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-six: Clubsplosion Conundrum, part one

After the heroes were done with their business at the Nature Preserve which sadly ended on a less than stellar note, they were able to resume their journey through Unova. This saw them back in Mistralton City where all of them aside from Iris and Cilan were gearing up to challenge the Mistralton City gym, which was currently headed by Miles, the grandfather of Skyla, because Skyla's still in trouble because her 'Air Battle' shenanigans was reported to the Unovan Pokémon League Commission. Dawn said that she and Bianca would be going last, and when Bianca asked why Dawn explained that they both have a Haxorus each to train.

During the training, Dawn got a package sent to her; it contained a small glass bottle with a fairly thick cork sealing it up, a leafy mint inside of the bottle, and an item that Kenny and Trip recognized as an Ability Capsule. Dawn handed the mint, which she confirmed is a Jolly Mint, and the Ability Capsule to Bianca, saying that having her Haxorus, which is a shiny, use them up will be a step in the right direction for its training. The Jolly Mint made it so Bianca's Haxorus would grow as if it had a jolly nature, even though it actually was still bold. And the Ability Capsule turned Bianca's Haxorus's Rivalry to Mold Breaker.

Then the girls got to work on training the two Haxorus they had. Bianca was happy already with the fact her Haxorus knew Dragon Claw, Slash, and Crunch, but she DID want to have it learn a decent fourth move. When Dawn mentioned that she was planning to have Pina (Dawn's Haxorus) learn Poison Jab, Bianca jumped on that, given that she at least knew that fairy Pokémon were weak to poison; Poison Jab would serve well as coverage against Pokémon that Haxorus would otherwise find itself in an uphill battle against. Dawn decided that, since both Pina and the shiny Haxorus were going to learn Poison Jab, that's where the training would start.

Bianca was amazed when Dawn, after doing some party rotating, got and called out Zatch, her shiny Hariyama. Dawn explained that Zatch, given that he knows Poison Jab, will help Pina and the shiny Haxorus get the hang of it. Thanks to Zatch's tutelage, the two Haxorus both picked up and got Poison Jab down pat. Bianca, after her Haxorus learned Poison Jab, said that she wanted to work on her Pokémon on her own for a bit, to which Dawn gave a respectful nod. Bianca may be happy with the moveset her Haxorus knows right now, but Dawn has some more fine-tuned plans in store for Pina, to help her go even further than her shiny counterpart.

Two other Pokémon that Dawn rotated into her party to help tutor Pina in learning new moves were Chi-Chi and Germany; through them, Pina was also learning how to use both Brick Break (from Chi-Chi) and Earthquake (from Germany). It was right after late afternoon of the third day that the heroes got back from the Nature Preserve that Dawn was told that her battle with Miles would occur the following morning; Ash, Kenny, Trip, and Bianca (in that order) all won against Miles, meaning that all that was left was for the Champion of Sinnoh to take her turn in battling against the Mistralton City gym's substitute gym leader.

Dawn, using her Rampardos Souji, her Rhyperior Shalltear, and her Pachirisu Foamy, defeated Miles and earned the Jet Badge. Seeing as how the heroes couldn't leave to continue their journey until the following day, Dawn took the rest of the day to resume Pina's training, eventually getting her to get both Brick Break and Earthquake down pat by late that afternoon. It was when the heroes joined Miles and Skyla for dinner, however, that they were told by the older gentleman that there were a couple of changes made to things that would be going on.

...

"The Wishing Bell Festival was canceled, grandpa?" Skyla said, looking surprised.

Everyone was seated outside at a few outdoor dining tables as Miles was going over a few things he felt that needed to be covered, mostly to the heroes. "Yes," Miles said, "It was canceled by the people who normally run in, on order from the Unova region's government because they fear that Team Scorn may attack." Arching a wry eyebrow, Miles went on, "But the Clubsplosion, which is being held in Ambiga Town, is still on."

"The Clubsplosion?" Bianca said in a curious tone.

Miles nodded in the affirmative. "Yes. It's similar to the Club Battle that was held over in Nimbasa City, but the Clubsplosion is geared more towards users of fighting type Pokémon. Regardless, competitors are allowed to enter with any Pokémon, but they're allowed to enter only one Pokémon. The winner recieves a year's supply of nutritional drink vitamins."

"Those could be very useful in training Pokémon," Trip remarked, "Sounds promising." Turning to look at the rest of the heroes, Trip said, "You all gonna enter? Because I certainly plan to."

