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 twenty-three: Trainers of the Lost Ruins
After Juniper had led her dad, Cedric, over to the camp outside of Chargestone Cave following her collecting him after he stumbled out of said cave, he was set up with a meal to eat in order to recover better. Juniper and the heroes decided to eat with him as well, thus leading to one big banquet where, among other things, they all got to enjoy Cilan's cooking and Kenny's camp out curry. Once Cedric had finished off his first serving, he let out a sigh, feeling much better now that he had gotten something edible in his stomach.
"So, Daddy Juniper," Kenny began, "Why were you looking near to collapsing?"
"I... I had to run," Cedric said, "Also, 'Daddy Juniper'?"
Shrugging, Kenny defended, "Both you and Aurea are called Professor Juniper, so to make things easier for all of us, she'll be Juniper and you'll be Daddy Juniper."
Sighing, Dawn said, "Actually Kenny, I've taken to mentally referring to Professor Juniper and her father as Juniper and Cedric respectively." Turning to look at Cedric, Dawn added, "Umm, I hope you don't mind me using your first name."
"Actually, your way of referring to me and my daughter makes more sense. I'm down for it if everyone else is." After everyone else had agreed to it, Cedric said, "There we go. Now then, as I was saying, I had to run. I had discovered what I believe might be the Hero's Ruins, which in old tales and legends is where the Hero from the hero's legend is said to have communicated with the legendary Pokémon Zekrom. But I was found by members of that detestable Team Scorn group, and they tried to capture me and force me to work for them. I had barely escaped."
"Team Scorn is at the ruins you found?" Ash nearly exclaimed.
Dawn had a grim look on her face. "...Figures that Team Scorn would be interested in a ruin that has some connection to the legendary Pokémon Zekrom. They are already gunning for Reshiram."
Cedric scowled bitterly. "...Yes, I figured as much as well. What's odd is that Team Scorn who chased me away clearly thought that the ruins would lead to info on Reshiram, even though it's actually connected to Zekrom."
Trip scoffed. "Well either way, Team Scorn getting any lead that'll put them in range of capturing one of Unova's legendary dragons will spell bad news for everybody else that's involved."
"Yes," Cedric remarked, "I got it that Team Scorn here in Unova is after info that'll lead to Zekrom and Reshiram. If even just one of those two falls into Team Scorn's hands, their threat level will rise to surpass what even the infamous Team Rocket who are based in Kanto and Johto can field." Cedric shuddered involuntarily. "Just the idea of BOTH of them being in Team Scorn's sway would be an absolute nightmare."
Standing up firmly, Ash said, "So let's go back to the ruins." With all eyes on him, Ash said, "We have to stop Team Scorn. Stop them from succeeding in getting their hands on Zekrom and Reshiram. The entire world is at stake if Team Scorn succeeds."
"Hear hear!" Iris instantly agreed, "There's no way we can allow Team Scorn to capture either of Unova's legendary dragons!" Once everyone had eaten, and Cedric got enough of his breath back, the older Professor Juniper led the heroes up to the Hero's Ruins, in the hopes of stopping Team Scorn from succeeding in their scheming to get a hold of whatever leads they could find to bring them closer to either (or both) of Unova's legendary dragons.
A short while later, everyone made their way to the Hero's Ruins, although they had to go through Chargestone Cave, through the woods after that, go up a rock wall (the legendary dragons that the reborn trainers had helped out a lot with that one), and eventually had to camp out for the night. The following morning, however, they made it to the entrance to the Hero's Ruins. "You think that Team Scorn might have gone in and raided the place after they chased you off, Cedric?" Dawn asked.
"Maybe," Cedric replied, "Although there are traps and hieroglyphs and the like in the ruin. Unless they brought with them someone similarly as knowledgeable as I am when it comes to the study of the lore of Unova, then then either they forced their way all the way through via trial and error, or they're going to try to get a hold of me again and force me into helping."
