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 thirty: Cinematic Samba
The heroes had just arrived in Virbank City, and even reunited with their friend Ideku Badorigo, a roaming trainer from Johto who was also earning badges in Unova, and in fact had just earned the eighth and final one he needed to qualify for Unova's League Conference right before the heroes met up with him. They had also ran into Luke, an aspiring filmmaker, who was in Virbank City for the opening of Pokéstar Studios. Cilan, and Luke to a lesser degree, dragged the rest of the group with them to go see the grand opening of Pokéstar Studios.
Inside, everyone saw that it was an amusement park of sorts, loaded with all sorts of memorabilia connected to the film industry in Virbank City. Cilan and Luke were fanboying over a lot of what they saw, while the rest of the heroes expressed varying levels of interest. As the group looked around, they were met up by a man wearing a very dark blue suit, white undershirt, purple bowtie, and he wore black sunglasses with thin rectangle lenses. Upon seeing that man, Luke got even more excited and ran over to meet the man about halfway,
Pointing to the man, Kenny asked, "Who's this guy?"
"This, Kenny, is Mr. Gold," Luke said, "The owner of Pokéstar Studios."
The now identified Mr. Gold nodded once in acknowledgement. "Indded. Anyway, I just came over to say that I'm still impressed by your last work, Luke, and to wish you luck in the Pokéstar Studios Film Competition that's going to be held shortly."
"Pokéstar Studios Film Competition?" Trip said, "Hmm, explain."
"It's a competition where aspiring filmmakers like myself make films," Luke said, "To commemorate the grand opening of Pokéstar Studios." Looking to the heroes, Luke asked, "Will you all be willing to help me with it?"
Several of the heroes, including Dawn, Ash, and Ideku, seemed reluctant to accept, but before any of them could say otherwise, Cilan proclaimed, "I'm sure I speak for all of us here when I say that we'd be more than happy to help you, Luke!"
Luke, clearly happy, cheered, "Great! Well then, let's go!"
Sighing, Dawn muttered, "Well, it looks like we've been drafted."
A short while later, Cilan and Luke were putting the finishing touches on a script when Kenny said, "Now are you sure there's no need for a love scene? Because Zarbon and Hisoka-"
"Kenny, it's going to be some sort of movie where a hero fights a villain to save a priestess," Dawn pointed out. Turning to look at Luke, Dawn asked, "So Luke, who will get what role?"
Luke was about to speak up, but got cut off by saying, "It's probably gonna be a lukewarm script at best." Looking over, the heroes and Luke saw a somewhat smug looking boy walk over, accompanied by a Krookodile.
Seeing this boy, Luke said with a stern expression, "Well well well, it's been a while, Jules."
The now identified Jules gave a self-amsued laugh. "Watch it, Lukewarm Luke. The hard-hitting action film that I have planned will blow your boring film out of the water." Jules and his Krookodile then turned around and left.
"Grr, I'll show him," Luke said.
"I think that Jules might be the kind of guy who's so smug, he enjoys the smells of his own farts," Kenny whispered to Dawn and Trip, making both of them burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Ash asked as he and the others turned to look at the reborn trainers.
Catching her breath, Dawn said, "Oh, Kenny just made a crude joke about Jules's character as a person is all."
Nodding in agreement, Luke remarked, "Yeah, I don't like Jules all that much. The jerk's so smug, I bet that he enjoys the smells of his own farts." As Dawn and Trip struggled to keep it in, Luke gestured for the heroes to follow him. After a short walk, Luke had led the heroes to a large room where multiples of the same costumes and props are kept. "The competitors are allowed to only use the same costumes and props as what were used in famous films shot here in Virbank City," Luke explained, "This puts all competitors on an even playing field, allowing for skill alone to determine the best."
After that, Luke got everyone ready and assigned roles; Ash was the hero, Trip was the villain, Bianca was a priestess, the other heroes were extras, and some of their Pokémon worked as crew members and a few more extras. "Bianca," Luke said during the filming of a scene, "You need to cry for Golurk, and by the way Trip it's real convenient that you own an actual Golurk."
As Trip nodded in acknowledgement, Bianca said, "I need to cry? But how do I-"
"Remember how you felt that day in Nimbasa City," Ash spoke up, a somber look on his face, "When Team Scorn attacked, and that Team Scorn officer with the longsword killed your father."
"Bianca's father was killed by a Team Scorn member?!" Luke nearly exclaimed, "Holy geez! Bianca, I am so sor-"
*sniffle*
Luke was cut off when he and the others saw that Bianca was now starting to cry. "...That gentle, soft and subdued crying..." Luke said, "...It's perfect for this scene." Luke then proceeded to film Bianca's crying for the scene in his film.