Shrugging, Dawn said, "I'm actually gonna sit this one out. I still wanna work out the kinks of having Pina learn Brick Break and Earthquake. She and Bianca's Haxorus both mastered Poison Jab, however."

"You can count me in!" Ash declared, "This sounds like it'll make for an exciting tournament!"

"Oh, it is a tournament," Miles confirmed, "A sixteen-trainer tournament. For those of you intending to enter, I suggest that you leave for Ambiga Town as soon as possible. Spaces might get filled up quickly."

Standing up excitedly from his seat, Ash said, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm totally gonna enter!" More of the heroes also raised hands to declare their intent to enter, and eventually the only hero saying they won't enter is Dawn. And so, with excited talk of entering the Clubsplosion in Ambiga Town on their minds, the heroes talked the rest of the day away. Early the next moring, the heroes got an early start for Ambiga Town.

After some traveling, the heroes all made it to Ambiga Town. "The Clubsplosion might be great training to help us prep for the next gym," Ash remarked.

"Speaking of," Trip began, "I got it that the next gym is in Icirrus City, and that the leader will be using ice type Pokémon."

Immediately, Iris shivered out of fright. "Do we really have to go to Icirrus City if that's the case? I mean, if it's ice Pokémon that are involved, then I say we ought to avoid going there at any-"

"You're acting more spoiled than that Skyla woman I reported to the Unovan Pokémon League Commission."

The heroes all stopped short when they heard a familiar voice call out, and turning around to look they saw Ideku Badorigo walking up to them. "You're not even going to be trying to earn the badge at the Icirrus City gym," Ideku went on, "So why should your friends who ARE trying to earn badges and have NO problem facing an ice type Pokémon user have to inconvenience themselves just to accommodate you over what's nothing more than a petty reason?"

"You... seem a bit more harsh that what we usually see out of you," Trip remarked to the wandering trainer from Johto, "You okay, man?"

Ideku let out a troubled sigh. "I... sorta reached my limit of dealing with spoiled stupidity when I saw a gym leader, someone who's supposed to be professional and act as such, use some convoluted thinking process to get out of having to do their job, solely so that they'd have more time for their hobby."

"It's not Skyla's fault that she got too many challengers that it ate up all of her time!" Iris scolded, "She needs time for herself, you know!"

"But she went about getting it the wrong way," Ideku shot back, "If she had set limits with how many challengers she takes in a day, as well as have it so she had days off set aside, then she'd still have time for herself away from her duties." Turning to look at Iris, Ideku said, "You speak as if Skyla was in the right for blatantly breaking multiple rules in the official guidelines that the UPLC had set up."

"You still didn't have to tattle on her!" Iris snapped, "Now she could potentially lose her position as a gym leader because of you!"

Ideku glared unamused at Iris. "...Well then she'll probably be thankful to me, given that it'll get her a lot more time for her hobby."

Iris snapped and tried lunging for Ideku, a fist pulled back with the clear intent to strike him in the face. Luckily, Cilan and Bianca saw this and restrained Iris before she could even get two steps closer to Ideku. "Iris, that would be going to far!" Cilan snapped, "What is wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with me?!" Iris snapped, "What's wrong with Ideku?! He's acting like he couldn't care less that he screwed Skyla over!"

"So you DO approve of people in positions of authority acting irresponsibly and wholly undeserving of their position," Ideku said to Iris, "Fair enough. At least I know now where you stand."

Kenny turned to look at Ideku, a look of mild surprise on his face. "...You speak as if you're speaking from personal experience."

Ideku nodded in the affirmative. "Let's just say that I can see why my parents saved me the trouble of getting to attend Blackthorn City Academy, if the school expels students because simply because they stand up to a legacy hire just to allow said legacy hire to get away with bullying special needs students with impunity." Ideku's words, his sudden shift in tone, made everyone take pause, and even Iris calmed down a little bit.

Dawn gave Ideku a serious look. "...You still have feelings for Ayane, don't you?"

"That's not a topic for now, I'm afraid," Ideku said, "Anyway, I'm here because I plan to enter the Clubsplosion event. It seems like a great place to train for my next gym battle."

"I was thinking the exact same thing," Ash replied, "Hey, maybe we'll battle one another during the tournament, huh?"

Ideku offered a warm smile to Ash. "...If you're anything like Dawn, Kenny, and Trip, then I'll be looking forward to it." Turning to look at the reborn trainers, Ideku said, "Speaking of, are you guys entering?"