The heroes each got a pokéball ready to send out a Pokémon, aside from Ash who already had Pikachu on his shoulder, and Iris who had Axew in her hair. "Oh, I'd like to see Team Scorn try to pull a fast one on us!" Kenny exclaimed, "Onward! To adventure!" With Cedric leading the way, the group all entered the Hero's Ruins, intent on putting a stop to whatever it was that Team Scorn was up to.
...
Inside the ruin, the heroes and Cedric looked around. Already, they saw the wrecked remains of a boulder trap, as well as a Venipede statue turned around to the left. Cedric went over to examine this. "...Ah, it says to NOT turn the Venipede statue to the left," Cedric remarked as he examined some inscriptions, "Doing so triggered a boulder trap."
"It's looking like Team Scorn triggered the traps ahead of us," Dawn said, "Maybe we'll have an easier time of navigating the Hero's Ruins?"
Cedric nodded once. "Maybe." Cedric then proceeded to lead the group further into the ruins. After passing through a pathway that was made open due to the boulder trap being activated, the group came upon an area with two suspension bridges and a separate pathway. Two signs that obviously were brought in from outside, one in front of each suspension bridge, both said to take neither path and instead go for the separate pathway. Both signs also bore the Team Scorn insignia.
"...It looks like Team Scorn was doing the trial and error thing after all," Cilan remarked, "They tested everything and are setting up warning to other members of their group so as to avoid things which could be trouble more than once."
"It also has the benefit of making the Hero's Ruins easier for us to navigate," Bianca pointed out, right before she and the rest of the group took the separate pathway. After taking the separate pathway, the group eventually arrived at three cave pathways. One had a Darumaka symbol, one had a Korkorok symbol, and the remaining one had a Golett symbol. Similar to the case with the suspension bridges behind the group, signs were places in front of both the Darumaka and Korokorok pathway entrances, warning that both were booby-trapped and that only the Golett pathway was safe. Both signs also had the Team Scorn insignia on them.
Dawn carefully peered into the pathways with warning signs, being careful to not go in herself. "...Yeah, I can see why both of these are booby-trapped."
"As much as I don't like them given that they're criminals," Ash said, "I hope none of Team Scorn were physically hurt."
Bianca had a grim look on her face. "The only way to truly hurt that bastard who killed my father is to do something that would take his freedom away. Physical injuries on him won't cut it."
The heroes then proceed through the Golett pathway. After getting inside, they found themselves in a room where there were multiple empty coffins, as well as a spot that looked like one of the coffins was there but now there's no coffin. There were also signs that there had been some furious Pokémon battling recently, and the remains of a revolving door had been smashed to oblivion, leaving just a big gaping hole that the heroes would be able to go through. Doing so, the heroes came upon a room with large glowing pillars.
There was... also something else there. Or rather, someONE else. A number of someone, really, those being Captain Hidaka and her group of Team Scorn members from the last encounter. "Team Scorn!" Ash yelled, "What are you doing here?!"
"Looking for anything that could help lead us to getting a hold of the legendary Pokémon Reshiram," Hidaka said as she, along with her Captain's Assistant Saori, stepped forward to confront the heroes. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Hidaka went on, "Unfortunately, by the time we got to this room, we saw that the pillar that looked like it might have had a special treasure resting on it was bare." Shrugging, Hidaka added, "Silver lining, Saori and I caught a Cofagrigus and a Sigilyph respectively when they attacked the company here, but they're both too worn out from our efforts to catch them to try to stop you would-be heroes."
"You fiends," Cedric scowled at Team Scorn, "Daring to defile the Hero's Ruins in your ultimate scheme to do something the opposite of heroic! And why do you think what perverted evil you're doing here will lead you to Reshiram? These ruins are where the Hero of Legend communicated with Zekrom!"
Hidaka and Saori both had confused looks on their faces. "Zekrom?" Hidaka said, "Who, or probably rather what, the hell is Zekrom?"
