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-eight: Clubsplosion Conundrum, conclusion (plus other shenanigans)
It was the final day of the Clubsplosion tournament in Ambiga Town, and as such it would be seeing the final battle. To the amusement of the other heroes who were watching said battle (aside from Kenny who was bemused), the final battle was between Ash and Trip, two from their own group. Ash was glad that he not only was in the finals of the Clubsplosion tournament, but that he was battling someone he counted as a friend. As for Trip, well, he was glad to finally have a chance to battle Ash, someone who, in Trip's previous life, was just a fictional character that Trip, then Piper, had made her husbando.
Yet another reason why Trip wish he had isekai'd as Serena instead. Still, he was glad that he got on and was staying on good terms with Ash.
As both boys stood ready to battle one another, Don George said as he officiated the match, "This final round battle will be between Ash and Trip! The last trainer whose Pokémon is still standing will be declared the winner of the Clubsplosion tournament!" Throwing both of his hands into the air, Don George called out, "BEGIN!"
"Scrafty, I choose you!" Ash said as he sent out his Scrafty.
"Alright Fourze," Trip said as he sent out his named Electivire, "Let's rock it!"
Up where the rest of the heroes were watching, Dawn said, "Well it looks like Ash and Trip have started their battle. I wonder who will win."
Huffing in annoyance, Kenny said, "I could have easily avenged my loss back in Sinnoh had I been the one to battle Ash."
"Maybe when you all enter the Unova League Conference," Dawn said, "Whatever it will end up being called."
Cilan, looking curious, turned to face Dawn. "Hey Dawn, will you be entering the Unova League Conference when it happens?"
Dawn gently shook her head in the negative. "No. There's not much reason for me to, given that winning will really only net me a shot to gain a regional champion title here in Unova. I'm already the Champion of Sinnoh, so if I won the Unova championship title, I'd have to chose between keeping the Sinnoh champion title and declining the Unova one, or accepting the Unova one and giving up the Sinnoh one."
"Then why are you going around earning badges from gyms here in Unova?" Iris asked, giving Dawn a quizzical look.
"It's part of a gym challenge tour I'm doing to advertise to the other regions how I'm the new Sinnoh champion," Dawn explained. Gesturing down to the stadium, Dawn went on, "Now let's save questions for later. We've got the battle between Ash and Trip to watch."
Down in the arena, Ash said, "Scrafty, use Headbutt!"
"Fourze," Trip called out, "Use Fire Punch!"
The two Pokémon rushed at one another, with Fourze striking just slightly faster and punching Scrafty with a fiery punch, meanwhile Scrafty slammed its head right into Fourze's gut. After the two Pokémon fell back from one another, Ash and Trip saw that Scrafty had been burned by Fourze's Fire Punch. "Scrafty was burned before, and under tougher circumstances than now," Ash said, "And he still won!"
"Well that means I'll have to crank it up," Trip replied, a look of amusement on his face, "Fourze, use Thunder Punch!"
"Scrafty, use Brick Break!" Ash commanded. The two Pokémon hit each other with striking blows, but Fourze's was stronger, due in part to how Scrafty's physical attack was being halved by the burn it got. The two Pokémon leapt away from one another, and when there was enough distance, Ash called out, "Scrafty, use high Jump Kick!" Scrafty leapt up into the air and proceeded to fly down right at Fourze.
A timely call from Trip got the named Electivire to dodge, and when Scrafty's attack missed, it hit the ground hard and suffered massive recoil damage. "Fourze," Trip called out, "Use Earthquake!" Fourze then triggered a powerful quake that shook the battlefield and slammed Scrafty with the seismic waves. When the attack ended, Scrafty fell over and laid face up on the ground, clearly having been defeated. "Scrafty is unable to battle," Don George announced, "The winner is Electivire!" Gesturing to Trip, Don George declared, "The winner of the Clubsplosion tournament is Trip!"
