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 forty-two: Opelucid Obstruction, part three
Admin Swordsman, head of Team Scorn's Longsword Sector, truly was a strong trainer.
He ended up defeating Bianca, who sought him out during Team Scorn's raid on Opelucid City, in a battle where they had both used their respective fully parties against one another, despite how Swordsman had only three Pokémon in his on hand team while Bianca had a full team of six in hers. Granted, Swordsman was able to pull it off due to the fact that Haruka, the girl who he had freed from her stiffing life of being nothing more than an accessory her parents used to advance their own standing in the world of Unova's high society, had pitched in to help him with the battle, which forced Bianca to divert some focus to deal with her.
And Swordsman, by the time that he and Haruka had won against Bianca, had only his Gallade who was about to go down and his Sceptile who hadn't seen action yet left; the only Pokémon that Haruka had, her Liepard, ended up being taken down sometime shortly after Swordsman's Aegislash had been taken down. If it wasn't for the fact that Haruka had been helping him with the battle had forced Bianca to divert some attention away from him, Swordsman suspected that, even if he won against Bianca anyway, he would have been in a far less favorable position at the moment. But the head of Team Scorn's Longsword Sector still won.
He would continue to be free.
"...Well now," Swordsman said, "This has been a... fun diversion. But I have to get go-"
"You aren't going anywhere," Bianca growled, a mix of upset and angry, as she interrupted Swordsman.
The head of Team Scorn's Longsword Sector arched a wry eyebrow. "...You're out of Pokémon who can fight. You can't stop me from leaving if I want to leave." Swordsman's Gallade, who was still out, cried out out in agreement with his trainer, although the Gallade was showing clear signs of being exhausted. "You can try to get your irrational revenge on me later if you want," Swordsman said, "But for now I-"
"-Have to deal with me! Godzilla, use Crunch on Gallade!"
Swordsman was cut off when he, Bianca, and Haruka heard a male voice cry out, one familiar to only Bianca. Then, a Tyranitar rushed in and bit down hard on Gallade with Crunch, doing enough damage to knock the Gallade out. Stepping into view after that was Kenny, who pointed dramatically at Swordsman. "Your two-bit discount villainy ends right here!" Kenny declared.
Swordsman growled in annoyance. "...You're Kenny Harris," Swordsman said as he recalled his defeated Gallade, "You're one of Dawn Berlitz's companions, as well as how you've got just as big of a record as Dawn does when it comes in interfering with Team Scorn's actions. You also own the legendary Pokémon Giratina." Swordsman took a look around at the area of Haruka's family's mansion they were all in. "...But I doubt Giratina would fit in here."
"I don't gotta use Black to whip you until your name's Toby!" Kenny declared, eliciting a cry of agreement from his named Tyranitar.
Swordsman, not understanding what Kenny meant, merely arched a wry eyebrow before tossing up a pokéball to send out his last Pokémon that was still able to battle. "Go, Sceptile!" After Sceptile came out, Swordsman said, "Sceptile, use X-Scissor!"
"Godzilla, use Rock Slide!" Kenny declared.
Godzilla summoned a large amount of rocks to rain down upon Sceptile as it rushed in. But Sceptile only was hit by two of the rocks, and in areas that wouldn't impede its ability to move about, before striking at Godzilla with X-Scissor, dealing a fair hunk of damage. After Sceptile leapt back to get some distance, Swordsman called out, "Sceptile, use Leaf Blade!"
"Godzilla, use Rock Slide again!" Kenny called out.
Again, the same dance as prior was performed, with Sceptile rushing in to get close enough to strike with its attack while taking some hits from Rock Slide. However, this time Sceptile's attack scored a super effective critical hit that ended up knocking out the named Tyranitar, sending it sprawling down to the floor. "Man, that's the third time that's happened," Kenny complained as he recalled Godzilla and sent out Android 21, his shiny Weavile. Kenny, prior to Team Scorn launching their ongoing attack on Opelucid City, was prepped to take on Drayden at the Opelucid City gym; Drayden, a dragon Pokémon user, would be troubled by the ice type Weavile.