...
Meanwhile, the Team Rocket trio were searching through Virbank City, clearly looking for something. "Where did that little thing go?" Jessie said aloud.
"I don't know, but we need to find it," Meowth replied.
"It's vital for Team Rocket's plans," James said, right before he and the others took off. Unbeknownst to them, a translucent figure managed to slip past their notice.
Back at Pokéstar Studios, Ash and his Pikachu were helping Luke find an airplane prop in a warehouse. Ash and Pikachu found it, but just as they were about to leave, something bumped into some other props, becoming visible. It was some manner of Pokémon that Ash didn't recognize; a small and feminine looking Pokémon with a white face and dark grayish body with green belly warmer marking, slender white legs, a fixture on the side of its head looking like a treble clef shaped headpiece, long green hair with lines in it making it resemble a line of music notes on a sheet, and a bluish gem in the middle of its forehead.
"What sort of Pokémon is that?" Ash said, but stopped short when he saw a plank of wood was about to fall on the mystery Pokémon. Without even thinking about it, Ash leapt in the way and covered the mystery Pokémon with his body to shield it from the falling plank of wood, getting hit in his back as a result. The mystery Pokémon, surprised by Ash saving it even at his own expense, looked touched that this human would risk his neck for its sake. Ash got up, uncovered the mystery Pokémon. "Are you ok-" Ash stopped short when he saw that the mystery Pokémon had disappeared.
"...Huh, it must have been skittish," Ash said. With the airplane prop in hand, Ash and Pikachu took off. However, unbeknownst to them, the mystery Pokémon, now back to being translucent, was secretly following Ash.
...
Eventually, the filming was completed, and as such they moved on to Luke editing and them recording their lines. Once everything was done and over with, everyone cheered for a job well done. A few days pass, and the day of the judging commenced. first was Jules's film, which was more or less the same as what Luke did but Jules himself and his Krookodile were the protagonists. After that, Luke's film was shown, with Ash, Pikachu, and Krokorok (Ash wanted to use his Emboar but Luke said Emboar wouldn't fit) as the 'Unova Defense Force' that fought a giant Tyranitar (played by Kenny's Tyranitar Godzilla) that was heading towards 'Pokémon Island'.
Ash went to an island, found two Bianca priestesses (one being Luke's Zorua in disguise with Illusion), the 'legendary titan' Golurk (played by Trip's Golurk AkiBot 966) was summoned, big fight scene ensures, the giant Tyranitar's revealed to be a mecha-Tyranitar (Godzilla in a costume, really), ...blah blah blah... Golurk defeats mecha-Tyranitar, the day is saved. The evil alien invader (played by Trip) vowed to return to get revenge before flying off, leaving the other actors to cheer at their victory that day, and thus was how the movie ended.
As everyone watched Luke's movie in the theater being used to screen the entered films, the mystery Pokémon Ash had saved earlier was in the theater, translucent and looking right at Ash. It contemplated the human who saved it from a nasty hit from falling wood, and wondered if Ash would be able to protect it from the bad humans who were trying to chase it down and take it prisoner to further their own evil goals. Wanting to see where things there would go, the mystery Pokémon decided that it would follow Ash in order to seek protection from him against the evil humans.
...
In the end of the film competition, Luke was declared the winner, much to his elated surprise. Mr. Gold presented him a trophy for winning, and everyone in the audience, aside from a bemused Jules, applauded Luke and his efforts. The heroes were among the loudest cheering for Luke, although Ideku was a bit more on the subdued side of things because he in all honesty wanted to make a beeline right for where the Unova League's Conference was going to be held. Regardless, the roaming trainer from Johto still cheered for Luke's win.
The group then went their own ways, with the heroes wishing Luke luck in his film making ventures, and Ideku taking off straight for where the Unova League's Conference was going to be held. Speaking of the Unova League's Conference, the heroes earning badges still had to challenge the Virbank City gym as they (aside from Dawn who wasn't going to enter the Conference) were all one badge short from having eight Unovan gym badges. As such, the heroes set their sights on the gym that was located in Virbank City.
...The mystery Pokémon was still following them, or rather Ash in particular.
The next morning, the heroes got up at the local Pokémon Center, the reborn trainers did some party rotation, and proceeded to make their way on over to the Virbank City gym. Thanks to a list of directions provided to them by Ideku, they were able to find the Virbank City gym, which was behind an unassuming metal door. Opening the door, the heroes made their way down into the gym and, upon entering the stadium, saw a trainer's Gothitelle get defeated. After the defeated trainer left, the heroes turned and saw Roxie, who they were able to identify thanks to a brief description of her from Ideku.