Gesturing to Hidaka, Cedric said, "Oh, don't play dumb with me! Zekrom is a legendary dragon Pokémon, and the counterpart of Reshiram! They're two sides of the same coin!"
"Wait a minute," Saori began, "There's TWO legendary dragon Pokémon of Unova? We legitimately thought that there was only Reshiram!"
Dawn did a face-palm, sighing in a resigned tone. "Great, we just gave the bad guys a major hint that could help them make things worse for everyone aside from themselves."
Hidaka took a step back, prompting Saori to do the same. "Men, defeat these would-be heroes!" Hidaka called out, "Saori and I would have joined you had it not been for how our Pokémon are all in no shape to battle!" Hidaka's prompting triggered the beginning of a massive battle in the Hero's Ruins, where actual heroes fought the villains that dared to defile the sacred sanctuary.
Although the battle was massive, and saw the heroes outnumbered, the heroes still triumphed in the end. Scowling in annoyance, Hidaka said, "Well it looks like I'll have to report another failure to Admin Swordsman. You troublesome lot are really making me look bad." The members of Team Scorn then took off from the Hero's Ruins, leaving the heroes behind in their dust.
"We ought to hurry after them," Trip said, "They may try to trap us in the ruins here!" At Trip's prompting, the heroes and Cedric all quickly followed along the same path that Team Scorn took off in.
Eventually, Team Scorn was seen running out of Chargestone Cave, with the heroes' group not long behind them. Team Scorn took off into the distance, leaving the heroes victorious for the time being. "Well we did defeat them," Dawn said, "And from the looks of it they failed to find any treasures or whatever, although the Captain and her Assistant each getting a new catch in might be a problem."
"And as it turned out," Kenny went on, "Team Scorn had no idea about Zekrom, up until Daddy Juniper told them about it."
"Please don't call me daddy anything," Cedric said.
Turing to look at Cedric, Kenny said, "You gave the bad guys a major hint that could help them! You have it coming at least until-"
"KROKOROK!"
Kenny was cut off when he and the others all heard a Krokorok cry out. Turning to face the direction that the cry came from, the heroes saw a Krokorok wearing sunglasses, and it was looking challengingly at Ash's Pikachu. Pointing at the Sunglasses Korkorok, Iris said, "That Krokorok is the Sandile that attacked us when we were at a hot springs! I recognize those sunglasses anywhere! It must have evolved at some point!"
As the Krokorok nodded in confirmation to Iris.
Seeing the Krokorok challenging him and Pikachu, Ash said, "You ready for this, buddy?" Pikachu gave a battle-ready amsued smirk as he hopped off of Ash's shoulder to battle the Sunglasses Krokorok.
"Imma just head back to the camp that Aurea's got set up outside of Chargestone Cave," Cedric said, "Good luck with the battle, Ash!"
"I was going to keep calling you Daddy Juniper until we all got back to the camp," Kenny said, "But since we're breaking off here apparently, I'll just call you Daddy Juniper the next time I see you." Pointing an accusing finger at Cedric, Kenny said, "You have it coming for giving Team Scorn info they can use to screw over the rest of us, you know!"
As he ran for the camp outside of Chargestone Cave, Cedric yelled back, "Knowing Aurea and her dislike for Team Scorn, she'll probably agree with you!" Kenny, once he saw that Cedric was fully out of sight, turned his attention to where Ash and Pikachu were facing off against the Sunglasses Krokorok.
However, the moment Kenny did so, an explosion made by Krokorok's Stone Edge colliding with Pikachu's Electro Ball went off, sending both Krokorok and Pikachu flying. "We need to find them!" Ash said, clearly worried for not just Pikachu, but also the Krokorok who was (currently) a wild Pokémon.
...
