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 sixty-one: Rocky Road
The heroes, after some extensive traveling, finally made their way to Cyllage City. They first stopped off at the local Pokémon Center to rest up, also Dawn, Kenny, and Trip wanted to do a little party rotation. After the group was ready, they all headed out to go find the gym. It was Serena who pointed out that the Cyllage City gym was actually at the top of a mountain that was overlooking a city. The heroes then had to go on a bit of a hike, during which Bonnie multiple times tried and failed to get one of the others in the group to carry her (Kenny was about to indulge Bonnie in her request, but Clemont told him Bonnie's just being lazy and can walk) before the lot of them finally reached the gym.
Going inside, the heroes were surprised to see a large rock climbing wall block inside of the gym. Inside, they ran into Grant who was there waiting for them. "Oh ho ho, so you guys made it after all," Grant said, sounding impressed.
"Nothing was going to stop us from getting here, Grant," Ash said determinedly.
Grant nodded once in understanding. "Oh by the way, I heard on the news that your group was caught up in some Team Scorn chaos over in Ambrette Town. You guys doing okay now?"
"We managed to resolve everything," Dawn replied, "And thankfully no one was seriously hurt or worse."
"Yeah, that's always a blessing," Grant said, "So anywho, which of you between Ash, Dawn, Kenny, and Trip will be challenging me first?"
Looking curious, Trip asked, "Why do you ask?"
Gersturing to the rock wall behind him, Grant replied, "Because I usually challenge challengers to my gym to climb all the way to the top of the battlefield, which awaits at the top of this rock climbing wall."
Looking around, Dawn said, "...Where's the safety gear?"
"Pardon?" Grant said.
Turning to look to Grant, Dawn said, "Aren't rock climbing walls suppose to have safety gear, like harnesses and stuff, to prevent serious injury in case someone climbing up a rock wall slips and fall from a notable height?"
"I'm not seeing a station that provides helmets to put on to prevent head injury either," Trip said while looking around, "Now that my foster sis here points out the lack of safety measures. Also, is there a manner of fence around the battlefield to prevent people from falling off?"
Grant, with a stunned look of surprised worry on his face despite the smile, said, "...Well that explains the one time the family of a challenger tried to file a lawsuit against my gym." Clapping his hands together while regaining his composure, Grant said, "Anywho, for the time being the rock walls are off limits, so all of us will be taking the elevator!"
As everyone made their way to the elevator, Dawn gave Grant a dry look although he didn't see it as she was behind him.
...
Despite how things getting to the battlefield went differently in the anime in Dawn's previous life, she saw that Ash was still the first to challenge Grant. The battle began with Grant sending out Onix and Ash sending out Pikachu. Despite the type advantage and the much large size advantage, Onix actually went down Pikachu in two hits. Pikachu first outran Onix and tripped it up with Grass Knot which, in addition to being times four super effective against Onix, dealt more damage than usual due to how many times heavier than Pikachu Onix is.
Onix, after it was tripped up and fell over while trying to use Rock Tomb, fell to the battlefield with a thud as its Rock Tomb went off kilter due to the aim being thrown off by Onix being tripped. While Onix laid there trying to get up, Pikachu ran in and struck Onix across the face with Iron Tail, knocking it out. After Grant recalled his fainted Onix, he sent out his second and final Pokémon, which was a Tyrunt of his own. Ash then had Pikachu come back so he could send out his second Pokémon for the battle, which ended up being Froakie.
This is where Ash's training to get around Grant's use of Rock Tomb came in handy, as Froakie danced around the attacks gracefully while hooping as it conjured doppelgangers by using Double Team then, leaping up into the air, the real Froakie and all of its doppelgangers which weren't busted by a few stray shots of Rock Tomb cast Water Pulse, all of them hitting Tyrunt and pushing it back. Grant tried ordering some retaliation by calling for Tyrunt to use Draco Meteor, scaring Ash a bit as he knew Draco Meteor was a strong dragon attack.
...But one of the Water Pulses that the Froakies hit Tyrunt with caused Tyrunt to become confused and, in its confusion, Tyrunt hit itself, and it was that hitting itself in confusion that resulted in Tyrunt's defeat. Tyrunt's defeat ended up winning Ash the gym battle, making him jump up in the air as he cheered, elated to see some of his training that he did to dance around Grant's Rock Tomb strategy had paid off. Grant, not begrudging the loss, recalled his Tyrunt and, in his duties as a gym leader, gave Ash the Cliff Badge, his second Kalos gym badge.
