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-five: Nature Preserve power hour
After a slight flight on a plane piloted by Skyla, the heroes made it to the Nature Preserve. They got off the plane and were stretching as Skyla was helping with unloading the shipment of goods that Skyla had brought in to the Nature Preserve at the request of the persons running the place. As Skyla took care of business for that with the Nature Preserve staff, the heroes looked around, some of them taken in by the natural beauty that flourished around them.
"So this is the Nature Preserve, huh?" Ash said, "I bet it'd be a great place to train our Pokémon at."
"Well first we ought to look into asking the Nature Preserve staff about the shiny Haxorus they're looking after according to Skyla's grandpa Miles," Dawn pointed out. The reason why Miles had asked the heroes to go to the Nature Preserve with Skyla was because the staff there recieved a threatening phone call from Team Scorn, where they told the staff that they'd be coming by to collect the shiny Haxorus being looked after at the Nature Preserve.
As the trainers were looking around, their attention was snapped to by Skyla calling out to them. They turned to face her, and she was accompanied by two members of the Nature Preserve staff, a man and a woman who were both late middle age. They were both dressed like park rangers (they weren't Pokémon Rangers, mind you), wearing pants and long-sleeved work shirts. The two Nature Preserve employees were fair skinned, with the woman having curly orange-red hair and she wore dark purple-framed square-lensed glasses, while the man had a semi-ring of graying black hair around his head. They looked about ready to have grandkids.
Gesturing to the two late middle age persons, Skyla said to the heroes, "The lady is Margret, and the man is Charles. They're members of the staff that run the Nature Preserve here. They're also married to each other, and their fortieth anniversary is on the thirty-first of this month."
"So you kids are the good Pokémon trainers that Skyla's grandpa sent along to help protect the shiny Haxorus we got here, ehh?" Margret said as she looked to the heroes, "Glad to have you kids here."
"We first ought to discuss how to go about protecting the shiny Haxorus," Trip suggested, "As well as what to do if and when Team Scorn shows up."
"That's a good point, sonny," Charles said, "We can do that during lunch, which Margret's got cooking up right now. In the meantime, why don't you all explore the Nature Preserve?"
"We have the shiny Haxorus sequestered off to the side, so you won't run into it by accident," Margret said, "Also so you don't try to catch it yourselves. You can catch some of the other Pokémon you see here, but try not to catch too many."
The heroes all nodded in the affirmative before they went off to go check out the Nature Preserve. A great place to train aside, the Nature Preserve also had a nice variety of local wild Pokémon. Bianca was looking to catch a decent sixth Pokémon so that she'd have a full party, and even Dawn was in the mood to look around for a bit to see what she could run into.
...
While wandering around on her own with Souji by her side, Dawn said to her named Rampardos, "So we're just killing time until lunch is ready and we can discuss with the Nature Preserve staff how to go about protecting the shiny Haxorus here from Team Scorn. In the meantime, we can just enjoy wandering around and taking in all of the scenery around us."
Souji gave a casually amused cry of agreement with his trainer. Dawn reflected on why she had Souji with her; in the event she was able to get Skyla to battle her (assuming she could have done something to make Skyla drop the 'Air Battle' system and actually battle Dawn), Dawn would have used Souji in the battle given that as a Rampardos he has a type advantage against flying Pokémon like what Skyla uses.
Dawn's thoughts then shifted to why Skyla was in no position to award any Jet Badges; Ideku who had arrived in Mistralton City before the heroes was subject to one of Skyla's 'Air Battles', and even though he was deemed a winner he still didn't like what Skyla was doing, thus he reported what Skyla was up to to the Unovan Pokémon League Commission. As it turned out, Skyla's 'Air Battle' system was all sorts of illegal according to the UPLC, so she was suspended as a gym leader for the time being. If there's sufficient evidence uncovered for it, Skyla will be permanently stripped of her gym leader position.