The audience erupted into cheers when the Clubsplosion was ended and Trip declared the winner. Ash, although he had lost in the end, didn't begrudge his loss at all. As he walked up to Trip and offered him a handshake in good sportsmanship, Trip, with an expression like a popular celebrity was offering him said handshake, looked primed to accept. However, Fourze cut Trip off by picking Ash up in a bear-hug and happily crying out while hugging Ash. Seeing that the named Electivire was clearly being friendly, the audience cheered at the display of good sportsmanship and lack of hard feelings. The Clubsplosion was later ended when, during a closing ceremony, Trip was awarded the year's supply of vitamin nutritional drinks.
Thus ended the Clubsplosion tournament in Ambiga Town, and thus, the heroes' time in Ambiga Town had come to a close. With nothing left keeping them, the heroes proceeded to continue onwards to Icirrus City, with the heroes aside from Dawn talking about their time in the Clubsplosion Tournament. Dawn, though she didn't enter, still had a productive time in Ambiga Town as she was able to get Pina to fully master both Brick Break and Earthquake.
...
"I'm hoping to get to battle you again, Ash."
The heroes, as they continued to make their way to Icirrus City, heard Trip speak up. "Sure, I enjoyed our battle in the Clubsplosion tournament immensely," Trip explained, "But it was only a one on one battle." Giving Ash a knowing look, Trip went on, "Not enough for me to get a real idea of how great of a trainer you are. I'm feeling only a full six on six will do."
Ash returned Trip's look with a likewise one of his own. "There's the Unova League Conference after we all get enough badges to enter."
"That's not where you two will battle," Kenny declared, "For it is where I will settle the score with Ash!"
Dawn couldn't help but smile at how the boys were so excited about getting to face each other in tournament settings. It's part of what made being a Pokémon trainer well worth it. As such, it was with warmth in their hearts and springs in their steps that the heroes continued on their way to Icirrus City.
Meanwhile, the Team Rocket trio were hiding somewhere in Icirrus City, panting hard to catch their breath. "That was a close one, boys," Jessie said, "We had a close call over at Twist Mountain."
"I can see why Dr. Zager told us to abort the mission we had over there before we were able to do even one thing," James said, "Team Scorn showed up before we were able to start anything. The numbers they had plus how we were on our own meant that failure and capture were guaranteed for us if we tried to push through."
"So all we have to do is wait things out here until we can proceed further with whatever the next mission will be," Meowth remarked, "So I say we-"
Meowth was cut off when James covered his mouth with his right hand. Pointing out something that he saw, Jessie and Meowth also saw what it was that was causing James to be so cautious. The Team Rocket trio spotted Ideku Badorigo, walking past where they were hiding in Icirrus City. They saw him take out something that sparkled, look at it, then put it back away before he proceeded onward to whatever his destination was.
As the Team Rocket trio hid, James spoke up, "That was the brown haired slightly older twerp from Milos Island. And that was the Freeze Badge that he was holding. It's the badge awarded by the gym here in Icirrus City to victorious trainers."
"But where's he going off to?" Jessie asked, curious. The Team Rocket trio donned disguises before coming out of their hiding spot, looking like colorfully dressed hippies. They approached the first Icirrus City citizen, a kindly looking older gentleman, before pointing off in the direction they saw Ideku take off in. "Excuse me sir," Jessie began, "But we saw a trainer about yay high-" Jessie paused to indicate Ideku's approximate height, "-Head off in that direction."
"Oh, that's the direction to Dragonspiral Tower," the older gentleman explained, "No doubt that youth, being a trainer, wants to train in the grassy area outside."
"Dragonspiral Tower?" James asked, "What's that?"
"An old ruin connected to the legendary Pokémon of Unova's lore," the older gentleman said, "At least according to legend."
The mention of a ruin caught the attention of the disguised Team Rocket. "A ruin, you say?" Jessie remarked, "You think there might be treasure hidden within?"