Pointing to Dawn, Trip said, "Dawn isn't because she wants to focus more on training her new Haxorus. But Kenny and I will."

Offering a single nod, Ideku replied, "Fair enough. Hopefully I'll get to face one of you during the Clubsplosion tournament." Ideku then took off to go look into registering for the tournament.

After Ideku took off, Ash turned to look at Iris, looking somewhat unamused with her. "Why did you act like that towards Ideku just now, Iris?"

"He tattled on Skyla like a little kid!" Iris complained, "What was I supposed to do?"

"You say that Ideku is a little kid," Kenny remarked, "But from where I'm standing, the only little kid that I see around here is you."

As Iris stammered, unable to find the words to say, Cilan said, "Let's... just go get registered for the Clubsplosion." The heroes then took off to go get registered, aside from Dawn who was voluntarily sitting out as she wanted to devote more time to training Pina to get her to perfect Brick Break and Earthquake. Given that fighting types were being highlighted in the Clubsplosion, Ash was entering with his Scrafty, while Kenny was entering with Priestess, his alpha Hisuian Lilligant.

However, not all of the heroes were entering with fighting types; Bianca, despite having Emboar, wanted to use her shiny Haxorus instead to see how it will do, thanks to the training (plus mint and capsule) from Dawn it got, Cilan was entering with Pansage, Iris was entering with Excadrill, and Trip was entering with his Electivire, Fourze. Trainers were permitted to enter with Pokémon of any type, meaning they didn't have to enter with a fighting type just because they were being highlighted.

With their Pokémon all chosen, the (competing) heroes went to get registered.

The heroes made it in time to register, as after the last of them who were wanting to enter had entered, all sixteen slots in the Clubsplosion had been filled up. This left those unable to get in in time, such as two trainers named Flora and Edmund, steamed that they couldn't make it. As the heroes waited, they heard a male voice call out, "Hey, Ash! Are those some new friends you got with you?" Everyone turned to see Stephan come walking up to them.

"Oh, Stephan," Ash said, "Yeah, you haven't met Kenny, Trip, or Dawn ye-"

"DUDE!" Stephan exclaimed upon seeing Dawn, "You're Dawn Berlitz, the Champion of Sinnoh!"

Dawn recoiled a bit from how loud Stephan was being, but did not begrudge him his surprise upon seeing and recognizing her. "...Yes. Also, before you ask, no I did not enter the Clubsplosion. I'm devoting time to training a Pokémon that I had caught recently."

Stephan let out a relieved sigh. "That's actually a relief. I have no doubt you'd cream everyone you faced in the Clubsplosion before taking first."

"You never know," Dawn replied. Gesturing to Stephan, Dawn asked, "I take it you're entering?"

"Oh yeah," Stephan said, "Me and my Sawk plan to go all the way to the top!"

"Like you'll get ahead of a Connaisseuse like me!" a female voice called out, making everyone turn to see Burgundy come walking up. Before anyone could stop her, Burgundy marched right up to Cilan. "And after I beat him, I'll be beating you!" Burgundy declared, "So watch out!"

Gesturing to Burgundy, Cilan without looking offended or challenged in the least asked, "Did you manage to raise your rank as a Connaisseuse since we last met?"

Seeing Brugundy pause with a mildly uncomfortable expression on her face, Trip said, "Uhh, Cilan, I'm not sure if-"

"-Anyone but a Dragon Buster like me will win the Clubsplosion," a female voice called out, right before everyone turned and saw Georgia come walking in.

Leaning to his left side towards Dawn, Kenny harshly whispered to her, "Wow, looks like they're all coming out of the woodwork today." Dawn had to snort back a chuckle at what Kenny harshly whispered to her.

Pointing right at Iris, Georgia said, "I knew you'd be interested in entering the Clubsplosion, so I entered as well so I could beat you!"

"I don't have time to get into a petty argument with you, you little kid," Iris scoffed, "I've got bigger fish in the Clubsplosion to fry."

Georgia looked a bit surprised by Iris saying that she wasn't a top priority. "Oh? And who do you think is more pressing for you to fight than me, a Dragon Buster who by virtue of you wanting to be a Dragon User is your natural enemy?"

"Another little kid who tattled on a gym leader and got her in trouble with the UPLC," Iris said, "I'll beat him in the Clubsplosion, thereby not only avenging the gym leader he tattled on, but prove to him that he was in the wrong for what he did!"

"So I'm a little kid for reporting a gym leader's unprofessional behavior to the proper authorities, am I?" Ideku's voice called out, making everyone turn to see him walk up to the scene. The roaming trainer from Johto looked wholly unamused with Iris.