After discussing things with the rest of the heroes, Dawn saw that out of the seven of them, only Iris had no issue with what Skyla was doing; the trainers challenging gyms saw issue because they expected to ACTUALLY battle for their badges, and Cilan being a gym leader himself was offended on a personal level by Skyla's lack of professionalism. To make things worse, Skyla had set up the 'Air Battle' system to save time in her day solely so that she'd have more time for her plane flying hobby, which Trip compared to as a child shirking homework from school to play video games.
As things were, there was still some tension between Iris and Cilan, while the heroes aiming to challenge the Mistralton City gym were just glad that they still had a gym leader who they could battle. As she was thinking about this, Dawn said, "Let's take a break, Souji." Finding a log laying on its side on the ground, Dawn sat down on it like it was a public park bench, with Souji sitting next to her as neatly as a Rampardos could sit on a log. Reaching into her bag, Dawn pulled out a bag of pink sweet poképuffs and opened them. "Here, Souji," Dawn said, "I know you like sweet flavor best, so-"
Dawn was cut off when she and Souji heard some rustling in the bushes in front of them. Immediately, the named Rampardos was on alert, getting to his feet and snarling in warning in the direction the rustling came from. A few seconds later, a wild Fraxure popped out from the bushes. Its arms hung down somewhat in front of its stomach as its head was raised in a curious manner while it sniffed at the air; Fraxure's behavior was like that of a friendly Furret. Right away, Dawn and Souji could tell that the Fraxure was by no means hostile towards them, so Dawn, while still being cautious, gestured for Fraxure to come over.
Seeing the invitation for what it was (an invitation to come join the human and weird Pokémon), Fraxure gave a happy cry as it ran forward. Coming to a stop right in front of Dawn, Fraxure sniffed at her bag of pink sweet poképuffs, then looked up at Dawn expectantly. "You... want one?" Dawn asked, taking one puff out of the bag and offering it to Fraxure. It sniffed at the puff before tasting it, right before immediately eating the thing right out of Dawn's hand. Fraxure gave a clearly happy cry of enjoyment before sniffing at the bag again.
Dawn saw that she had earned some measure of confidence from the Fraxure here; she knew that she and the others weren't allowed to catch the shiny Haxorus at the Nature Preserve (that goes double for Team Scorn, not that they care), but Dawn, figuring any Haxorus could be good, realized she could try catching the Fraxure in front of her and evolving it. "You... wanna join my team and come with me?" Dawn asked, "There's more of these puffs in-" Dawn was cut off when Fraxure happily cried out before leaping up into Dawn's arms, knocking her off the log and cuddling up against her affectionately.
Smiling, Dawn took Fraxure's enthusiasm as a yes, and proceeded to use a standard pokéball to capture Fraxure, successfully doing so. Dawn then scanned Fraxure's ball with her pokédex; Fraxure is female, has a jolly nature, and the Mold Breaker ability. An ideal nature and ability combo for who will eventually be a Haxorus. Looking at the ball that held her new Fraxure, Dawn said, "I'll name you Pina." Getting up, Dawn sent one of her on hand Pokémon to Professor Oak's lab so that Pina could be added to her party right away, before recalling Souji and heading back to meet with the others, figuring that lunch was ready.
Over where the Nature Preserve office building was located, Dawn saw that the rest of the heroes and Skyla were gathered around and talking to Charles. To Dawn's piqued interest, Bianca had with her a Shiftry. "Ah, Dawn my main man," Kenny greeted, "You're just in time for lunch. Also, Bianca found a wild Shiftry in some dark grass and caught it."
"I made a new catch too," Dawn said, tossing up Pina's ball to call out the named Fraxure. "Everyone, this is Pina," Dawn said.
"Oh cool!" Iris gushed, "You caught a Fraxure!" Iris's Axew hopped out of her hair and ran up to greet Pina. For her part, Pina merely sniffed at Axew before giving a neutral cry of greeting that was slightly more on the warm and receptive side.
