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-nine: Frozen Fighting
The heroes, having made it to Icirrus City, were gearing up for the battles they would be having against Brycen, the gym leader in charge of the Icirrus City gym. After a particularly complicated method to determine who among the heroes wanting to earn badges would get the first go at Brycen, a method Kenny had invented involving a mix of using a cootie catcher, playing rock paper scissors, and rolling a pair of six-sided dice, Dawn just declared that the girls would go first then the boys, with Dawn herself taking the overall first go at Brycen.
Thus Dawn had her battle with Brycen. The Icirrus City gym leader used Vanillish, Cryogonal, and Beartic, all of them pure ice type Pokémon, and all of them causing Iris some degree of discomfort due to her having a fear of ice types. As for Dawn, she went in with her Infernape Chi-Chi, her alpha Hisuian Arcanine Argent, and her Volcarona Zancrow; dual fire fighting, dual fire rock, and dual bug fire. Fire types all, with two having secondary typings also strong against ice type opponents. With all of the (literal) fire power she went in with, Dawn quickly found victory in her Icirrus City gym challenge and got herself a Freeze Badge.
In between Dawn challenge to Brycen and the challenge Bianca would have, the heroes joined Brycen for watching some movies he had stared in when he was a movie star, watching them in a mini personal movie theater Brycen owned. Cilan went on about how everyone was in for a treat, given that all of Brycen's movies, at least if you asked Brycen, were gold. They started with a movie titled Enter the Beartic, where Brycen starred alongside a Beartic that the heroes recognized as the very same Beartic that, in Brycen's battle with Dawn, went down in battle against Zancrow.
The heroes and Brycen were also able to see all of a movie called The way of the Beartic before Brycen got a notice from the Icirrus City Pokémon Center telling him that his Pokémon were all fully rested and ready to go. Thus Brycen ended up having his battle against Bianca who, using Klinklang, Escavalier, and Emboar, managed to pull off a fair win and earn her own Freeze Badge. Trip made a comment on how Bianca's win mirrored some of what Trip himself planned to do when he faced the leader of the Icirrus City gym for his own Freeze Badge.
The next morning, after Brycen's Pokémon had all gotten time to rest and recover, Brycen started on the boys in the heroes' group aiming to earn badges; as per Dawn's suggestion, Brycen would take the first challenges of the boys in alphabetical order in respect to their first names, meaning it will go Ash, Kenny, and Trip. For Ash, he used a mix of Scrafty, his own Emboar, and Boldore to defeat Brycen, with only Boldore out of Ash's Pokémon going down in the process, and even then it was a double knockout with Brycen's Vanillish. Thus was how Ash earned the Freeze Badge here.
After that battle, the heroes watched more of Brycen's old movies while Brycen's Pokémon rested, those being Fist of Ice and Game of Ice. After that Brycen's Pokémon were rested and ready for the battle against Kenny. Using a mix of his shiny Scizor Cell, his his Houndoom Goofy, and his Tyranitar Godzilla, Kenny scored a fair win against Brycen, earning the Freeze Badge and leaving only Trip still needing to earn one before the heroes could advance to the next city with a Pokémon gym. Trip said that he was planning to go in with a team of Pokémon whose typing made them super effective against Brycen's ice Pokémon, similar to what Dawn did.
The next morning, the heroes went to the Icirrus City gym for Trip's challenge to Brycen. Whereas Dawn had used all fire Pokémon, Trip had used all STEEL Pokémon, those being his Empoleon Myde, his Bastiodon Byron (Dawn when Ash recognized the name of Canalave City's gym leader explained Trip favors the steel type and knows several famous users of the type), and a Magnezone named HedonismBot. Although he smashed ice with steel rather than melt it with fire like what Dawn did, Trip still got a win against Brycen, thus earning the Freeze Badge
As a side-note, Iris enjoyed seeing ice Pokémon getting smacked around multiple times.
...
"Opelucid City is the next place with a gym, ehh?"
Brycen nodded in confirmation to Kenny's question when the heroes wondered where to go for what would be the location of the last badge that they'd need to enter the Unova League's Conference. "The gym leader there is a powerful opponent," Brycen said, "But it would serve as a perfect training opportunity regardless of if you find victory or defeat there."
Clenching a fist shut, Trip said, "Well now, it sounds like Opelucid City is the way to go!"
While the rest of the badge-seeking heroes all agreed, Iris who the heroes weren't paying attention to looked a bit concerned by the mention of Opelucid City. Regardless, the heroes all proceeded to make their way to Opelucid City, where the location of an eighth Unovan Pokémon gym awaited the heroes.