Roxie saw the heroes' group, and immediately went over to them. "Hey there," Ash said, "I'm Ash, and I'm here to-"
"You're Dawn Berlitz," Roxie said to Dawn, completely ignoring Ash, "So what that Ideku guy said about the Sinnoh champ being in Unova wasn't a load."
Nodding once, Dawn said, "Yeah, I'm that same Dawn Berlitz. And my friends here and I came to issue challenges to your gym, Roxie."
Roxie smirked in amusement. "Ideku must have told you about me. Fair enough." Gesturing to Dawn, Roxie said, "My gym here ain't only a gym, it's also the main venue for my band, Koffing and the Toxics."
Seeing a Koffing float next to Roxie, Trip said, "I take it that Koffing there is, like, the band's mascot?"
"Mascot and my main Pokémon!" Roxie confirmed, "So anyway, time to get down to business!" Pointing at Dawn, Roxie said, "You, Sinnoh Champ Dawn, will be the first challenger among your group to taste my poison!"
Dawn gave Roxie a curious look. "...You have a reason for this."
Leaning in to whisper to Dawn, Roxie said to her, "I normally wouldn't do this with a challenger, but there's a Pokémon of yours that I want you to use in our battle, at the end to make the show for the audience here as exciting as possible."
"...You want me to use Palkia," Dawn was able to guess, "Don't you?"
Roxie nodded. "It's for the sake of making things as exciting as possible for my audience here. It's be one hell of a way for you to end the six Pokémon you'll use against my three."
Dawn, thanks to her knowledge of the anime from her previous life, was expecting Roxie to have the battle be three on six, with Dawn given the numerical advantage. Bad enough for Roxie already, but she also specifically asked Dawn to use Tsukune, although it was because she wanted to make the show as lively for her audience as possible. Shrugging, Dawn supposed that there would be no harm in her respecting Roxie's wishes. With the agreement set, Dawn and Roxie took their places for their battle in the Virbank City gym.
After the rest of the heroes found good places in the audience to watch, the referee announced, "This is an official gym battle here at the Virbank City gym between the leader, Roxie, and her challenger, Sinnoh Champion Dawn Betlitz! Roxie is only allowed to use three Pokémon while Dawn can use all six of hers! The last trainer who has any Pokémon left able to battle will be declared the winner! Additionally, only Dawn can make substitutions at any time!" Throwing his hands up into the air, the referee called out, "BEGIN!"
"Alright Koffing," Roxie said as she sent in her Koffing who she never bothered recalling, "Let's rock Dawn's world!"
After Roxie sent her Koffing out, Dawn tossed up a pokéball while calling out, "Alright, Leni! Let's get goin'!" Coming out into battle was Dawn's first Pokémon for her challenge against Roxie, her named Lucario.
Roxie scoffed. "A Lucario. That's a partial steel type. Trying to put a stopper on my poison show, huh? Well I still have some tricks up my sleeve!" Gesturing forward, Roxie called out, "Koffing, use Gyro Ball!"
"Leni, use Psychic!" Dawn commanded. As Koffing flew in at Leni, the named Lucario conjured a telekinetic energy and blasted Koffing with it, striking it down out of the air and making it hit the stadium ground hard, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process. When the dust had settled, everyone saw that Koffing had been knocked out.
Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Koffing is unable to battle! The winner is Lucario!"
After she recalled her fainted Koffing, Roxie said, "Not bad, taking out my Koffing in one hit like that. No wonder you're the Sinnoh champ." Holding up another pokéball, Roxie said, "Let's see how you deal with this next one, though! Go, Scolipede!"
"Leni that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped Pokémon, "Alright, Albedo! Let's get goin'!" Taking the place of Dawn's named Lucario was her named Gliscor.
"Aha!" Roxie cheered, "A Pokémon that poison will work on! Now I can counterattack! Scolipede, use Toxic!"
Scolipede willed up the Toxic and cast it right at Albedo; Scolipede, due to being part poison type, had perfect accuracy with Toxic, meaning that it found its mark on the named Gliscor, afflicting toxic poisoning on Albedo. "Aha, your Gliscor is now toxic poisoned!" Roxie cheered.
"Aha right back at you," Dawn replied, "I let it happen because it'll trigger Albedo's Poison Heal ability!"
Roxie went wide eyed with surprised shock. "...Well played." Shaking her head quickly to regather herself, Roxie called out, "Scolipede, use Screech!"