Gesturing forward, Swordsman called out, "Sceptile, use X-Scissor!"
"Android 21, use Ice Punch!" Kenny commanded.
Both Pokémon rushed at one another to get within striking range for their attacks, but Android 21 was faster, and was able to strike Sceptile in the side of its face with a devastating Ice Punch that, combined with the damage Sceptile had prior received from Godzilla's efforts, was enough to finally defeat Swordsman's last Pokémon. After Swordsman recalled his fainted Sceptile, Kenny turned to face Bianca. "And what have we learned here today?"
Bianca scowled bitterly. "That I'm not strong enough to get the revenge that I want on the bastard who murdered by father yet."
Kenny said nothing, but held up a few fingers. "No, that ain't it. The lesson here is one, don't go rushing off on your own when criminals are launching a city-wide raid, and two, don't let thoughts of revenge lead you into scrapes you can't fight your way out of." Lowering the hand he had raised, Kenny said, "Bianca, I understand that it is very important to you to avenge your father's murder. But you shouldn't let thoughts of getting revenge to cloud your judgment. Who knows what all would have gone down if I hadn't shown up here to bail you out!"
"I would have just left her alone and escape like I'm doing right now!" Swordsman called out from a distance away, making Kenny and Bianca look around and leave the ravaged parlor room; they were just able to catch a second of Swordsman, with Haruka following him, escaping along with some very notably plump female Team Scorn grunt who Bianca was able to identify as Captain Hiroaki's Captain's Assistant Ayana, who was at the incident on Milos Island.
Snapping his fingers, Kenny exclaimed, "Damn it! They got away while I was busy busting your chops over your reckless acting!"
The dark of night had just barely settled in Opelucid City, but by no means was anyone in the mood to go to sleep. After all, the siege on Opelucid City, a siege launched by Team Scorn, had ended a few hours ago, all members having successfully escaped. There was damage all around, and even a few bodies taken away in body bags by medical teams. Just three bodies, however; the parents of Haruka Leigh, and shortly after those bodies were pointed out by Kenny and Bianca to the authorities and the medical teams, the body of Haruka Leigh's husband, who was impaled through the chest with a longsword but luckily did not lose his head.
Speaking of Haruka herself, she was seen fleeing with Team Scorn Admin Swordsman and the Captain's Assistant of one of the Captains who serve directly under him in Team Scorn. There was argument on if Haruka was being kidnapped by Team Scorn for some weird reason or if she was willingly throwing her hat in to support those villainous criminals, but the argument was ended in favor of the latter of those two options when Bianca confirmed that Haruka willingly assisted Swordsman in battling her back at the ravaged mansion where the now late parents of Haruka had lived.
Members of the wealthy elite neighborhood in Opelucid City were all shocked to varying degrees by the initial reveal of Haruka throwing in her bit to support Team Scorn. But after that initial shock had worn off, some wealthy elite members said that they honestly couldn't be too surprised by what Haruka had done; they all knew how the girl's life had been completely run for her by her parents, her mother especially so. Some of them had been guilty of doing the very same thing and, in light of what had happened, the ones who were guilty of doing the same vowed to rectify their transgressions.
It was clear that Haruka had snapped under what all her parents had placed onto her, so upon seeing a Team Scorn officer take her parents out for good, she saw it as her life finally being given to her to live as she saw fit. The heroes, Kenny and Bianca especially so as those two actually saw her, hoped that Haruka won't truly end up throwing her hat in for Team Scorn for good. It was bad enough that one girl fell in with those most heinous of criminals because of how her life had been ravaged by the careless actions of others; they did not want to see a repeat performance any time soon.