Later, the heroes were leaving the Icirrus City Pokémon Center, with the reborn trainers having made party rotations to help them with what could be expected in Opelucid City (not that the other heroes knew that the reborn trainers, aside from being reborn trainers, had that advanced knowledge), when the seven of them were stopped by the Nurse Joy. "You all aren't planning to head to Opelucid City, are you?" Nurse Joy asked.
"Yeah we are," Ash replied, "We're gonna challenge the gym there."
Letting out a troubled sigh, Nurse Joy said, "That's what I was afraid of. See kids, the Opelucid City gym is closed down for the time being."
"What?" Ash said, looking surprised.
"Hooray!" Iris cheered, right before she caught herself given the other heroes were looking at her.
"...You know something," Kenny said to Iris, "Don't you?"
Before Iris could be pressed for answers, a limosuine pulled up, and out of it popped a well groomed slightly older man wearing a red suit that gave him the air of a butler. "Excuse me," the butler man said, "I am looking for Cilan, the A-ranked Pokémon Connoisseur."
Pointing right at Cilan, Bianca said, "That's Cilan. Why do you-"
Bianca was cut off when the butler picked up Cilan, said, "Cilan has been invited to the mansion of Mr. Hatterly," then tossed Cilan into the back of the limo.
"Help! Police!" Kenny cried out, "My friend's being kidnapped by a butler!"
"Relax, all of you have been invited as you're part of Cilan's group," the butler said as he proceeded to, one by one, pick up the other heroes and throw them into the back of the limo.
"Help! Police!" Kenny cried out, "All of my friends and I are being kidnapped by-ERK!" Kenny was cut off when the butler picked him up and chucked him into the back of the limo. When everyone was inside, the limo took off.
...
As the limo drove, the butler said to the heroes while all of them sat in the back of the limo, "I apologize for the less than comfortable pickup, but it's rather urgent business."
Folding her arms over her chest, Dawn said with a dry tone and likewise expression, "Well it better be urgent enough to excuse how you picked me up and threw me into the limo where I had landed with my face thrown into Bianca's butt."
"My employer, Mr. Hatterly," the butler began, "Who is a rather wealthy and prominent citizen in Stonesthrow Town, requested the assistance of highly skilled Pokémon Connoisseur. He heard that Cilan was nearby, so he settled on hiring Cilan for the job."
Folding his arms over his chest, Kenny asked, "So what's the job? Because my bud Cilan here is A-grade awesome. His services won't come cheap."
Nodding once, the butler said, "The business will be explained when we arrive at Mr. Hatterly's mansion." Within short order, the heroes pulled up to the gates leading into the grounds of a large and stately mansion, and outside the gates was Burgundy, who was demanding to be let in.
"Oh come on!" Burgundy said, "I'm a Connaisseuse too! Why won't you let me in?"
Getting Burgundy's attention, the butler as the limo drove past her into the mansion's grounds said, "You're only a C-rank. Much too low for Mr. Hatterly's time." Burgundy was outraged by the dismissal shown to her, right as the gates closed before she could get in.
Grabbing the bars of the gates, Burgundy screamed, "Let me in! Let me in!"
Inside of the mansion, the butler led the heores through a room that was rather dark. "...Okay, something about all of this is pretty sus," Kenny said, "I'm fixin' to-"
Kenny was cut off when spotlights turned on, providing much needed illumination, before shining down on a man with dark sandy blonde hair, and he wore a fancy light blue outfit. "That there is Richard Nouveau," the butler explained, "Another A-rank Pokémon Connoisseur."
Leaning to his side towards Dawn, Kenny whispered, "I think that Richard there might be gay." Dawn had to suppress some snickering as Richard and Cilan exchanged some pleasantries, although Richard was somewhat rudely dismissive of Cilan. After the two A-ranked Connoisseurs were done greeting each other, the butler introduced his employer, Mr. Hatterly, who had a small girl wearing a long sleeved yellow dress and long pink hair hiding behind him.
"Oh, this is my daughter Marigold," Mr. Hatterly explained, "And she's why I had asked for a highly skilled Pokémon Connoisseur. You see, it's getting close to time for Marigold to get her first Pokémon. I want her to have a Pokémon as exceptional as she is, hence why I had asked for the assistance of some highly capable Pokémon connoisseurs." Mr. Hatterly then had the curtains pulled aside, revealing the outside which was an impressive sprawling garden, much to the surprise of the heroes.