As the heroes searched for Ash's Pikachu, they were met up by the Sunglasses Krokorok, who seemed intent on finding Pikachu as well. Figuring that Krokorok's desire to face Pikachu would be helpful, Ash asked it to help him and the others find Pikachu, to which Krokorok agreed and, as if sensing where Pikachu was at, ran off in some odd direction, prompting the heroes to give chase.
Eventually, they came to a neighborhood area where they came upon a shy looking boy who was holding Pikachu. "So Pikachu," the boy said, "What moves can you use aside from Thunderbolt?"
"Quick Attack," Ash called out, getting the boy and Pikachu to turn to face him, "Electro Ball, and Iron Tail." Pikachu leapt out of the boy's arms and ran over to Ash.
The shy boy looked a bit fearful of what Ash and the other heroes might do. "Sorry if I caused any trouble."
"Nah lil' man, I'm sure I speak for Ash when I say that you're cool," Kenny spoke up.
Ash nodded in agreement with Kenny, then he, Kenny, and the rest of the heroes introduced themselves to the shy boy, who gave his name as Mick. "You actually have a cool name, Mick," Kenny remarked, "I like you sty-"
"Holy crud, I thought that you looked familiar to me!" Mick said excitedly at Dawn, cutting Kenny off in the process, "You're Dawn Berlitz, the Champion of Sinnoh! So the rumors of you being in Unova are true!"
Dawn nodded once to Mick. "Yeah, I am. Now Mick, what's your story?"
Mick looked a bit down to the ground, nervous to have attention on him. "...You see, two kids named Glenn and Sean were having a Pokémon battle-"
"Aren't you and kids your age too young to be trainers?" Iris interrupted.
"Iris, please," Ash said, "You're being rude."
"Besides, a make-believe battle ought to be fine for them," Cilan went on.
Turning to look at Mick, Dawn gestured to him. "...As you were."
Nodding once to Dawn, Mick said, "Thanks. Anyway, Glenn and Sean wouldn't let me join them in battling, suggesting that I find a Pokémon of my own. I said that I'd find a rare one and use it to put them in their place. Shortly after that, Pikachu fell into my lap." Looking at the group of heroes, Mick said, "I know this might be asking for a lot, but can I borrow a Pokémon from one of you guys?"
Iris looked like she was about to speak up as if to tell Mick off mildly, but she got cut off when Trip stepped forward. "You said there were two kids, Glenn and Sean, right?" After Mick nodded in the affirmative, Trip went on, "Then you ought to borrow two Pokémon from us, use them in a double battle with those boys, and mop the floor with them." Holding up a ball that held one of his on hand Pokémon, Trip said, "You can borrow Metroid, my Galvantula."
Holding up a ball that held one of her on hand Pokémon, Dawn said, "You can borrow Zancrow, my Volcarona."
"Awesome!" Mick practically exclaimed, "Thank you both so much! Oh, what attacks do they know?"
"Zancrow knows Flamethrower, Bug Buzz, Psychic, and Giga Drain," Dawn said.
Trip, looking surprised, said, "Actually, I need to check Metroid's moves still." Trip scanned Metroid's ball with his pokédex. "...Oh!" Trip spoke up, "Metroid currently knows Thunderbolt, Bug Buzz, Giga Drain, and Thunder Wave." Trip made a mental note to himself to work on having Metroid learn one or two new moves in the future, but decided that Metroid's current moveset was fine.
After Mick got down what moves Zancrow and Metroid knew, he borrowed them from Dawn and Trip, then proceeded to go find Glenn and Sean so he could battle them. The heroes followed along, as did the Sunglasses Krokorok, who was wanting to see where things here would lead to.
A short while later, the heroes and Mick found Sean and Glenn, with Sean showing Glenn a Scolipede and a Seismitoad. "Perfect," Glenn said as he got their pokéballs from Sean, "I'll use them against Mick if and when he gets back with a Pokémon."
"But wouldn't a two-on-one battle be unfair?" Sean asked.
"Well it's a good thing that I got two Pokémon!" Mick called out, surprising Sean and Glenn and making them turn to see Mick standing there.
