed to angry as the archaeologists fear (the head financier was angry, but only because he thought the archaeologists were needlessly endangering themselves; the head financier really is a 'kindly grandpa' type), and the financiers even give treats to Majora and Zancrow.
The reborn trainers then encounter Elesa, learn about another Team Scorn sighting but this time it had a fat girl who Elesa wished wasn't in Team Scorn so she could have signed her on to her modeling agency as the much-needed plus-sized model, the they eventually get to battling her for their sorely needed Bolt Badges. After all of them succeed there, they meet up with Mina the archaeologist one last time before her group heads off to another archaeology dig that the financers say ought to be a lot safer. Don't worry, Mina and her group will return later for more Unova shenanigans.
...The shenanigans that you OUGHT to be worried about will go down in the next chapter, shenanigans that are only possible thanks to Deelia.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Germany (male Garchomp), Zancrow (male Volcarona), Shadow (male Gastrodon; west sea), Akiza (female Roserade), Leni (female Lucario)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Moista Fista (male Ursaring), Mina (female Frillish), Giyu (male Dewott), Lin (female Purrloin), Majora (male Yamask), Kyo (female Zorua)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) David (male Gliscor), Tsunade (female Gastrodon; east sea), Fourze (male Electivire), Veda (female Abomasnow), Deelia (Dialga), AkiBot 966 (Golett)