The older gentleman gave an amused chuckle at Jessie's question. "You aren't the first would-be treasure hunter to set sights on Dragonspiral Tower, and probably won't be the last. To answer your question, there are no treasures there to be found, unless you consider taking in the sights to be treasures unto themselves." Seeing that there were no potential treasures to be found at Dragonspiral Tower (at least according to the old man), Team Rocket decided that checking the place out wasn't going to be worth their time. They thanked the old man for his time and answering their questions, though.
After the old man took off, the Team Rocket trio turned to look at one another. "Well, it's back to hiding until we get more orders," Meowth remarked.
"Hey, I just had a thought," Jessie said, "There's a gym here in Icirrus City, right? The twerps love to challenge gyms. I say that waiting here has a bonus of putting us in range to steal the twerps' Pokémon!"
"Excellent idea, Jessie!" James said, "We continue fulfilling our orders, and score a little bonus on the side!" The Team Rocket trio then did a group high five, ready to set their goal to ambush the heroes into motion when they finally get to Icirrus City to challenge the local Pokémon gym.
After they had all simmered down, Meowth turned his attention to the direction that the Dragonspiral Tower laid in. "I still can't understand why the brown haired slightly older twerp would want to go to that Dragonspiral Tower place. I mean, the old man said that there was no treasure to be found there. What good is it to visit a ruin if there's no treasure or other valuable loot there for the taking?"
Jessie nodded in agreement with Meowth. "I have to agree with you on that one, Meowth. If there's no money or other payoff in it for doing so, then I fail to see the reason for anyone to wanna visit some dusty old ruin."
"It's probably some weird do-gooder thing that we're too Team Rocket to understand," James said, drawing nods of agreement out of Jessie and Meowth. With nothing else to think about, the Team Rocket trio went back to hiding amongst the citizenry of Icirrus City, waiting on either more orders to proceed for another mission, or for the heroes to show up so that they can try to steal their Pokémon. Either way, Team Rocket intended to make it big.
So caught up in their fantasies of success that Team Rocket ended up completely forgetting about Ideku being seen heading off in the direction of Dragonspiral Tower.
...
Ideku was completely alone when he had finally made his way into the area where the Dragonspiral Tower was located. The roaming trainer from Johto knew full well what he was going to be doing, knew how to go about it. Feeling confident after finding victory against gym leader Brycen in the Icirrus Cty gym, Ideku entered the Dragonspiral Tower, even as he sensed a pulsing hum coming from something that he was able to swipe from right under the noses of Team Scorn back at the Hero's Ruins near Chargestone Cave.
After he made his way inside of Dragonspiral Tower, Ideku proceeded to make his way up, ascending through the multiple floors before he had finally made it to the top which was more or less open rather than be an indoor area. Setting his bag down, Ideku removed from it the item that he had acquired back at the Hero's Ruins without anyone being the wiser that he was ever there; the Golden Dark Stone. Holding the treasure, Ideku then removed from his bag an old book that he had. Opening it, he flipped through the pages before finding what he wanted.
"...Well it's a good thing that I have Blitzkrieg with me," Ideku said to himself before putting the book away. Walking to the most wide open area of space on the top of the Dragonspiral Tower, Ideku sat the Golden Dark Stone down, walked about four meters away, then turned around to face where the Golden Dark Stone sat on the ground. Ideku then called out Blitzkrieg, his shiny Raichu. Pointing to where the Golden Dark Stone sat on the ground, Ideku said, "Blitzkrieg, I need you to use Thunderbolt on that object on the ground over there." The named shiny Raichu never questioned his trainer before, and certainly wasn't going to start doing so now.
Acting on command, Blitzkrieg used Thunderbolt on the Golden Dark Stone where it sat on the ground. This made a large pillar of electricity fly up into the skies above, making Ideku grateful that the top floor of Dragonspiral Tower was open air. The skies above, already somewhat dark, soon darkened up even more, and at a rate that Ideku knew full well wasn't natural. "Alright Blitzkrieg," Ideku said, "Looks like that did its job. Return." After recalling his shiny Raichu, Ideku got Meganie and Tornupto ready for what he knew was going to be a fierce battle.