After the matter of Haruka being seen willingly escaping with Team Scorn was settled down for the time being, a similarly troubling point was brought to the attention of the other heroes by Iris and Drayden, that being an old book that Team Scorn stole from Drayden's home. Dawn, knowing that there obviously had to be a good reason for why Team Scorn would go through so much trouble just to get one old book, asked for details, and got it from Drayden that the old book had loads of information on the legendary Pokémon Reshiram, including info that could be useful to Team Scorn in their quest to encounter Reshiram itself.
Dawn figured before she was even told that Team Scorn had successfully stolen the book before Iris and Drayden were even able to confront them, and further learned that the fellow identified as Captain Hiroaki had the nameless grunts with him assist him in occupying the attention of the two dragon users while Hiroaki's Captain's Assistant, Ayana, got away with the old book on her person. Hiroaki and the twelve grunts that were with him then ended up fighting Drayden and Iris to a draw, but things after the battle still felt like Team Scorn scored a victory in the end anyway.
Team Scorn not only succeeded in securing their goal for the siege on Opelucid City and getting away with it, but it's a goal that will help to further their ultimate goal to set Boss's Assistant Ayane up to capture Reshiram. What's more is the fact that Admin Swordsman killed three people. Despite how pretty much every last one of the Team Scorn members in Opelucid City for the raid (with the exception of Captain's Assistant Ayana) were defeated in battle and fled Opelucid City in the end while the heroes and other defenders as a whole were still able to fight back after the siege ended, it was still a loss for the heroes.
Team Scorn had successfully gotten one step closer to accomplishing an ultimate goal that could endanger all of the world.
...
After the heroes all rested and recovered over that night, they woke up the following morning and went over to City Hall to see how Drayden was doing, as well as look into having battles with him starting with Iris who still needed to be tested by Drayden. However, they were all surprised when Drayden said that he could not accept any of their challenges. "I am going to be quite busy helping to fix things up around Opelucid City here," Drayden explained, "And as a matter of fact, I've had to close my gym back down for the time being."
"But..." Iris said, sounding a little disappointed, "...But I was actually sorta looking forward to battling you, to show you how far I've come when it comes to being a Dragon Master..."
Drayden let out a good natured, sincere laugh. "Oh Iris," Drayden said in a warm, reassuring tone, "You've more than proven how far you've come yesterday, and it's more than I could have even dreamed for you by this point in your journey." He placed a hand on Iris's shoulder, looked down at her with a warm and paternal look in his eyes that made it clear that he was proud. "You have exceeded even my expectations," Drayden said, "If you keep going at the rate you've been going so far, then there won't be a doubt in my mind that you'll become a Dragon Master who will surpass even me."
Iris, her eyes watering up a bit, threw her arms forward around Drayden's waist and buried her face in his stomach as she gently cried. Drayden let out a warm, reassuring chuckle as he gently patted Iris on the back. Additionally for the ones among the heroes aiming to earn gym badges, Drayden offered all of them a Legend Badge each, symbolizing their valiant bravery and efforts to repel Team Scorn during the siege on Opelucid City. All of them accepted, thus putting the lot of them at ten Unovan gym badges each, more than qualifying them for the Vertress Conference.
Speaking of, all that was left for them now was to head to Vertress City.
Team Plasma had no idea what was going on.
One minute, they were minding their own (admittedly very foul) business in experimenting on Pokémon in a dark lab somewhere, having their scientist Colress try to draw out the true power of a Galvantula in a glass dome while wearing a receiver of some kind on its head. Then, their lab room was suddenly busted into, and in swarmed loads of members from that Team Scorn group. They rushed in at such speed and with such numbers that Team Scorn was unable to fight back effectively, or even at all for that matter.
Soon enough, all of Team Plasma had been subdued by Team Scorn. Eventually, with all members aside from Colress physically restrained, Colress himself saw it as two female members of Team Scorn walked into the room. One was in a unique outfit that resembled the female student outfit from Blackthorn City Academy over in the Johto region, and the other was wearing the standard Team Scorn grunt uniform, but this female Team Scorn grunt was very notably plump. Additionally, the girl in the unique outfit was carrying a shiny Buneary in her arms, as if it were her beloved pet.