"Albedo, use Aerial Ace!" Dawn commanded. Albedo quickly flew in and struck at Scolipede with Aerial Ace, bringing Scolipede to the edge of defeat before flying away to avoid Scolipede's Screech. "Albedo, use Aerial Ace again!" Dawn called out.
"Scolipede, use Rock Tomb!" Roxie ordered. As Scolipede tried summoning down boulders to fall around Albedo, she quickly flew in and struck Scolipede with another Aerial Ace, knocking it out before it could carry out using Rock Tomb.
Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Scolipede is unable to battle! The winner is Gliscor!"
After Roxie recalled her fainted Scolipede, she remarked, "You're really giving me a run for my money, Dawn." Giving her a knowing look, Roxie went on, "Let's see how much further you can take it." Tossing up a third pokéball, Roxie called out, "Go, Garbordor!"
Dawn then recalled Albedo while saying, "Albedo that's enough, fall back,", surprising the audience. Taking out a third ball, Dawn expanded it, revealing it to be a Master Ball. Tossing it up, Dawn called out, "Alright, Tsukune! Let's get goin'!" The entire audience went wild with excitement when Dawn's third Pokémon against Roxie turned out to be her legendary dragon Pokémon, Palkia.
"She's using Palkia?!" Cilan said, "Wouldn't that be a bit overki-"
"Do you not see the excitement of the audience, Cilan?" Trip pointed out, cutting Cilan off. The A-ranked connoisseur looked around, saw that the audience had been worked up into a fever pitch. "...Being a gym leader aside, Roxie is also a performer," Trip said, "It's her job to give her audience as exciting of a show as possible. And what better way than to face someone using a legendary Pokémon? Also, I overheard Roxie ask Dawn to use Tsukune because she wanted to give her audience as big of a show as possible."
Cilan folded his arms over his chest, a look of consideration on his face. "...Asking Dawn to use a specific Pokémon is a form of cheating, similar to how Skyla with her unreasonable 'Air Battle' system had her opponents show her what Pokémon they would use against her." Looking to where Garbordor was squaring off against Palkia, Cilan went on, "...But given what Pokémon of Dawn's in particular Roxie asked her to use, it's like Roxie's begging to lose."
"It's more about giving her audience an awesome show, like I said," Trip replied, "I may be able to do something similar with Deelia."
Over on the battlefield, Roxie called out, "Garbordor, use Hyper Beam!"
"Tsukune, use Spacial Rend!" Dawn commanded.
The two Pokémon fired their attacks at one another, with Spacial Rend sheering through the Hyper Beam, causing two Hyper Beam halves to fly past Tsukune, one each along each of Tsukune's sides, then the halves flew past Dawn to hit harmlessly into the wall behind her. As for the Spacial Rend, it flew on to slam right into Garbordor, striking it hard and sending it flying backwards until it crashed into the wall behind Roxie. Everyone turned to see a clearly out of it Garbordor stuck to the wall before falling off and falling right down onto the floor.
Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Garbordor is unable to battle! The winner is Palkia!" Gesturing to Dawn, the referee declared, "Victory of this battle does to the challenger, Sinnoh Champion Dawn Berlitz!"
The audience went wild with excitement over the epic finish to the battle between Roxie and Dawn. Smiling in amusement, Roxie recalled her fainted Garbordor before walking up to Dawn. "Yeah, you spanked me good," Roxie admitted, "But then again I sort of expected that. Anyway, this is for you." Roxie then handed Dawn a Toxic Badge, putting Dawn at eight Unovan gym badges and qualifying her for the Unova League's Conference. ...If Dawn was interested in entering that is; she still wasn't as there's no point for her. She's already the Champion of Sinnoh.
...But she still did like challenging gyms to earn badges.
Later that day, after Roxie's Pokémon all had a chance to rest up, Trip got the next shot at her. Using his Empoleon Myde, his Magnezone HedonismBot, and topping the battle off with his Dialga Deelia, Trip defeated Roxie and earned a Toxic Badge himself. Roxie was surprised by Trip bringing out Dialga of all things, but it made the audience just as excited as when Roxie had battled Dawn earlier, and Dawn had used Tsukune. With Trip's win, he was qualified for the Unova League's Conference, also the other heroes aiming to earn badges had to wait until tomorrow for a shot at Roxie.
The next morning saw the heroes back at Roxie's gym, where it was Kenny who went against Roxie. Using his shiny Scizor Cell, his Tyranitar Godzilla, and ending things with his Giratina Black (who was in its Origin Form due to holding the Gresious Orb), Kenny defeated Roxie and earned a Toxic Badge, thus qualifying himself for the Unova League's Conference as well. More and more people were coming to see Roxie's battles given that legendary Pokémon were being used; that led to more sales for Roxie's performances, thus meaning more success for Koffing and the Toxics.