A battle that he knew was going to commence in mere moments when he heard a loud, monstrous, dragonic roar sound out from some distance away. Soon after that, Ideku looked around at the dark skies above him, and soon spotted a large black shape flying in, bursting through some of the dark clouds at a speed that made it clear the traveler had flown for some distance, but had wanted to get there as quickly as possible due to the summons. The large visitor soon landed on the top floor of the Dragonspiral Tower, and when it did, Ideku knew his efforts had paid off.
For the roaming trainer from Johto had just encountered the legendary Pokémon Zekrom.
"Go, Meganie and Tornupto!" Ideku said as he sent out his Meganium and alpha Hisuian Typhlosion. Normally battles with wild Pokémon were one on one affairs, but since this was a legendary Pokémon (one who was powerful even for a legendary), it made sense to try to have a numbers advantage. "Meganie, use Reflect!" Ideku called out, "Tornupto, use Infernal Parade!"
As Meganie conjured a barrier to weaken damage from incoming physical attacks while Tornupto conjured a myrad fireballs attack to cast at Zekrom, the legendary Pokémon jumped up, cloaked itself in a massive sphere of electricity, then came slamming down right on top of Meganie. Meganie was barely able to tough out that very mighty attack from Zekrom, and Ideku suspected that it was due to how said attack was clearly an electric type attack; Meganie, being a Meganium which is pure grass type, resists electric attacks.
Even so, Meganie was able to get up Reflect, and Tornupto was able to land Infernal Parade which luckily scored a burn on Zekrom which pained the great black dragon. Ideku thought for a brief instance about recalling Meganie to spare it from getting knocked out; not once since Ideku had gotten him had Meganie ever gone down in battle, and the roaming trainer from Johto wanted to keep it that way. But given what he was dealing with here, what all he stood to gain from his actions here, Ideku was willing to take the risk anyway, especially as he couldn't spare a moment's thought on very much right now.
"Meganie, use Dragon Pulse," Ideku said, "Tornupto, use Infernal Parade!"
As both of Ideku's Pokémon conjured up their attacks to fire at Zekrom, Zekrom itself rushed Tornupto this time to hit it with Slash. To Zekrom's surprise, its attack had no effect on the alpha Hisuian Typhlosion; that surprise plus how it unknowingly tried hitting a ghost with a normal attack left Zekrom wide open to two attacks, one that was super effective and the other one doing double damage due to Zekrom being burned. After Zekrom's burn pained it again, Ideku said, "Meganie, use Dragon Pulse! Tornupto, use Infernal Parade!"
This time, Zekrom when it attacked before Meganie or Tornupto rushed the latter of the pair and bit down hard with Crunch, eliciting a pained cry from the alpha Hisuian Typhlosion. Zekrom seemed satisfied that it had finally landed an effective attack on Tornupto, even though it took another Dragon Pulse from Meganie and another Infernal Parade from Tornupto before being pained by its burn. From the looks of it, the twin factors of Reflect being up and Zekrom being burned were the only reasons why Tornupto wasn't defeated there and then; Ideku suspected that if either factor wasn't there, then his named alpha Hisuian Typhlosion would have gone down.
Zekrom was still clearly in it, so Ideku called out another round of attacks on the legendary Pokémon. "Meganie, use Dragon Pulse! Tornupto, use Infernal Parade!" Zekrom still being faster meant it was able to land a second Crunch on Tornupto, finally taking down one of its opponents even though it got hit by Meganie's Dragon Pulse and was pained by its burn again. After recalling Tornupto, Ideku tossed up an Ultra Ball while saying, "Go Cupidos!" Taking the place of Tornupto was Cupidos, Ideku's named Enamorus.
Gesturing forward, Ideku said, "Meganie, use Dragon Pulse! Cupidos, use Moonblast!"