"Excellent work men," the girl with the shiny Buneary said as she surveyed the handiwork of the Team Scorn grunts, "This will go a long way to our efforts to clear Team Plasma out of the way as an obstacle to our ultimate goal of me capturing Reshiram."
"What do you Team Scorn bastards want?!" screamed one male Team Plasma grunt as he was pinned under Captain Hiroaki's Bisharp.
Gesturing to the girl with the shiny Buneary, the fat female grunt said, "Boss's Assistant Ayane here just said it. Clear you sorry Team Plasma lot out of the way so her path to capturing Reshiram is more clear."
"If you jerks think you can just waltz in and remove Team Plasma from the picture, then you've got another thing coming!" a second male Team Plasma grunt called out, "Especially when our boss Ghetsis-"
"You mean this guy?"
That Team Plasma grunt was cut off when he and the others heard a voice speak up from the hologram communication terminal. To their surprise, they saw Ghetsis, the boss of Team Plasma, held with a longsword's blade against his throat while a Team Scorn officer stood behind him, pulling Ghetsis's head back with his left hand while using his right to wield his longsword to press it against Ghetsis's neck. Additionally, a random Lillipup was clamped down on the hem of the bottom of Ghetsis's robes, growling angrily as it shook around wildly in a clear attempt to yank the cloak off.
The guy holding Ghetsis at swordpoint gave those who saw him via the hologram a knowing look. "Sorry, but Team Scorn doesn't want to have to deal with any sort of competition," the guy said before yanking Ghetsis out of view, letting Haruka Leigh walk into view, wearing a mostly yellow unique Team Scorn outfit.
"Sorry, Team Plasma," Haruka said, "But Admin Swordsman has a point. It'll be Team Scorn collecting all the chips in the end." The hologram then cut off, leaving the bound Team Plasma members shocked.
Ayane let out a mildly amused chuckle. "...And to think, Haruka became Swordsman's Admin's Assistant within the last twenty-four hours. She and he work well together."
A female Team Plasma grunt growled in frustration this time. "We of Team Plasma have not been defeated yet!" Turning to look at where Colress stood, the female Team Plasma grunt called out, "Colress! You're the only one still free! The rest of us need you to fight back against Team Scorn here and liberate us! We need to fulfill the will of Lord Ghetsis!" Colress said nothing, but he did proceed to unbutton his lab coat and take it off, allowing it to fall to the floor of the lab room everyone was in. All of the Team Plasma members who were gathered were shocked with that they saw, and for good reason.
The yellow and dark blue outfit that Colress had worn underneath the lab coat, with the Team Scorn insignia as a patch over his left pectoral, made it clear that he had long since already switched sides.
Colress gave Team Plasma an indifferent shrug. "...Apologies, Team Plasma. But the fellows in Team Scorn made me a far better offer, give me more to work with, have visions that extend far past the petty, greedy dreams that Ghetsis has. They are too intriguing an opportunity for me to pass up, so I secretly joined them and have been working for them since shortly before their first publicly known act here in Unova. I even told them what all Team Plasma has and where. Gotta keep their trust so I can further my research, after all."
"Traitorous swine!" a second female Team Plasma grunt yelled, "How dare you betray Team Plasma! How dare you betray Lord Ghetsis!"
"By this time tomorrow," the fat female Team Scorn grunt said, "Team Plasma will no longer be a thing, much the same as how Team Rocket is no longer a thing. We'll leave the authorities to find and clean up what all we of Team Scorn don't bother with." The grunts of Team Plasma screamed in frustration as Team Scorn went about to get what all they wanted from the soon to be defunct for good Team Plasma.
...