After that was the process of the reborn trainers battling Grant to earn their respective Cliff Badges. Dawn was the first to go after Grant's Pokémon had time to rest and recover and, despite Grant's best efforts, Dawn won against him, resulting in her earning the Cliff Badge from him. The following morning when the heroes came back for Trip's aim to challenge Grant, while everyone else was distracted Kenny had scaled up the entirety of the rock wall not only without effort, but within the brief time the heroes were talking to Grant. When Clemont noted that they couldn't have been talking for more than half a minute, Grant with a looked of subdued shock on his face said in a similar tone that Kenny must have broken at least one record.
Despite thinking that Kenny was the one he'd be challenging next, Grant ended up battling Trip instead when it was pointed out Kenny just wanted to test his luck with the rock climbing wall, although Grant did give Kenny a very mild warning about not doing so until he can get all of the necessary safety gear at his gym; having looked it up, Grant saw that his gym's rock climbing wall having NONE of the necessary safety measures could have gotten him into some very serious legal doo-doo, and he was quite honestly surprised he only got as much flack as he had in the past.
Regardless, Trip ended up winning rather handily against Grant, with Myde alone sweeping both of Grant's Pokémon. Later that day after Grant's Pokémon had rested, Kenny did what Trip did and won against Grant, only Kenny had used Roshi. Now that all members of the group who were earning badges had defeated Grant at the Cyllage City gym, their group was ready to move on to the next city with a gym, which Serena after looking it up says is in Shalour City. The reborn trainers already had that idea, but the others didn't know they already knew, so they played along as well.
And so, with badges in hand, the heroes proceeded to make their way to Shalour City, where the next major battle for Ash and the reborn trainers awaited them. However, little did the heroes know that a different kind of battle awaited their group just around the corner, and it wasn't going to be the kind of battle those earning gym badges was used to. Also, the battle would be aimed more towards Serena than anyone else in the group.
Later, while the heroes were making their way to Shalour City, they stopped to catch a break. During said break, Serena busted out some of her handmade Poké Puffs. "Humans like eating these too, you know," Serena said, then handed one to Ash while saying, "Here Ash, try one!"
"Alright, I will," Ash replied in kind acceptance of Serena's generosity, taking a bite out of the Poké Puff. "...Hey, this is pretty good!" Ash said, "Thanks, Serena!" While Ash was thanking Serena, Pikachu sniffed at where Ash held the Poké Puff before making licking motions with his tongue as he gently wagged his tail, indicating that he wanted to eat the rest of Ash's Poké Puff or just eat a Poké Puff in general.
Serena giggled cutely in appreciation before handing the Poké Puffs she made out to the others, as well as their Pokémon who they had on hand. One of them was Kenny's shiny Scizor Cell, who looked amused with how he was going to get to eat some sweets. However, before Cell could take a bite out of his Poké Puff, the treat was floated out of his right metal pincer claw by the psychic energy of a Psychic attack. The heroes all looked and saw that it was a Slurpuff (not that the group aside from the reborn trainers knew just yet) who was stealing Cell's Poké Puff with Psychic, before dropping the Poké Puff into its waiting open mouth and eating it.
"Sciz!" Cell yelled angrily at the thief who stole his sweet treat, right before a girl dressed in a somewhat maid-like outfit came walking over while Slurpuff grumbled a bit in Pokémon-talk.
"What my Slurpuff said is that your Poké Puffs are decent enough," the girl said, "Perhaps if you guys were to-"
"SCIZ!" Cell yelled at the top of his lungs right before rushing the girl's Slurpuff and slamming right into it with Iron Head, knocking it out and sending it flying right into a nearby tree.
"Hey!" the girl screamed, "What's wrong with your Scizor attacking my Slurpuff like that?!"
Pointing at were Slurpuff laid on the ground, Kenny said, "Hey, your Slurpuff was the one who thought that it was all well and good to straight up steal food from Cell and the other Pokémon we had here! What, did you never teach your Slurpuff better than to steal food from the Pokémon of others?!"
"Not to mention how you said your Slurfpuff supposedly said that Serena's Poké Puffs she made were only 'decent enough'," Trip went on, "With all due respect, both you AND your Slurpuff were being rather rude."
Recalling her defeated Slurpuff, the girl went on, "But still! To attack Slurpuff like that!"
Folding her arms over her chest, Dawn said, "Although I will admit Kenny's Scizor went too far, there's still no denying that Slurpuff started things first. What, did you honestly expect your Slurpuff to get away scot free with not only stealing food from our Pokémon but then going on to supposedly insult Serena's cooking skills?"
The girl eventually relented. "...I suppose that my side did take the first shot, and without any provocation from your side. Apologies."