Zekrom was barely quick enough to rush in before Cupidos to try striking her with Dragon Claw, only to find that it did nothing to her. This meant that Zekrom got hit by Moonblast and then Dragon Pulse after that, and then was pained by its burn again. But the powerful legendary Pokémon by no means was in the mood to give up right now, because it used its massive electrical attack on Cupidos next, and saw that it not only hurt the named Enamorus, but was far more effective on her than on the named Meganium who was allied with her.
Although after that, Zekrom took another Dragon Pulse and Moonblast, and was pained by its burn again. Zekrom was now starting to get at its limit, but it still refused to give up just yet. It used its massive electrical attack on Cupidos again, and was able to take her out before taking a Dragon Pulse from Meganie and getting pained by its burn again. After Ideku recalled Cupidos and sent out his Dragonite Dragoran in Cupidos's place, Ideku called out, "Meganie, use Dragon Pulse! Dragoran, use Dragon Claw!"
Zekrom was still faster, and struck at Dragoran with Slash, dealing a fair hit that was still mitigated by Reflect. However, after it took the Dragon Pulse from Meganie and the Dragon Claw from Dragoran, then was pained by its burn, Zekrom fell over onto the ground face first, having reached its limit, finding itself on the verge of going down. The mighty legendary Pokémon was panting hard with pain and exhaustion, struggling to try getting back up onto its feet. It's right arm slipped, and Zekrom just laid there, eyeing the human commanding the Pokémon he used to bring it to this state.
Ideku, seeing the chance, took out an Ultra Ball, expanded it, and threw it at Zekrom while shouting, "Go, Ultra Ball!" The Ultra Ball flew at Zekrom, hit it, then took it inside before landing on the ground softly with a clink. The Ultra Ball shook for a bit, making Ideku gulp nervously as he and his Pokémon watched to see if their efforts were enough to pull off what the roaming trainer from Johto was hoping for. Thankfully for Ideku, his unspoken prayers were answered when the Ultra Ball made a click sound, indicating that he had, for a second time, accomplished what most Pokémon trainers out there in the world could only dream of.
"I... I did it..." Ideku spoke aloud, as if in disbelief, "...I caught Zekrom." Meganie and Dragoran both let out relieved sighs as Ideku went over to collect the Ultra Ball that held his newly caught Zekrom. By checking the ball with his pokédex, Ideku learned that Zekrom's electrical attack was called Fusion Bolt; Dragon Claw, Crunch, and Slash were identifiable on their own. Ideku looked down at the Ultra Ball that held his legendary dragon. "...You shall be named Schwarz." Ideku sent Morlord who he had on hand to Professor Elm's lab in New Bark Town, Johto, in order to make room in his party to immediately add Schwarz.
With his business there at Dragonspiral Tower done, Ideku recalled Meganie and Dragoran, collected the Golden Dark Stone (now useless as Zekrom had been captured but the stone would still serve as a nice decorative item), then proceeded to leave the ruins he was in. The roaming trainer didn't feel comfortable doing all of this mystery, acting without those he's come to view as friends knowing what he's even up to. He'd hate it even more if he were forced to betray them in any way, which might come to pass if he encountered any of the heroes in battle during Unova's Pokémon League Conference.
...But he knew that what all secrecy he had done was necessary, what betrayal he might be forced to commit might be necessary, if he were to accomplish his goal of claiming a regional champion's throne for himself.
Two days after Ideku had caught Zekrom (not that anyone aside from Ideku himself knew he had caught Zekrom, or Enamorus for that matter), the heroes finally made it to Icirrus City, entering the location of the next Unovan gym with Iccirus City's local gym leader, Brycen. "Wow, we've done a lot since we've left Ambiga Town," Bianca remarked, "We saw Ash's Swadloon evolve into a Leavanny, met some archaeologists at Twist Mountain, ran into the jerk who abandoned Ash's Pignite as a Tepig and saw Ash beat said jerk in a battle while Ash's Pignite evolved into Emboar, and helped Brycen here wrangle up a poacher who was after a wild Volcarona!"