Glenn smirked a bit in a confident manner. "Oh, did you now?" Glenn replied, "Well, I'd like to see what they can do."
As the little kids got down to business, Kenny harshly whispered to the rest of the heroes, "This ought to be a hoot."
...
A few moments later, the heroes stood by on the side of a makeshift battlefield where Mick and Glenn stood at opposite ends from one another. "I hope you're ready to lose," Glenn said, "Because I got strong Pokémon! Go, Scolipede and Seismitoad!" Glenn tossed up the pokéballs he got from Sean, calling out Scolipede and Seismitoad in the process. Both Pokémon took to the battlefield with confident cries.
Mick let out a breath as he tossed up the balls containing the Pokémon he borrowed from Dawn and Trip. "Go, Zancrow and Metroid!" Glenn was surprised to see that Mick had sent out a Volcarona and a Galvantula.
"Why did you give them weird nicknames?" Glenn asked.
"They had those nicknames when I got them," Mick replied.
Scowling, Glenn said, "Whatever, I'm still gonna win! Scolipede, use Poison Tail on the Galvantula! Seismitoad, use Drain Punch on the Volcarona!"
Gesturing forward, Mick said with a momentary hint of uncertainty in his expression, "Uhh... Zancrow! Use Giga Drain on Seismitoad! Metroid, use Thunder Wave on Scolipede!" Mick very clearly sounded like he was more guessing at what could possibly work than actually issuing commands with confidence, but the borrowed bug types obeyed his commands either way.
Zancrow used Giga Drain on Seismitoad, striking it with red energy beams that sucked health from Seismitoad while making it cry out in great pain, dropping it to the battlefield in defeat (Mick, who was clearly guessing, was REALLY lucky when he decided to order a grass attack on a dual water ground type). As for Metroid, she used Thunder Wave on Scolipede, paralyzing it. The paralysis kicked in, keeping Scolipede from being able to attack that turn, much to Mick's surprise. "Wait, why didn't that do any damage?" Mick asked aloud, "I thought that Thunder Wave did damage!"
"It's ThunderBOLT what does damage," Trip said from the sidelines, "Not Thunder WAVE! However, it's still a fairly solid call to make, given you had just paralyzed an enemy Pokémon."
Glenn growled in annoyance as he recalled Seismitioad. "Scolipede, use Sludge Bomb on Galvantula!"
Mick, given that he was winning, was getting a bit more confident. Geturing forward, Mick called out, "Zancrow, use... uhh... Psychic on Scolipede! Metroid, use Thunderbolt on Scolipede!" Both of Mick's borrowed Pokémon obeyed, and Zancrow first blasted Scolipede with a powerful telekinetic blast of power, bringing it right to the edge of defeat. But it was the Thunderbolt from Metroid that finished Scolipede off, ending the battle which saw Mick be the one to claim victory (again mostly due to luck as he was guessing, although he also got it that it's Thunderbolt that does damage).
Glenn just stood there, looking surprised that he had lost. Sean looked surprised as well, and after Scolipede was recalled, he turned to look at Sean. "I... I think that I bit off more than I could have chewed here."
"Well what are we going to do now?" Sean said, "Scolipede and Seismitoad are my dad's Pokémon, and they're both hurt."
Stepping forward, Cilan said, "If I may."
...
Scolipede and Seismitoad were fed servings of Pokémon food made with berries and medicinal plants, helping to perk them back up. As those two ate to recover their strength, the Sunglasses Krokorok bit onto Pikachu's tail, although he freed himself by using Thunderbolt. The attack flashing in Krokorok's eyes did more that the actual attack itself, given it was an electric attack on a ground Pokémon. When Pikachu and Krokorok squared off against one another, Ash, seeing what was going on, could only give an amused smirk.
"...You guys wanna settle things, huh?" Ash asked. Both Pikachu and the Sunglasses Krokorok nodded in the affrimative.