Recalling Pina, Dawn said, "I figured there'd be no problem if I just caught a Fraxure and evolved it to get a Haxorus, given how much we've been told the shiny Haxorus is off limits."
"There's no problem with that, no," Charles replied, "Well anyway," Margret's got lunch ready, so we can have a lunch meeting to discuss how to protect the shiny Haxorus from Team Scorn if and when they come."
As everyone headed inside of the Nature Preserve office building for lunch, Trip went up to his brother-sister. "I don't think you'd want the shiny Haxorus anyway," Trip whispered to Dawn, "That Charles dude confirmed that the shiny Haxorus has a bold nature and the Rivalry ability. That is a terrible combination for a Haxorus."
"Huh, funny," Dawn whispered back, "Pina's got a jolly nature and has Mold Breaker for her ability."
Trip nodded in approval. "That is good," Trip whispered as he and Dawn entered the Nature Preserve office building, "That is good."
...
Inside of the Nature Preserve's office building, the heroes were all gathered around eating lunch with Margret and Charles as they discussed how to protect the shiny Haxorus from Team Scorn. "First off, assuming that Team Scorn will actually come here," Margret began, "We'll need to keep an eye on the skies since the only way to get here is via plane."
"If and when we see the plane fly on in," Charles went on, "We'll need to gather around it and fight Team Scorn as they come out. Or rather, you kids will have to fight them as they come out."
Holding up a hand, Bianca said, "Question. Can't we just shoot the plane that Team Scorn comes in down?"
"That... might kill them," Dawn pointed out, "And we don't wanna stoop to their level."
"Plus," Ash went on, "We have no idea if they'll come in on a plane bearing their signature appearance. They might come in on a plane that's indistinguishable from most any other, like the one we came in on."
Shrugging, Iris said, "We can't take any chances. This IS Team Scorn we're talking about here, and we have to keep them from capturing the shiny Haxorus."
Holding up a hand, Trip remarked, "I got it." With all eyes on him, Trip gestured to Margret and Charles and said, "Why don't one of you guys capture the shiny Haxorus?"
"One of us capture it?" Margret said, surprised.
"Team Scorn's gunning for the shiny Haxorus because it's a shiny Pokémon that's still wild," Trip explained, "Apparently they have a thing against taking a shiny Pokémon that's already owned by a trainer for some odd reason or another. If one of you captures the shiny Haxorus, and even show to Team Scorn that you've caught it, then that'll kill their interest in it real quick."
Dawn, after giving Trip's plan a bit of thought, perked up a bit in realization. "...That could actually work."
"But neither of us have any kinds of pokéballs to capture the shiny Haxorus with," Charles replied, "And even if we did we can't capture it. It needs to stay as a wild Pokémon so that we can gather research data on a shiny Pokémon living in the wild."
Folding his arms over his chest, Trip said, "When Team Scorn gets here in their bid to capture the shiny Haxorus, we'll supply you guys with ten Ultra Balls. You will have to explain to the shiny Haxorus that the only way to keep it from getting taken against its will is if one of you catches it." Giving Margret and Charles a wry look of mild unamusement, he went on, "If Team Scorn ends up succeeding because the two of you insist that the shiny Haxorus remains as a wild Pokémon, then the failure is going to be all on you."
"Haxorus must remain a wild Pokémon!" Charles insisted.
"We'll still fight to keep as much of Team Scorn occupied as possible," Trip went on, "But it could save everyone loads of trouble if you guys just swallow your pride and let 'getting research data' take one for the te-"
*Vrrrrrrrrrrrr*
Trip was cut off when he and everyone else heard a plane flying on in. "...If that's them, then we need to move fast," Cilan said, ushering everyone else outside so that they could see if Team Scorn was coming for them to confront.