"Was siccing Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina on the poacher really necessary?" Cilan asked.
Shrugging, Dawn said, "He was a clear cut criminal, and given how often we've had to deal with guys like that, then I say overwhelming him before he even knows what's happening is a smart move."
Squeeing with excitement, Iris said, "I still can't believe that I got to see those awesome dragon Pokémon in action again!"
"Yes, seeing such awesome dragon Pokémon," Brycen began, "And ones thought to exist only in Sinnoh's lore, was truly humbling. Even with the fact that ice type attacks are super effective against dragon Pokémon, I have no doubt that Dawn, Kenny, and Trip will best me when they challenge me in their respective bids for the Freeze Badge."
"We don't plan to use our respective legendary dragons in our battles with you, Brycen," Dawn replied, "...Well, I at least don't plan to use Tsukune."
Looking at the time on a watch she had, Bianca said, "Is there even time for some of us to battle Brycen today?"
"I can take two challengers today," Brycen replied, "Even if you're permitted time to rest at the local Pokémon Center before we begin."
Turning to look at Brycen, Kenny said, "Hey Brycen, Cilan said that you were a movie star, right? I don't suppose you have copies of the movies you were in, and furthermore if we can try watching some in between challenges to your gym?"
"That is a very excellent idea, Kenny!" Cilan said, clearly gushing like a fanboy, "You all hadn't lived until you've seen Brycen's movies!"
Brycen smiled in flattered appreciation at the praise from Cilan. "Well I certainly have no problem with that. I even have a small personal movie theater where we can watch the movies at. But first I urge you all to go to the local Pokémon Center to rest, and for those among you aiming to challenge me to prepare yourselves for facing me at my gym." The heroes all nodded in understanding before breaking off from Brycen to head to the Icirrus City Pokémon Center, where the heroes got their parties set up to give them the best edge they could have against Brycen in their respective challenges to him at his gym.
They would be sending the next few days in Icirrus City, it would seem, challenging the gym leader and watching the movies he starred in.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the conclusion of the Clubsplosion tournament, with Trip having his first battle here with Ash and winning, which is also Ash's first loss here. After their time in Ambiga Town was over, the heroes left to head for Icirrus City so that Dawn, Kenny, Trip, Ash, and Bianca could all have shots at the Icirrus City gym. The events of episodes BW074 to BW078 were skipped and only giving a skimming mention so that the heroes could get to Icirrus City faster; given that five of the seven heroes were going to be challenging Brycen, there's a reason for hurry.
Meanwhile, Ideku secretly heads on over to Dragonspiral Tower which is near Icirrus City (in the games at least), and reveals that he got the Golden Dark Stone from the Hero's Ruins near Chargestone Cave. After using the Golden Dark Stone to summon Zekrom, Ideku engages the legendary dragon in a fierce battle before capturing it, while also revealing that his cloak and dagger behavior to cover up some of what he's up to is because he's planning to become a region's champion, and is first going to be taking aim at claiming the Unova Champion's throne for himself.
But why does Ideku want to be a region's champion? What would make him feel acting against his nature is necessary in order for him to achieve his surprisingly lofty goals? This will be explored further in future chapters, so don't adjust your set.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Argent (male Arcanine; alpha; Hisuian), Zatch (male Hariyama; shiny), Zancrow (male Volcarona), Foamy (male Pachirisu), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Giyu (male Samurott; Hisuian), Goofy (male Houndoom), Black (Giratina; Origin Form), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Shallot (male Glaceon)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Byron (male Bastiodon), HedonismBot (Magnezone), Myde (male Empoleon), Veda (female Abomasnow), Deelia (Dialga), Fourze (male Electivire)
Ash's Pokémon: (on hand) Pikachu (male), Krokorok (male; Sunglasses), Scrafty (male), Boldore (male), Emboar (male), Jellicent (female)