Although they were merciless, Team Scorn is also capable of showing mercy and pragmatism. Instead of killing all members of Team Plasma who they had captured, all that Team Scorn did was knock them out and set things up so that Team Plasma would be captured by the authorities. Boss's Assistant Ayane, however, did get it that Admin Swordsman was forced to kill Ghetsis, due to the Team Plasma boss escaping custody and trying to attack Haruka, while also kicking the Lillipup who Ayane got it Swordsman helped Haruka find in the wild and capture. The killing of the now late boss of Team Plasma was an acceptable kill.
As Team Scorn was helping themselves to what all goods were in the various Team Plasma facilities they had simultaneously raided, Colress approached Ayane, stood straight at attention before her while holding his right hand over his chest. He gave off butler vibes while making that gesture. "What would my new boss have me do?" Colress began, "Now that I'm sworn to a team who's offering me more than Ghetsis ever did."
"What was Team Plasma having you do before Team Scorn took them out?" Ayane asked.
"Doing experiments to try to unlock the true power and potential of Pokémon," Colress began, "Granted, Team Plasma wanted me to do so solely so they could get power for Ghetsis to conquer Unova, but it was something I sincerely was wanting to do anyway, solely for the sake of finding out the true upper limits of Pokémon."
Ayane gave Colress a look of consideration, before turning her attention to look around at the lab room they were still in. "...It looks like there's been some work done here that qualifies as unethical." Turning to look at Colress, Ayane said, "Until we get what all that we need in order to proceed to the next step of the plan to set me up to capture Reshiram, you may continue that research and experimentation in Team Scorn owned laboratories. However, before you can do so, you must swear to me that the Pokémon that you use will not be made to suffer while experimented on."
Colress nodded in understanding. "Of course, ma'am."
As Ayane and Colress talked, Ayana came walking over. "Umm, we have no idea how most of the tech that we're taking from Team Plasma works."
"Do you know?" Ayane asked Colress.
"I should, as I've worked with all of it," Colress replied, "And as a matter of fact, I've had a direct hand in the construction of at least two of the machines that we're taking back with us to the Team Scorn base."
"Then you continuing your research you've done under Team Plasma before today will have to be put on hold," Ayane said, "At least until after you've shown your fellow scientists in Team Scorn how all of the new tech we're getting works."
Once more, Colress gave an understanding nod. "It would be my pleasure." Suddenly, a curious look appeared on Colress's face. "Oh, when is the soonest we can expect to get started on the plan to set you up to capture legend itself?"
Shrugging, Ayane replied, "The boss said that it won't be until sometime after the Vertress Conference is done and over with. He tells me he's excited to watch it. Makes sense given that there's a TV in his office."
"Ah, the boss doesn't wanna risk missing any league tournament action on TV," Colress remarked, his tone understanding and mildly amused, "Fair enough." Arching a wry eyebrow, Colress asked, "By the way, when could I possibly meet the bo-"
"Only the Admins and myself are ever allowed to see the boss in person," Ayane interrupted, "As a matter of fact, the Admins aren't even allowed to bring their Assistants along if called to see the boss. There's been only two persons aside from the Admins and myself who have ever seen the boss in person, Admin's Assistant Goemon and Admin's Assistant Akari. The former by sheer chance, and the latter because the boss personally asked to see her."
Colress arched a wry eyebrow. "...Did she get into trouble?"
Ayane gently shook her head. "On the contrary, the boss heard that Akari was subjected to verbal abuse hurled at her over how she's autistic, and he wanted to personally ask Akari if she was okay and if she needed anything." Ayane remembered the woman who had hurled said verbal abuse at Akari, and was glad that Admin Brother of the Katana Sector had laid that foul woman low.
"Ah, my new boss sounds to be a far more compassionate man that Ghetsis ever was," Colress remarked, "And I had only asked if it was possible for me to see him so that I could extend to him my thanks for the opportunity he's granted me."