Outside, the heroes, Margret, and Charles all ran out to the airplane strip to see a large military style plane fly on in. It eventually landed down on the strip, coming to a screeching halt right behind Skyla's plane. The hatch in the back dropped down, and before the heroes knew it, Team Scorn grunts began pouring out, like water from a faucet turned up to max. Among the number were Captain Miyuki and her Captain's Assistant Ayahi.
"Team Scorn's here!" Margret exclaimed in alarm, "We need to fight them off to protect the shiny Haxorus!"
"Imma go lead the shiny Haxorus to a safe location to hide it!" Bianca said, running off to go do what she said she was going to do, "Thanks again for telling me where it was, by the way!"
Team Scorn immediately moved to try going after Bianca, but the reborn trainers sent out Tsukune, Black, and Deelia to intercept them. "You guys aren't going anywhere!" Dawn yelled at Team Scorn, "You're staying right here where we can kick your sorry butts!"
"Like we have to listen to a cheater like you!" Ayahi said while pointing a finger at Dawn, "I'm still mad at you for that, by the way!"
"Just because my Infernape defeated your Pelipper despite the severe type disadvantage doesn't mean I cheated," Dawn scolded, "Quit being a sore loser just because Infernape's capable of learning Thunder Punch!"
The members of Team Scorn sent out a bunch of Pokémon; the nameless grunts sent out Pokémon that were common fare for villainous team members in Unova to use, while Ayahi sent out her Pelipper and Miyuki sent out her Ariados. To counter this, Ash sent out Pikachu, Iris sent out Excadrill, and Cilan sent out Pansage; despite having their respective legendary dragons out, the reborn trainers also sent out another Pokémon each, with Dawn sending out Pina, Trip sending out Fourze, and Kenny sending out Juan (he was going to use Juan in the Mistralton City gym battle if he had it).
The battle became a massive mess. Attacks flew every which way, many of the Team Scorn grunts' Pokémon were taken down, and Ayahi complained when her Pelipper went down before it could carry out an attack because Ash had Pikachu attack it with Thunderbolt. While Juan was engaging Miyuki's Ariados in what was nothing less than an epic duel, Pina was running around, striking down enemy Pokémon right and left like it was nothing. A Dragon Claw on a Sandile here, a Crunch on a Patrat there, the named Fraxure was quickly proving herself, so much so that it was obvious to Dawn that Pina wanted to prove herself to her new trainer.
After Miyuki's Ariados went down to Juan, she sent in her Seadra to continue battling. However, before Seadra was able to attack, Dawn pointed right at it and called out, "Pina, use Slash on Seadra!" Seeing her target, Pina ran right in and, with claws glowing white, made a slashing motion that hit Seadra, striking with such force that it clear the named Fraxure had scored a critical hit. Even more surprising, Seadra ended up passing out, defeated in one hit from Pina. "Alright, Pina!" Dawn called out, "You helped take down the Team Scorn officer leading the attack here on-"
"FRAXURE!" Pina cried out excitedly and in a sudden manner, cutting Dawn off. Then, to everyone's surprise, Pina began glowing bright white; her form changed shape as it grew bigger and taller. Then, the glowing faded, and when it did, everyone saw that Pina had evolved into a Haxorus.
"Whoa, dude!" Kenny said, "Dawn's Fraxure had just evolved into a Haxorus!"
"HolycrudthatissoepicandawesomeIcan'tbelieveit!" Iris said excitedly, literally speaking a mile a minute as she saw the evolution before everyones' eyes just now.
Miyuki scoffed indifferently. "It's not the shiny Haxorus, so what do I care?" Turning to look at her men, Miyuki called out, "Men, I need time to get my Pokémon perked back up before I can rejoin the fight! We can't give up here, not when there's a wild shiny Pokémon-"
"What wild shiny Pokémon?" Bianca's voice called out, making everyone turn to look at her. With all eyes on her, Bianca tossed up a pokéball, and coming out of it was the shiny Haxorus, a sleek black beauty that sparkled upon coming out. "I already caught it!" Bianca barked at Team Scorn, "So tough tushy to the lot of you!"