Stepping forward, Richard said, "I see no problem with that, sir. Allow me to-"
"It's a connoisseur's job to choose and recommend a Pokémon's moves," Cilan pointed out, "Not necessarily pick what would be a good first Pokémon." Turning to look at Marigold, Cilan said, "We first ought to get to know Marigold, if we are to help pick out the perfect first Pokémon for her after all. So Marigold, what sort of Pokémon do you play with in the garden?" When someone focused on her, Marigold gave a nervous squeak before hiding behind her dad's legs. Even though she hid, Cilan was able to catch the scent of something peculiar from the young girl.
"No need to worry," Mr. Hatterly said, "Marigold is friends with all of the Pokémon in the garden." Mr. Hatterly then led everyone out into the garden, so that Cilan and Richard could get to work on picking out the perfect first Pokémon for Marigold.
Out in the garden, as the heroes looked around while Cilan and Richard proceeded to get to work, an elderly man came in, surprising all of them. Only Dawn, Kenny, and Trip weren't surprised, as they were able to tell full well that it was Burgundy in a disguise. "Excuse me sir," Mr. Hatterly said to the disguised Burgundy, "But who are you supposed to be?"
Gesturing to herself, the disguised Burgundy said, "I am Fauxgundy, and I am-"
"Actually that Burgundy chick wearing a crummy old man disguise," Kenny said as he walked up to the disguised Burgundy.
Scoffing in outrage that the reborn trainers could easily tell was bluster over being found out, the disguised Burgundy said, "How rude!" Holding up a badge with a large S on it, Burgundy went on, "I am an S-ranked-" Burgundy was cut off when Kenny ripped her wig and fake mustache, unmasking her. He also took the badge, saw something that caught his attention, and peeled off the S like it was a sticker, because it WAS a sticker covering the actual C rank that Burgundy had. "If Team Rocket's disguises can't fool me, what makes you think yours would?" Kenny asked, right before Burgundy was forcefully removed from the premises.
After Burgundy was gone, Ash asked, "How did you know that was Burgundy in a disguise?"
"The bros and I can tell these things," Kenny said, "Also, the fake name she used was too similar to her real name. That helped give it away." With Burgundy out of the picture, the process of finding the perfect first Pokémon for Marigold began.
...
"In my opinion," Richard said, "The young miss needs a Pokémon as lovely, stylish, and graceful as she is." Walking through the garden, Richard observed all of the various Pokémon there, which included a Swanna, a female Frillish, a Minccino, and a Patrat. Seeing a Petilil, Richard said, "Aha." Picking up the Petilil, Richard brought it over and presented it to Mr. Hatterly and Marigold. "This Petilil ought to be the ticket."
Marigold seemed uneasy about Richard's choice, but Cilan without seeing Marigold's reaction to Richard's recommendation spoke up, "I'm not too sure if Petilil is the way to go for Marigold. I mean sure, I did catch the scent of grass Pokémon from Marigold, but it wasn't the scent of a pure grass Pokémon like Petilil."
Richard, after setting Petilil down, looked unamused with Cilan. "You speak as if you know better than me."
Seeing the two A-ranked connoisseurs glare at one another, Mr. Hatterly said, "How about we settle this with a Pokémon battle?"
"Or," Dawn spoke up, "We get a third opinion?" Everyone turned to look at Dawn, given that she was getting their attention. "I may not be a Pokémon Connoisseur," Dawn began, "But I still do know Pokémon. Then again, that's kind of a given since I'm the Champion of Sinnoh."
"Oh!" Mr. Hatterly exclaimed, "I thought I had recognized you! You really are Dawn Berlitz!"
After nodding once in the affirmative, Dawn went on, "I believe that, before we go about trying to force our opinions onto her, we get to know Marigold first like what Cilan had suggested earlier." Turning to look at Marigold, Dawn went on, "For all we know, she may have already formed a strong friendship with one of the Pokémon that lives in the garden in particular, a bond stronger than those she may have with the other Pokémon."
Cilan wore a look of consideration on his face. "...And I'm willing to bet that such a Pokémon is at least part grass type." Turning to look at Marigold, Cilan asked, "Would what all Dawn and I said just now be accurate?"
Marigold looked down, clearly nervous. "...Actually, it is," Marigold admitted at length, "But I'm afraid that daddy won't approve of my friend. That's why my friend hides near the swing-set we like playing on."
...
At Dawn's gentle insistence, Marigold led everyone over to the swing-set she likes playing on. She then called out, "Hey little friend! I'm back!" After a few moments, some nearby bushes rustled, and out of it popped a Foongus. It gave a curious cry as it hopped on over to Marigold and hopped up into her arms.