Giving a single nod, Ayane replied, "I'll give the boss your thanks to him for you." Ayane turned around when she heard two pairs of footsteps come up. They were both male Team Scorn grunts who, after saluting Ayane, explained to her that the last of the goods in the lab and its building as a whole they were in had just been collected. They also found a bag of Pokémon treats in a kitchen slash pantry area while also taking what food they came upon.
Ayane took the bag of Pokémon treats and gave one from the bag to her shiny Buneary, who ate it happily enough. "Well, we got everything that this place has to offer." Turning to look at Colress, Ayane gave him a wry, knowing look. "...Shall we adjourn to the Team Scorn base here in Unova managed by the Longsword Sector?"
"Anything to leave such a droll and dreadful place such as this," Colress said, smiling in mild amusement as he left the base his former team had so that he may go with his new team to their base.
Days after the Team Scorn attack on Opelucid City, the heroes made their way over to Vertress City for the Vertress Conference. Aside from Dawn, all of the heroes who had been earning badges were going to get registered for the tournament. They first stopped off at the local Pokémon Center to do necessary party rotations, even Dawn who wanted to keep things fresh despite how she's not entering. After the party rotations, the heroes went to go get Ash, Kenny, Trip, and Bianca all registered to enter the Vertress Conference.
"There's going to be one-hundred and twenty-eight competitors," Dawn said as she looked at a pamphlet she got detailing how the Vertress Conference would be ran, "The battles in the first round of the tournament, which is a Preliminary Round, will be single battles where each trainer may use only one Pokémon. Then in the Qualifying Rounds after that, the first two rounds of that portion will see each trainer use two Pokémon each, with the third one seeing three Pokémon per trainer used. Then after that are the Final Rounds, which are all full battles."
Pumping a fist, Ash exclaimed, "Oh man, I am so stoked! This is the one I'm going to win! I can feel it!" Pikachu gave an excited cry of agreement with his trainer.
"You'll have to pry that victory from my cold dead fingers," Kenny said, "For it is I who shall win!"
"No, Ash will have to pry it from MY fingers because I'll have it after prying it from yours!" Trip declared, prompting him and Kenny to butt heads.
Clapping her hands together, Dawn said, "Well now, you two boys sure are fired up." After getting Kenny and Trip to settle down, the heroes went to where registering for the Vertress Conference was being done so that Ash, Kenny, Trip, and Bianca could all register. There, they ran into Cameron again, as well as their old associate Stephan. Even Ideku was there, having arrived before any of the rest of them. The Vertress Conference was looking to be a heated tournament for sure, and Dawn, with Iris and Cilan, would simply be watching it in the audience.
Dawn wondered what all excitement laid ahead.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the issues in Opelucid City wrap up, with the heroes earning gym badges each receiving a Legend Badge in recognition for their services in helping to repel Team Scorn from Opelucid City. Speaking of Team Scorn, they're shown usurping Team Plasma as a whole, resulting in the take down of the Team Plasma organization, also Ghetsis is killed. Colress is even revealed to have defected to Team Scorn, and will be doing with them the same he did in the anime with Team Plasma. How this will affect the rest of things in Unova will be seen after the Vertress Conference action, which will be kicking off in full starting in the next chapter, so don't change the channel there.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Argent (male Arcanine; alpha; Hisuian), Germany (male Garchomp), Zancrow (male Volcarona), Leni (female Lucario), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Giyu (male Samurott; Hisuian), Android 21 (female Weavile; shiny), Black (Giratina; Origin Form), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Shallot (male Glaceon)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Mr. Popo (male Magmortar), HedonismBot (Magnezone), Myde (male Empoleon), Veda (female Abomasnow), Deelia (Dialga), Fourze (male Electivire)
Ash's Pokémon: (on hand) Pikachu (male), Krookodile (male; Sunglasses), Gardevoir (female), Meloetta (gender unknown), Hydreigon (female), Steelix (male; shiny)