After Kenny went Bianca; although she went in with a party consisting of her Escavalier, Klinklang, shiny Haxorus, Emboar, Cinccino, and Galvantula, Bianca saw Emboar go down in a double knockout with Roxie's Garbordor, and Cinccino and Galvantula were defeated by Scolipede before Escavalier defeated it. Klinglang was able to solo Roxie's Koffing. Regardless of seeing three of her six Pokémon go down in the process, Bianca still won against Roxie, and thus she was awarded a Toxic Badge, thus qualifying her for the Unova League's Conference.
Dawn also heard Bianca mutter to herself about how this got her one step closer to being strong enough to take down Admin Swordsman.
The next day, Ash had his battle with Roxie to try to earn a Toxic Badge himself. Ash had used a party of Pikachu, Palpitoad, Krokorok, Emboar, Scrafty, and Jellicent. Out of those six, only Pikachu and Krokorok were still standing by the time Ash defeated Roxie, thus earning the Toxic Badge and qualifying himself for Unova's League Conference. Dawn remembered, from the anime in her previous life, how Ash had a slightly tougher time against Roxie before winning. The extra power that came with a lot of his Pokémon being evolved really helped Ash out here a lot.
...
"Three months in Vertress City, huh?"
Roxie nodded in the affirmative after Ash asked her about Unova's Pokémon League Conference. "Yeppers," Roxie said, "It's called the Vertress Conference. As the name suggests, it'll be held in Vertress City. It's still three months off, so you all got some time to kill before it happens."
Stretching her arms into the air, Dawn said, "Well now, I say that after Ash's Pokémon are all treated at the local Pokémon Center, we do a little sight seeing here in Virbank City before getting directions to Vertress City so we know where to go for you guys to enter the Vertress Conference." The other heroes all agreed, thus they took off, thanking Roxie for her time before leaving.
Later the following morning, the heroes were all wandering around Virbank City. with Ash asking, "Where should we go here?"
"There's a local treat here in Virbank City that's quite popular," Cilan said, "The Bearticone Ice Cream. I think a cart selling them is just around the corner." The heroes all agreed on the idea of getting ice cream, thus they followed Cilan to where the cart selling the ice cream was located. After turning the corner, the heroes did in fact see a cart selling ice cream. However, who they saw at the ice cream cart, looking to get some ice cream, took the heroes by surprise.
"Cynthia?!" Ash and the reborn trainers all cried out in unison, seeing former Sinnoh champion Cynthia standing there at the cart. She was dressed as she was when the reborn trainers saw her in Sinnoh when Team Scorn was going about summoning Dialga.
Having heard the heroes speak up, Cynthia turned to face them. "Oh!" Cynthia said, "Dawn! Kenny! Trip! And even Ash! It certainly has been a while, you guys!" Looking to Cilan, Iris, and Bianca, Cynthia asked, "And I take it you all are friends of the others here?"
"What brings you here to Unova?" Dawn asked. A worried, knowing look entered her expression. "...You heard how there's Team Scorn activity here and you're looking to help fight them off, huh?"
Gently shaking her head, Cynthia replied, "Well there is that, but it's not the main thing I'm here for." Looking to the heroes, Cynthia explained, "The Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup is going to be taking place in Lacunosa Town. I'll be there to help out, as well as take part in an exhibition battle with a member of Unova's elite four."
"The Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup, huh?" Ash said, "Sounds like a perfect place for me to get some training in for the Vertress Conference!" The other reborn trainers all agreed with Ash, although Dawn was considering sitting out of the tournament, like she did with the Clubsplosion and will do with the Vertress Conference.
"Also," Cynthia went on, "Every participating trainer gets a keychain in the likeness of Alder, the Champion of Unova, and the winner gets a trophy plus the chance to have an exhibition match with Alder himself."
"Oh ho ho, I am totally there!" Ash declared. Seeing that the heroes were all interested in the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup, Cynthia invited them to stay at a villa she kept over in Undella Town. Thusly, they all took off in Cynthia's truck, eager for the adventure ahead.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND THIRTY
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the reborn trainers, as well as Ash and Bianca, all get their eighth Unovan gym badge each, thus qualifying them all for the Vertress Conference which is still a ways off. After that, they meet up with Cynthia, who is in Unova to help out with the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup, an event that the heroes (aside from Dawn) are going to be participating in. But there will be more than just tournament shenanigans ahead, so don't turn that dial; things are going to be picking up a bit from this point moving forward.
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), Palpitoad (male), Emboar (male), Jellicent (female)