...
While Slurpuff was treated with a Revive and a Full Restore that the reborn trainers came up with after everything was settled down, the girl introduced herself. "My name is Miette," said the now identified Miette, "And I'm aiming to enter the upcoming Poké Puff Contest, where the contestants compete on a big outdoor stage to make original Poké Puffs. A world famous Poké Puff patisserie named Gena will be serving as the head judge for the event."
"Hey, Serena you should enter," Ash said, "Your Poké Puffs are pretty good."
Serena, blushing a bit under the praise from Ash, said, "Oh, well, umm, if you think so then I'll give it a go."
Miette looked at Serena, a knowing look of amusement on her face. "Well now, maybe I'll have some determined competition after all."
Boldly stepping forward, Kenny declared, "And I, I shall enter as well!"
The others all turned to look at Kenny with surprised looks. "...You?" Miette said, looking more confused than anything else.
"Cell is still annoyed that his sweet was stolen earlier, so he and I will enter the competition to make a bunch of them so he can get his fill," Kenny explained, "Plus, I do have some degree of culinary skills."
"As do I," Trip added, "Although it's been a while since I've stretched my culinary muscles, so I don't think I ought to enter a contest for cooking and baking until I get all of the rust shaken off."
The heroes all waved good-bye as Miette took off to get ready for the Poké Puff baking contest. "Well now, it looks like I'm going to have to get ready," Serena said, "I got at least two people to defeat."
"You'll need all the luck you can get," Kenny said challengingly, "For when it comes to sweet stuff, Cell has an edge." Kenny's named shiny Scizor nodded in agreement as he stood next to his trainer. Soon enough, the heroes took off to get things ready for the Poké Puff making contest.
Later, the heroes were sitting in the outdoor audience as up on the stage in front of them, the Poké Puff baking contest was started with an announcement from Gena. "Welcome all to the Poké Puff baking contest," Gena said, "I hope you all will have as much of a great time as the contestants who have entered!"
"You too can also have a great time!" Bonnie called out as she got up on stage, "By marrying my older brother Cle-" Bonnie was then grabbed by the back of her shirt and yoinked away by a clearly embarrassed Clemont, using his Aipom Arm thing.
After that embarrassing snafu, Miette who stood with the heroes in the audience turned to look at Ash. "What that little girl did just now has me thinking," Miette said, "Ash, do you have a future bride in mind?"
Dawn, Kenny, and Trip saw it when Serena's face lit up upon Miette asking that question to Ash. Shrugging, the boy from Pallet Town said, "Actually, no." Not that Ash saw it, but Miette turned to look at Serena to see her reaction, then shoot Serena a mischievously amused look. That irritated Serena to no end. But that could be put off to the side, for the Poké Puff baking contest was about to be put on.
...
After a while, the Poké Puff baking contest wound down to the final round. "And we have our three teams moving on to the final round!" Gena announced, "First, we have Team Fennekin, which consists of Serena and her Fennekin!" The audience cheered as Gena gestured to where Serena stood with her Fennekin next to her. "Second, we have Team Slurpuff, which consists of Miette and her Slurpuff!" Gena went on, and the audience cheered as Meitte and her Slurpuff waved to them from where they all stood on stage.
Shuffling around the index cards she was reading from, Gena with some confusion in her tone said, "And lastly we have... Team one-eyed wonder Wurmple with two pokéballs, which consists of Kenny and his Scizor!" Kenny and Cell, both wearing pairs of MLG shades, waved to the cheering (albeit very mildly confused) audience as they were announced as one of the teams moving onto the final round.
In the audience, Dawn with a mildly exasperated look on her face gave a likewise sigh. "...Of course that would be Kenny's team name," Dawn said dryly.
"A Wurmple lost one of its eyes?" Bonnie said in a concerned tone, "Oh dear! If I found that Wurmple, I'd pick it up and hold it in my arms and stroke it gently and reassure it that it's going to be fine."
"You will do no such thing, young lady," Dawn said dryly.
Given that there was time to get more ingredients for the Poké Puff baking contest before the final round started, the heroes went out to get some fresh berries for Serena and Kenny to use. Dawn was surprised by how easy it was for their group to find and get berries, as she remembered that there should have been a shortage here like there was in the anime in her previous life. But the Team Rocket trio, who caused that incident in the anime, were now members of Team Scorn after Team Rocket had been wholly taken down for good, weren't involved here, thus letting the heroes resolve things far more easily.