"...Just for the record, dude," Kenny said to Ideku, "Out of the seven of us-" Kenny paused to getsure to himself and the rest of the heroes. "-The only one who doesn't agree with you is Iris."

Ideku let out a sigh. "Well I'm glad to see that most of you expect gym leaders to uphold the professional standard that's expected of them." Ideku then turned to look at Iris. "...We'll see if you and I battle during the Clubsplosion or not. The first round randomizes the competitors, so brackets and those faced before any possible chance you and I can battle will play a key role." Ideku then turned around and walked off.

After Ideku had taken off, Trip said in a dry tone with a likewise expression, "Well now, I say that things have gotten off to a wonderful start."

"Did you not see that attitude that was being given off by that sniveling little tattletale?!" Iris complained, "Grrr! He makes me wanna-"

"I was being sarcastic, Iris!" Trip interrupted, clearly looking to getting close to his limit with Iris as well.

Georgia could help but let out a chuckle of dry amusement. "Wow, you say that me and that Ideku fellow are little kids, and yet from where I stand, you're more of a little kid than anyone else."

"Oh, you had better hope you don't run into me in the tournament," Iris said, "Because I will put you in your place for that!"

"Like a Dragon Buster like me will lose to a Dragon User like you," Georgia replied, "Oh, and FYI, telling someone that you'll 'put them in their place' for calling you out on displaying childish behavior is just more displaying of childish behavior on your part." Georgia then turned around and left.

Turning to look at Iris, Stephan remarked, "That Georgia girl... kinda has a point, Iris." Turning to look at Burgundy, Stephan went on, "What do-" Stephan stopped short upon seeing Burgundy glare vengefully at Cilan. "...Ah, never mind," Stephan said dryly. With all pre-tournament banter out of the way, everyone went out into the stadium, aside from Dawn who went to find a seat so she could sit and watch, so that they could be there for the tournament's opening ceremony and see who would be fighting who in the first round.

The stadium seats were packed as the crowds cheered for the beginning of the Clubsplosion tournament. After Freddy O'Martian introduced Don George, the manager of the Battle Club, Don George proceeded to explain what the prize for winning the Clubsplosion tournament was, as well as give words of encouragement to the trainers who were competing. As for Dawn who sat in the audience with Chi-Chi sitting next to her for company, all that Dawn could think about was how Don George had the same first name that Dawn had in her previous life.

After Don George had done his part, the monitor screen lit up to show the brackets for the Clubsplosion tournament; round one would see Ash battle someone named Getty, two persons named Betty and Delbert battle one another, Ideku battle someone named Angus, Cilan battle Burgundy, Trip battle Bianca (there was a danger that some of the heroes would have to face each other in the tournament sooner or later), Iris battle Georgia, Kenny battle someone named Montgomory, and lastly Stephan battle someone named Gail.

Dawn, despite her memories of the BW anime in her previous life being very fuzzy, was pretty sure that this wasn't how the Clubsplosion tournament was structured. But then again there were some competitors here that weren't in the Clubsplosion in the anime in Dawn's previous life. Additionally, many of them were bringing Pokémon that they never had; Dawn wondered how all of this would play into the Clubsplosion tournament here. She figured that the best way to see how things played out was to, well, see how things played out.

The tournament soon kicked off, and saw Ash and his Scrafty take out Getty and her Simisear. The next battle, between Betty and Delbert, was a close one indeed, but Betty and her Simipour took out Delbert and his Mienshao; that meant that Ash and Scrafty would be seeing Betty and her Simipour in round two. As a side note, Dawn really really hated Simipour's stupid closed eyed smiling face, as much as the one Panpour had. If there was one Pokémon that Dawn would never raise (willingly), then it would be Panpour and its evolution Simipour, just because of their stupid faces.

In the third battle of round one, Dawn saw to her surprise that Ideku was using Tornupto, his alpha Hisuian Typhlosion. It made quick work of Angus's Simisage, letting the roaming trainer from Johto move on to the next round. Although Simisage failed to find victory, its pre-evolution Pansage was successful, as Cilan had defeated Burgundy, his Pansage beating her Dewott. As Burgundy had to forcefully calm herself down before leaving, Dawn felt worried; not for Burgundy but for Cilan, as he and his Pansage had to face Ideku and Tornupto in round two.