"Ah, a Foongus!" Cilan said, "It is part grass type like I had guessed, but it's also part poison type, which I had picked up in the scent that I picked up from Marigold."
Marigold nodded in confirmation. "I was sitting all alone on the swing-set one day," Marigold began explaining, "When Foongus here hopped on over and joined me by sitting on my lap and pushing us back by shooting out this sweet smelling air which filled the whole area." Looking nervous, Marigold said, "I never told daddy because I was afraid that he wouldn't approve."
"Oh Marigold, I don't have any problem with Foongus," Mr. Hatterly assured his young daughter, "And it does make a good match for you, given that the both of you are adorable."
Marigold giggled cutely out of appreciation, as well as how her dad approved of her Foongus friend after all. As Marigold celebrated with her Foongus friend, Ash turned to look at Dawn. "Wow, how did you know that Marigold already had a strong friendship with Foongus?" Ash asked.
Despite knowing about the events of that episode of the BW anime in her previous life, Dawn gently shook her head. "I didn't know that Marigold's Pokémon friend was a Foongus," Dawn said, "But I was able to tell from Marigold that she already had a close connection to one of the Pokémon living in the garden." Dawn took out a pokéball that held one of her on hand Pokémon, expanded it, and just looked at it. "...It reminded me of the connection I felt when I myself had started my journey as a Pokémon trainer," Dawn said, "When I saw Chi-Chi here as a Chimchar back in Professor Rowan's lab in Sandgem Town, Sinnoh."
Ash could tell what Dawn was talking about. "...Yeah, a bond between trainer and Pokémon, once it clicks, is clicked for life." Turning to look at his Pikachu, Ash went on, "Wouldn't you agree, Pikachu?" Pikachu gave a happy cry before licking the tip of Ash's nose, eliciting a chuckle of amusement out of Ash.
...
With Marigold's first Pokémon partner picked out, the job was done. "Now young lady," Kenny began, "Since you're now caring for a Pokémon, you'll need to learn how to work with other Pokémon, given that you can catch more than one." As the group made their way through the garden, a random Voltorb rolled on in. "Ah," Kenny said, "I'll demonstrate with that Voltorb over there."
Dawn, with a worried look on her face, said, "Uhh, Kenny, you may not wanna-"
"Dawn, my main man," Kenny said when he turned back to face her, "Relax, I got this." To Marigold, Kenny said, "Watch and learn from the master on befriending Pokémon." Kenny then turned back to face the Voltorb. Walking up to the Voltorb, Kenny said, "Gosh, you're cute!" The Voltrob then instantly used Explosion, causing things to (literally) blow up in Kenny's face. It also startled some of the group, and Kenny just stood there, covered in soot from the explosion.
Sighing in a resigned tone, Dawn said, "Well, there's some of Kenny's usual behavior again."
...
"Virbank City?"
Mr. Hatterly's butler nodded in the affirmative to Ash's remark. "Oh yes," Mr. Hatterly's butler said, "If the gym over in Opelucid city is closed, then the next best bet would be the gym in Virbank City."
As Ash was getting excited for the gym battle that awaited him, the other heroes also aiming to earn badges all nodded in agreement. Iris also seemed relieved that the group would not be heading for Opelucid City for the time being, although only the reborn trainers had noticed Iris's relief that the course was changed for a place other than Opelucid City. Even though it wasn't their original intention, the heroes nonetheless proceeded to head off to Virbank City, where the ones aiming to earn badges will find the eighth and final gym they'd have to challenge and earn a badge from so that Ash, Kenny, Trip, and Bianca could enter the Unova League Conference.
As for Dawn, who wasn't planning to enter the Unova League Conference but still wanted to earn badges anyway, kept her eyes on Iris, suspicious of her. Dawn, thanks to her memories from her previous life, had some idea of why Iris would be touchy of going to Opelucid City, but Dawn's memories of the BW anime were fuzzy, so she would have to take stabs in the dark to sus things out here. Even so, she'd be keeping an eye on how Iris would act, at least for the time being.
A few days later over in Virbank City, a crowd of spectators watched a gym battle between the gym leader, Roxie, and her challenger, Ideku Badorigo. Roxie, given how confident she was, set up the gym challenge so that she'd use only three Pokémon while Ideku was allowed to use all six of the Pokémon that he had on hand. Even though he also had his Enamorus Cupidos, his Zekrom Schwarz, his alpha Hisuian Typhlosion Tornupto, and his Meganium Meganie on hand, Ideku only ever used his Espeon Psiana and his Dragonite Dragoran to battle Roxie, winning against her without either Psiana or Dragoran going down against Roxie's three Pokémon Koffing, Garbordor, and Scolipede.