Eventually, the heroes got all the berries that Serena would need, as Kenny cited that he actually already had his own store of berries which he used for cooking as ingredients in the camp out curry he occasionally made. The heroes all returned to the Poké Puff baking contest, and Serena and Kenny plus Miette all got up on stage, got their own cooking stations, and were ready to have their bake-off showdown, all of them putting all of their respective culinary skills to the test to see who it will be that will walk away as the winner of the Poké Puff baking contest.
"And the judges and myself have reached a consensus," Gena announced after the final round had finished, "The winner of the Poké Puff baking contest is... Team one-eyed wonder Wurmple with two pokéballs! Let's hear it for Kenny and his Scizor, everybody!" As Kenny cheered while Cell was eating the Poké Puffs he and Kenny made, the audience cheered for the contest winners, despite how their team name was rather odd and confusing and a name no one aside from Dawn and Trip in the audience understood in the least.
As it turned out, the reason why Kenny won is because the berries he had were of a much higher rarity and quality than what Serena or Miette had; where as they at most had what the reborn trainers were able to identify as the stat-reducing berries, Kenny had berries like Kee, Maranga, and even an Enigma berry. With such rare and high quality berries going into them, Kenny's Poké Puffs ended up proving to be a shoo-in for first place. Slurpuff even looked like it was going to try taking one of the Poké Puffs that Kenny made.
Miette who saw what her Pokémon was up to stopped it and mildly scolded it, before simply asking Kenny if he would be okay with sharing the Poké Puffs he made. There was still plenty of the Poké Puffs Kenny made left even with what all Cell ate, so Kenny agreed and gave one to Miette for her to give to her Slurpuff. To Miette's surprise, Slurpuff absolutely loved Kenny's baking of Poké Puffs. "...Kenny looks to have surpassed even me," Miette remarked, "I have GOT to ask him for the recipe he used in his baking today."
...
With the competition over, Serena and Miette were seeing each other off as the rest of the heroes stood a ways away, waiting on Serena to be done. "I still can't believe that your weird friend with the shiny Scizor had beaten both of us," Miette said, "It really is the eccentric ones that you need to watch out for. Regardless, you and I both ought to work on our baking."
Serena nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I wanna make Poké Puffs so good, that not even the best Kenny can do can top them. That way, I can get As-"
"If you don't tell Ash how you feel," Miette interrupted as she leaned in to whisper to Serena so the others won't hear, "Then I'll be half-tempted to take him up for myself." Miette's warning elicited a blushing look of surprised embarrassment out of Serena, and that elicited a knowing look of amusement out of Miette. "Heh, I knew it," Miette said, "Well, maybe now you'll be willing to be more assertive." After Miette saw Serena off, Serena ran back to the rest of the heroes, and together the lot of them took off for Shalour City, so as to see Ash and the reborn trainers aim for their next gym badges.
Sometime later, as the heroes were traveling, they resolved an issue involving a Flabebe needing to find its flower before the group arrived in a town. Upon arriving in said town, Bonnie noticed a poster that got her attention. "Hey," Bonnie said, "They're going to be an exhibition battle featuring Diantha!"
"Explain to me who this Diantha person is," Kenny said.
"Diantha is the Champion of Kalos," Bonnie explained as she, Clemont, and Serena turned to face Kenny as well as Dawn, Trip, and Ash, "Diantha is, like, only the strongest trainer in Kalos, you know!"
Clemont nodded in the affirmative. "Diantha is to Kalos what Dawn is to Sinnoh."
Clapping his hands together, Ash said, "I say we try to meet her. I kind of wanna know what kind of person Diantha is like, given that she's clearly a tough trainer." With a game plan in mind, the heroes all decided to go over and see Diantha.
...
Upon arriving at the stadium where Diantha would be having her exhibition match, the heroes were surprised to see a large crowd gathered outside the entrance to the stadium, where a cure secretary girl was trying to get the people to settle down. "Diantha will not be accepting any more interviews," the secretary girl announced, "So everyone please disperse!"
As the crowd began to grumble in complaint, Kenny called out, "Weak!" in a somewhat taunting tone, making everyone turn to face him and the rest of the heroes standing right there. "That's really weak!" Kenny continued to call out, "The people here just wanna-"
"Hey, that girl there is Sinnoh Champion Dawn Berlitz," one random person in the crowd said as the crowd began to focus on the heroes since Dawn was among their number, "I saw her on the news a short while ago, helping to resolve some crisis in Lumiose City involving a rampaging Garchomp at Prism Tower! She rode on the back of a giant dragon Pokémon!"