"Young lady, how could you?!" Margret exclaimed, "The shiny Haxorus was not to be-"
"Damn it." Margret stopped short when she and everyone heard Miyuki speak up. Everyone turned to face her. "I was afraid something like this could happen," said the Third Captain of Team Scorn's Longsword Sector, "The shiny Haxorus did end up getting captured before we could claim it ourselves. This just ruined the mission." Turing around, Miyuki said to her followers, "Men, recall what Pokémon you have out. The mission failed. We're leaving."
The heroes watched it as Team Scorn all got back into their plane. The hatched closed up, and then the plane eventually took off after having to get around Skyla's plane a bit. As the plane took off, the heroes heard Charles say, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, young lady." The heroes all turned to see Charles and Margret looking right at Bianca, with Charles scolding her. "The chance for researchers to gather data on how shiny Pokémon live in the wild," Charles went on, "Gone because you did what we specifically told you and the others not to do."
"Uhh, hello?" Kenny began, "Did you not see how Team Scorn gave up and went home the instant they saw that Bianca caught the shiny Haxorus?"
"And I can just release it back into the wild," Bianca said, "So long as you all make sure not to let it get out that it was released back into the wild, I'm pretty sure Team Scorn won't try coming back for it."
Margret gently shook her head in the negative, a very displeased look on her face. "Oh no. Once a Pokémon has been caught, even if it was only for a moment, it'll always have the touch of captivity on it. It'll never be wholly wild, meaning any research data gotten from studying it will be worthless." Margret scoffed bitterly. "I hope that you enjoy your new shiny Pokémon, you spoiled little brat."
Bianca looked very annoyed with how Margret and Charles were acting. "Are you two kidding me?!" Bianca exclaimed incredulously at Margret and Charles, "Team Scorn gave up and left! Their attack on the Nature Preserve was ended early! And yet you have the nerve to call me a spoiled little brat simply because I did what I could to keep Team Scorn from succeeding in their scheme here?! If anything, you two are the ones acting like-"
*SLAP*
Bianca was cut off when Charles gave her a stinging, powerful slap across her face. "...You and your friends here must leave now," Charles said to Bianca, trying to keep his tone as even as possible, "None of you are welcomed here at the Nature Preserve anymo-"
*HUHWAPAP*
Charles was cut off when Ash punched him in the face. Hard. Ash's punch broke Charles's nose, and it even sent the late middle age man sprawling onto the ground. "What is wrong with you two?!" Ash yelled, his expression a visage of pure fury, "So you can't get any of that precious research data you were going on about anymore. Big flipping whoop! That's no excuse to slap Bianca across the face and ban us from the Nature Preserve, especially since we just got done fighting Team Scorn off for you! How flipping ungrateful can the two of you seriously be?! If this is the attitude that we get after putting our necks on the line for you, then by all means we should have just LET Team Scorn capture the shiny Haxorus!"
Margret, her expression bitter, gently shook her head at the heroes as she picked up her downed husband. "All of you. Leave. Now." After shaking her head again, Margret said, "And never return."
It was obvious that Margret and Charles were flat out refusing to be reasoned with, so the heroes, after calling back all of their Pokémon and gathering all of their things, took off from the Nature Preserve. The last of the heroes to get on the plane back to Mistralton City were the reborn trainers, who each flipped off Margret and Charles as they each in turn got onto the plane. After the plane hatch closed up, Skyla took off into the air, and flew everyone back to Mistralton City. Even though they were all successful in stopping Team Scorn's scheme, they still left feeling defeated.
A short while later back when the heroes all got back to Mistralton City, they had explained to Miles what all had happened. Although Miles was also surprised by Bianca catching the shiny Haxorus, realizing that Team Scorn would have done so eventually even if they had to come back later and try again for it, capturing the shiny Haxorus was ultimately for the best. Miles was also quick to condemn Margret and Charles's attitudes towards the heroes, especially since it came after the heroes had just gotten off of putting their neck out for their sake.