As Roxie handed a Toxic Badge to Ideku, the poison type user gym leader said, "Hey, how many gym badges does this make for you?"
"This is the eighth and final gym badge I need to qualify for the Unova League's Conference," Ideku confirmed.
Smirking in amusement, Roxie remarked, "Well a powerful trainer like you is bound to do well there."
Ideku nodded in agreement. "I intend to make it to the top." With the last gym badge he needed to qualify for the Unova League's conference in hand, the roaming trainer from Johto took off from the Virbank City gym, first recalling Psiana who was out at the time.
...
Ideku was wondering around Virbank City, looking to get directions to where the Unova League's conference was going to be held. Ideku wanted to get there as early as possible so that he had as much free time as possible to devote to training in preparation for the conference. Ideku needed to win the conference, as winning it would be his ticket to challenging Unova's elite four and, should he beat them, their champion, Alder. Ideku intended to win the conference, so he could challenge the Unovan elite four, then beat them to earn the right to challenge Alder for the Unovan champion title.
A title that he intended to win.
As Ideku wandered around, he heard the familiar voice of Dawn call out to him, "Ideku? Is that you?"
Ideku was snapped out of his thoughts when he turned to see the heroes' group come up to him. "Ah, everyone," Ideku said, "I'd say that I was surprised to see you here, but I know that five of you are aiming to earn badges same as me, and you must have heard that the gym in Opelucid City is down at the moment." Folding his arms over his chest, Ideku went on, "You're here to challenge Virbank City's gym, I take it?"
"Same as you, I reckon," Kenny replied.
Smiling, Ideku pulled out his Toxic Badge and showed it to the heroes. "I've already earned the Toxic Badge from Roxie," Ideku indicated, "And as such have all eight badges that I need to qualify for Unova's League Conference."
"You've already qualified for the Conference?" Ash said, "That's great! I'm so looking for-"
Ash was cut off when a second Ash came walking up to the group, surprising everyone. Before the other heroes could react, Iris said with a smirk, "I know it's you, Zorua!"
Suddenly, the second Ash leapt up and turned into a Zorua. "Oh, you're Luke's Zorua!" Ash said.
"I'm... confused, Ash," Trip said, "Who's Luke?"
Then, as if on cue, a boy wearing glasses came walking over. "Ash! Iris! Cilan!" the glasses wearing boy said, "I didn't think that I'd run into you-" The glasses wearing boy paused when he saw Dawn, Kenny, Trip, Ideku, and Cilan. "...These all friends of yours?"
"Yeah they are," Ash said, then said to the heroes who didn't know, "Guys, this is Luke. He's a filmmaker more or less."
Nodding in the affirmative, the now identified Luke said, "I'm here for the opening of Pokéstar Studios, so I-"
"Pokéstar Studios is opening up?!" Cilan exclaimed excitedlty. To the whole group, Cilan said, "Guys, we need to check it out now!"
"But what about me and the others challenging the Virbank City gym?" Ash protested.
Holding up a hand, Ideku said, "I... defeated the gym leader and earned the Toxic Badge from her less than an hour ago. I very much doubt she's ready to take a challenger." Turning to look at Cilan, Ideku went on, "And with all due respect, I-"
"We're heading there now!" Cilan said excitedly, dragging pretty much everyone along aside from Luke, who was going on his own anyway.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE
Author's notes;
This chapter sees Ash, Bianca, and the reborn trainers all earning Freeze Badges at the Icirrus City gym, before continuing on their journey to Opelucid City, only to get sidetracked by a mix of being told the gym in Opelucid City's closed and having to help Mr. Hatterly's young daughter Marigold pick her first Pokémon; although the episode from the BW anime with Marigold is kind of filler that I'd normally skip adapting, I decided that I had to adapt it anyway because it's where the heroes learn of the gym that's located over in Virbank City.
Speaking of, the scene near the end of this chapter shows Ideku earning the Toxic Badge from Roxie, giving him the eight Unovan gym badges he needs in order to qualify for Unova's League Conference. He further thinks about his ultimate goal of earning a regional champion title for himself (why he wants to be a region champion so bad will be hinted at later) before he's met up by the heroes in Virbank City. The lot of them then get dragged into Pokéstar Studio shenanigans by Luke and a rather eager Cilan. Again, the Pokéstar Studios episode is normally something I'd skip.
...But after researching the episode and seeing it's where Meloetta starts to follow Ash's group, I realized that it kind of HAS to be adapted. Anyway, you'll see how things go in the next chapter. Take care, folks.
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)