As the crowd now began to focus on swarming the heroes, to the surprise of the heroes Professor Sycamore showed up and tried to get the crowds to back away. "Champion Dawn isn't going to be accepting any interviews right now," Sycamore said, "She's only here to formally wish Diantha luck in her exhibition battle against that Magnus fellow later today, before securing some seats in the VIP section of the stadium for herself and her group." As the crowd tried to pester Sycamore and the heroes for more, the cute secretary girl waded through the crowd, got the group, and pulled them in to safety inside the stadium.
"Yeah, I'm originally here because I wanted to examine the Mega Evolution that Diantha's Gardevoir possesses," Sycamore explained, "I was originally planning to use a backdoor to gain entrance, but I saw the opportunity Kenny had created and decided to play on that."
Dawn folded her arms over her chest. "Well at least you didn't somehow tell people that Diantha's exhibition battle was going to be with me. I'm not exactly properly prepared for an exhibition battle with another region's Champion." Arching a wry eyebrow, Dawn went on, "Especially as it sounds like Diantha has access to using Mega Evolution, a power that I myself don't have acc-"
Dawn was cut off when a door nearby opened and Diantha came walking out, eliciting looks of awe out of Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie. Diantha turned to look at the heroes' group, but focused mainly on Dawn. "So what I heard it true," Diantha said, "You are in Kalos, Dawn."
Nodding once in confirmation, Dawn replied, "I am."
"Well first, allow me to express my gratitude to you and your friends here," Diantha said, "I have heard that you guys had resolved a number of incidents here in Kalos involving that heinous Team Scorn group. If it weren't for how my manager Kathi Lee here keeps me on a packed schedule, then I'd be far more free to help protect the region that I am Champion of."
"Well you being the Champion of Kalos aside," said the cute secretary girl, now identified as Diantha's manager Kathi Lee, "You are also one of Kalos's top actresses. You always have a lot on your plate."
"Such as hearing my request to temporarily leave her Key Stone with me so I can study it," Sycamore said.
Diantha gently shook her head. "I'm afraid that is still out of the question, Sycamore. My Key Stone represents the bond between me and my Gardevoir." To Sycamore and the heroes, Diantha said, "You and Dawn's group here can, however, watch the exhibition battle that I'm about to have."
Nodding in agreement, Dawn said, "That sounds fair."
Looking to Diantha, Sycamore said, "I really could use the chance to study your Key Stone so as to further research and understanding into the Mega Evolution phenomenon."
"Miss Diantha has a packed schedule," Kathi Lee said, "She really can't be bothered."
Looking to the group, Diantha said to Sycamore, "Maybe the next time I'm in Lumiose City?" Seeing as how it was the best that he was going to get, Sycamore agreed, and after Kathi Lee tried shooing Sycamore and the heroes out, Diantha asked her to at least secure good seats for them to watch the exhibition battle, especially since one of the persons in the group is the Champion of a foreign region. Kathi Lee relented, then asked Sycamore and the heroes to follow her out into the bleachers of the stadium, where they would be shown to good seats from which they can watch Diantha have her exhibition battle.
As Sycamore and the Heroes followed Kathi Lee, Ash wondered aloud if they would get to see what Mega Evolution was like live and in person. Sycamore likewise hoped for that as well, given that he was in the business of researching it. As for the reborn trainers, they themselves were wanting to see Mega Evolution in action, wondering how such a power could, among other things, be used to combat the ever present threat of Team Scorn. The heroes wondered that and more as they were led out to the stadium's seating so they could watch Diantha show why she's the Champion of Kalos.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE
Author's notes;
This chapter sees Dawn, Kenny, Trip, and Ash each earn a Cliff Badge in Grant's gym. After that, they run into Miette and her Slurpuff and, after Cell kicks Slurpuff's ass for stealing his sweets, Miette's rivalry with Serena is able to begin in earnest, setting up a major step for Serena's development. Then the heroes get to meet Diantha, the Champion of Kalos, and are given good seats to watch Diantha have her exhibition battle where they hope to see her use Mega Evolution. Things cut off there, but in the next chapter, things will pick right back up.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Levy (female Braixen), Germany (male Garchomp), Ieyasu (male Aerodactyl), Leni (female Lucario), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Rex (male Tyrunt), Hovernyan (male Espurr), Nogla (male Qulladin), Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Black (Giratina; Origin Form)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Mr. Popo (male Magmortar), Veda (female Abomasnow), Myde (male Empoleon), Kululu (male Frogadier), Deelia (Dialga), Mitsu (male Helioptile)
Ash's Pokémon: (on hand) Pikachu (male), Charizard (male), Steelix (male; shiny), Froakie (male), Fletchling (male), Braviary (male; alpha; Hisuian)