As that went on, Mick said, "Wait, isn't Krokorok one of Ash's Pokémon?"
"It's actually a wandering wild Pokémon that apparently has a beef with Pikachu," Kenny explained, "They're gonna settle things mano-a-mano."
Indeed, the battle between Pikachu and Krokorok began in earnest. It started with Pikachu blitzing Krokorok with a Quick Attack to the face, but Krokorok wouldn't go down to just that, and it retaliated with Stone Edge. Pikachu dodged it, but got trapped by some of the residual effort of the Stone Edge. Krokorok used Dig to go underground, then eventually popped up to send Pikachu reeling. But even that super-effective attack wouldn't be enough to defeat Ash's Pikachu, mostly due to the fact that he's ASH'S Pikachu.
Acting pragmatic, Ash called for Pikachu to use Thunderbolt on the ground near Krokorok's feet, making a small hole that Krokorok tripped on, which gave Pikachu an opening. Pikachu used another Quick Attack, landing another pounding blow on Krokorok's face, even knocking off its trademark sunglasses. When the sunglasses fell off, however, Krokorok began to panic, looking around for where its sunglasses fell off to. Ash, who saw where the sunglasses fell off to, went over, picked them up, and immediately handed them over to Krokorok.
"Why did you do that, Ash?" Iris asked, "You could have scored an easy hit while Krokorok was panicking like that."
"It wouldn't be fair if I did," Ash replied, "I want Krokorok to be in the right state of mind, I want it to be at its best, in our battle, and if helping it get its sunglasses back does that, then I'm all game for it." Turning to look at Krokorok, Ash offered it a smile. "We're ready to resume when you are."
To the surprise of everyone including Ash, Krokorok, seemingly touched by the sympathy Ash had shown it, gently shook its head before bowing its head to Ash. Seeing this, Ash said, "Krokorok, do... do you wanna come with me?" Krokorok gave an affirmative nod, exciting Ash that he'll get a new Pokémon. He took out a spare pokéball, expanded it, and threw it at Krokorok, who went inside before the ball landed lightly on the ground with a clink. The ball shook for a few moments before it made a ping sound, indicating capture. "Alright!" Ash cheered as he held up the pokéball that contained his new Krokorok, "I caught a Krokorok!"
And so, things were resolved for the heroes. After Dawn and Trip got Zancrow and Metroid back from Mick, the heroes took off for their next destination, Mistralton City. There, Ash, Bianca, Dawn, Kenny, and Trip would all endeavor to earn their respective sixth Unovan gym badges, putting all of them (aside from Dawn who wasn't planning to enter but still wanted to earn the badges) one step closer to entering Unova's Pokémon League Conference.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE
Author's notes;
This chapter was able to cover adapting the events of BW episodes 064 and 065, both of which I saw as important to the events here; Cedric and the Hero's Ruins are both important due to Team Scorn's involvement here, and of course the events leading to Ash catching Krokorok had to be covered. I'm going to actually skip adapting BW066 (the Bouffalant afro wig episode) because I feel it's unnecessary filler, and just skip straight to BW067 where the heroes get to Mistralton City. Things will be going a lot more differently there than they did in the anime, but you'll see why that is later.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Zancrow (male Volcarona), Akiza (female Roserade), Leni (female Lucario), Fena (female Leafeon), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Moista Fista (male Ursaluna), Giyu (male Samurott; Hisuian), Roshi (male Torterra), Black (Giratina; Origin Form), Priestess (female Lilligant; alpha; Hisuian), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Metroid (female Galvantula), Tsunade (female Gastrodon; east sea), Myde (male Empoleon), Veda (female Abomasnow), Deelia (Dialga), Bashir (male Tangrowth; shiny)
Ash's Pokémon: (on hand) Pikachu (male), Krokorok (male; Sunglasses), Scrafty (male), Tranquil (female), Servine (female), Jellicent (female)