"So they won't get that research data on how shiny Pokémon live in the wild," Miles said, "Big deal. Team Scorn got involved, so that changes everything. And the reason why they're so pissy about the little lady catching the shiny Haxorus is because they were receiving funding for it, and said funding helped them keep things running at the Nature Preserve as smooth as they were. Also, said funding came from a scientific research committee that Professor Aurea Juniper is a notable member of with a lot of pull in said committee. I'm certain that she'll make those two see reason."
Holding up a hand, Kenny said, "Also, Dawn here is a foreign region's champion, and those jerks were rude to her not only for a petty reason but one that she was in no way responsible for, and especially after she had helped to fend Team Scorn off away from them."
Miles nodded in agreement. "Yeah, they totally had made dealing with inter-regional politics a nightmare for Unova's government." Looking to the heroes, Miles said, "Well you kids ought to rest. I can start taking challenges from you all tomorrow." Turning to look at Skyla, Miles said to her, "And you, young lady, will be watching all of the battles I'll have. If the Unovan Pokémon League Commission does decide to let you continue being a gym leader, you need to learn the importance of following what all rules that such a position requires."
Skyla nodded while exuding an aura of defeat. "Yes, grandpa. I'm already considering an idea Dawn gave me to let me do the job without risking getting in trouble and still have time to fly planes."
"I told her to treat being a gym leader like a nine to five job where she works five days in a row then takes two days off after that," Dawn explained.
Miles nodded in agreement. "Yes, and the UPLC does have guidelines that explain how a gym leader can take time off for their life outside of their duties." Giving his granddaughter a serious look, Miles added, "Which I strongly suggest you look at next time." The heroes agreed to meet up with Miles at the Mistralton City gym the following morning at eight, and after that they took off for the local Pokémon Center, where they would rest the night before getting an early start the next morning.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE
Author's notes;
This chapter focuses on the Nature Preserve from Black 2 and White 2, where there was a guaranteed encounter with a wild shiny Haxorus. Team Scorn has a side-mission going to track down and collect a wild shiny Pokémon, and the Nature Preserve can be accessed from Mistralton City; I also wanted to put Dawn in range to get what she needs to get her own Haxorus, and Bianca still needed a sixth Pokémon (Shiftry can also be found in the wild in the Nature Preserve), although Bianca ended up also catching the shiny Haxorus because Team Scorn would have gotten it eventually otherwise.
There's also a bit in there that serves as a call back to when, in the past, shiny hunters playing the games would find a shiny, only for it to have a crap nature and shit ability; things like that in the modern games can be resolved thanks to the advent of Nature Mints and Ability Capsules/Patches (that'll be referenced in the next chapter). Anyway, the next chapter will see some skimming over the challenges to the Mistralton City gym as well as training of Pina and the shiny Haxorus, then skip the events of BW069 (the Wishing Bell Festival episode), and skip straight to covering the events of episodes BW070 to BW073 (the Culbsplosion mini-arc).
I would normally also skip those episodes as well, but a tournament setting like that is perfect for something I want to introduce; a rivalry between Ash and Ideku. How that rivalry will play out will need to be seen to be believed.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Shalltear (female Rhyperior), Souji (male Rampardos), Pina (female Haxorus), Foamy (male Pachirisu), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Giyu (male Samurott; Hisuian), Juan (male Pikachu; Libre), Black (Giratina; Origin Form), Priestess (female Lilligant; alpha; Hisuian), Android 21 (female Weavile; shiny)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Metroid (female Galvantula), Tsunade (female Gastrodon; east sea), Myde (male Empoleon), Veda (female Abomasnow), Deelia (Dialga), Fourze (male Electivire)
Ash's Pokémon: (on hand) Pikachu (male), Krokorok (male; Sunglasses), Scrafty (male), Tranquil (female), Servine (female), Jellicent (female)