The next battle saw Trip and Fourze face off against Bianca and her shiny Haxorus; even with the Jolly Mint and Ability Capsule having been used to vastly improve the potential of the shiny Haxorus, Bianca still ended up losing to Trip since Fourze knew Ice Punch. Dawn thought of how, if Bianca had her Haxorus learn Earthquake like Dawn was having Pina learn, then Bianca would have stood a far better chance. After Trip's win against Bianca, Iris and Georgia had their battle. Iris's Excadrill made quick work of Georgia's Bisharp, netting Iris a spot in round two.

As Iris jumped up and down while cheering and borderline bragging about beating her, Georgia said while recalling her fainted Bisharp, "...You're just doing more to prove how you're the REAL little kid here." Georgia then turned around and left without saying another word, before Iris was able to get a word in edgewise. The hopeful Dragon User-in-training was very clearly steamed at Georgia for trash talking her like that, even spouting off how Georgia was totally being a sore loser. Dawn was pretty sure she wasn't the only one in the audience who felt that Iris was being a sore winner.

After Iris's win against Georgia, Kenny had his battle with Montgomory. Apparently, Montgomory had won the previous Clubsplosion, and was looking to win this one as well with his Throh. That plan went out the window when Kenny, using his alpha Hisuian Lilligant Priestess, defeated Montgomory's Throh, in a graceful dance where she landed a Poison Jab that poisoned Throh, then kept swiping at Throh with Aerial Ace or, when Throh was able to land a hit, Drain Punch to heal right back up. Dawn later found out that Kenny promised Priestess 'alone time with Shallot' if she helped him win the Clubsplosion.

Last in round one was Stephan's battle with Gail; his Sawk defeated her Druddigon, thus putting Stephan in round two. However, he did seem like some of the wind in his sails had been knocked out, and Dawn when she later asked learned that Stephan was secretly hoping to battle Montgomory, to see Sawk battle Throh. Still, he was able to comfort himself with the idea of getting to battle the person who defeated Montgomory, and was able to fire himself up for his upcoming battle against Kenny. Thus was how the Clubsplosion's first round had went, and the battles from round one only served to hype the audience up for round two.

...

"So guys," Dawn said to Ash, Cilan, Iris, Kenny, and Trip, "You all excited for round two tomorrow?"

"You bet I am!" Ash said, "And I'm in it to win it!"

Iris growled in mild annoyance. "Ideku is in the other bracket away from me. The only way I can put him in his place for tattling on Skyla would be if the two of us both make it to the final round."

"Iris, will you let it go?" Cilan said, "What he did is actually justified, and had I been subject to one of Skyla's 'Air Battles' and thought to contact the UPLC about it, then I would have done so."

Seeing that Bianca was looking upset, Dawn asked, "Bummed that Trip beat you?"

Sighing, Bianca said, "Yes, but not because of the loss itself. Rather, I'm upset by what it means." Bianca looked down at her right hand, clenched it into a fist. "...It means that I'm not strong enough yet to defeat the bastard who killed my father."

"Ah, so that's what has you bummed," Trip remarked. Patting Bianca on the back gently, Trip went on, "Bianca, there will always be time to improve and grow stronger. Trust me when I say that, sooner or later, you'll eventually be able to avenge your father's murder at the hands of Admin Swordsman."

Stephan, who was hanging with the heroes, sucked in a cringing breath. "Yeesh. I did hear something about how Admin Swordsman, who's a known ranking member of Team Scorn, had killed a man during a Team Scorn attack on Nimbasa City. That man he killed was actually your dad, Bianca?" After Bianca nodded in the affirmative, Stephan pounded a fist right into his hand. "...Well it's a good thing I don't plan to play nice with Team Scorn."

"We can talk about bringing the fight to Team Scorn later," Dawn said, "For now, we ought to get rest. You all especially, as you've got round two in the morning."

"And you're focusing on training Pina still," Trip said, "Which I think you covered after the round one battles today." Dawn nodded in the affirmative, then everyone turned in for the night. Round two would kick off tomorrow, and the competing heroes were all in it to win it. They had to rest up, because round two was going to be a far different beast than round one was.

END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX

Author's notes;

This chapter sees the Clubsplosion shenanigans kick off, with match ups here being different than their counterparts in the anime. The competing heroes all are aiming for the top, and some even have personal reasons for wanting to grow stronger. The next chapter will see round two happen, and the wins there will do more than just determine the semi-finals; they will also set up multiple plot lines along the side. You'll see what I mean later.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Germany (male Garchomp), Zatch (male Hariyama; shiny), 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), Shallot (male Glaceon)

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)