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 seventy-four: Kenny confronts a shiny Clembot
The heroes had finally made their way back to Lumiose City, aside from Clemont who went to Lumiose City ahead of time so as to prep for when Ash, Dawn, Kenny, and Trip came by to challenge him at his gym. The first thing that the heroes did was stop off at the local Pokémon Center, where they rested their Pokémon. Additionally, the reborn trainers took time to rotate their respective parties as needed to ensure they had good teams to face off against a gym that used electric Pokémon. As Ash was about to call Clemont, Trip stopped him for a moment. "What's up, Trip?" Ash asked.
Pointing at Ash, Trip said, "I don't suppose you or anyone else in the group have told Clemont about how some of your Pokémon have evolved since Clemont last saw us, did you?"
"Actually, no," Serena said, "I was planning on telling Clemont about how Braixen had evolved from Fennekin and how Ash's Goodra had evolved from his Sliggoo."
Nodding in agreement, Ash went on, "I was about to do that myself."
"I suggest that we all refrain from telling Clemont about Ash's Goodra, at the very least," Trip suggested, "It's not only a strong Pokémon, but as a dragon it's resistant to electric attacks. It can be something of a secret weapon Ash can use against Clemont."
Bonnie had an unamused look on her face. "To withhold information from my big brother like that, though..."
"Technically, gym leaders aren't supposed to know ahead of time what Pokémon their challengers will be using against them," Dawn pointed out, "So Trip advising Ash to keep the fact Sliggoo had evolved into Goodra a secret is actually a valid idea. Assuming of course Ash is going to use Goodra against Clemont."
Ash nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, I plan to use Goodra against Clemont. Wait, how many Pokémon are used per trainer in official gym battles at the Lumiose City gym?"
"All such battles are three on three," Bonnie informed Ash and the others.
Nodding once, Ash said, "Got it. I think that I'll make Trevenant and Steelix my other two Pokémon." Dawn saw the value in the choices Ash made for his planned team to take on Clemont; Trevenant being dual grass ghost not only made it resistant to electric attacks, but also some coverage moves Dawn remembered from the anime in her previous life Clemont's Pokémon had in the gym battle against Ash. And as for Steelix, there would be very little Clemont's Pokémon can do against it. Goodra, as a pseudo-legend that resists electric attacks, was also a very solid choice.
Dawn, Trip, and Kenny got their parties ready as well. Dawn would be going in with Germany (her Garchomp), Shalltear (her Rhyperior), and Albedo (her Gliscor) to battle Clemont, Trip would be going in with Tsunade (his east sea Gastrodon), AkiBot 966 (his Golurk), and Fourze (his Electivire) to battle Clemont. And as for Kenny, he was going in with Roshi (his Torterra), Elay (his shiny Sandslash), and Moista Fista (his Ursaluna) to battle Clemont. The reborn trainers were planning on taking any and all precautions they could, as they always do when taking on a gym to earn a badge.
With all preparations made, the heroes proceeded to make their way over to the Lumiose City gym, where it was agreed upon that Ash would have the first go against Clemont to try and earn a Voltage Badge.
A short while later, the heroes made their way to the Lumiose City gym, where they were greeted by Clemont. Right away, Bonnie ran up and threw her arms around Clemont to hug him, clearly having missed him while the group was separated. It was a clear case of a young kid sister missing her big brother, so the rest of the heroes by no means were going to interrupt things here. Clemont, for his part, chuckled gently and patted Bonnie on the back before having her get off so he could address the rest of the group.
"So then," Clemont said to Ash and the reborn trainers, "Which one of you four will I be battling first?"
Stepping forward, Ash said while gesturing to himself, "I am."
Clemont gave an amused smile. "Fair enough Ash. I hope you know that battles at my gym are three on three." Gesturing to Clembot who stood nearby, Clemont went on, "Clembot over there will be acting as referee for our battle. I hope you don't mind."
"That's fair," Ash replied.
"Don't worry, Ash," Clemont said, "Clembot-"
"-Is under arrest!"
Clemont and the others were cut off when they heard a voice call out saying that Clembot was under arrest; they turned around and saw that the person who had called out was an Officer Jenny. "That robot has been caught on camera committing several crimes," Jenny said, "It's being brought in!"
"...Que?" Kenny said, looking and sounding confused.
...
Later at the police station, while Clembot was sitting in a jail cell, Jenny showed the heroes the footage of 'Clembot' committing several crimes. "This video footage is irrefutable proof that the robot is guilty of the crimes it committed," Jenny said, "Now all that I have to do is-"
"-release Clembot because that clearly isn't him," Clemont said, cutting Jenny off. Looking up at Jenny, Clemont said, "With all due respect, you got the wrong Clembot. Sure, the one in the video footage looks like Clembot, but it's missing the dent in its head that Clembot has. Also, the Clembot in this footage has a notably different and darker color scheme. Please tell me you can see those differences."
Jenny, curious, took a closer, hard look at the footage. She paused it, then turned to look at where Clembot sat in the jail cell. Then she turned to look back at the paused footage, then went back and forth for a bit. "...Well dang, you got a point," Jenny said, "I guess I did get the wrong robot."
"Not only that," Kenny said as he looked at the footage, "But the Clembot in this footage who's committing crimes is a shiny Clembot!"
Dawn and Trip gave Kenny the driest of monotone expressions. "...A shiny Clembot..." Dawn began.
Gesturing to himself, Kenny declared, "Leave catching the shiny Clembot to me! I have a certain proclivity for encountering shinies, after all!"
Leaning to his side towards Dawn, Trip whispered to her, "I don't know what's weirder. The fact Kenny even knows the word 'proclivity' in the first place, or the fact that he knows how to use it at least somewhat accurately."
To the heroes, Jenny said, "Well alright, I guess I can leave catching the bad robot to you guys. Even so, I can't release the robot in holding right now."
"That actually raises a rather pertinent question," Bonnie began, "Can you even arrest a robot? Because as it's a robot and not an actual person, it's considered property of its owner and or creator. Meaning that what all crimes a robot had committed can, when you get right down to it, actually be pinned on the owner and or creator of the robot." Gesturing to Clemont, Bonnie said, "My brother Clemont here is both the person who created Clembot, but also technically Clembot's owner." Considering what all Bonnie had said, Jenny looked up at Clemont.
...
A short while later, the heroes minus Clemont were standing outside of the Lumiose City Police Station, where Bonnie was crying her eyes out. As the heroes stood there, they were met up by Meyer and Alexa, the former being the dad of Clemont and Bonnie, and the latter being a journalist who Ash and the reborn trainers first met back in the Unova region. "Hey hey now, why is Bonnie crying?" Meyer asked, immediately going for his young daughter.
"I got Clemont arrested!" Bonnie cried, "He's a hardened criminal now because of me! WAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Clemont's been arrested?" Meyer practically exclaimed.
Sighing, Dawn said, "Technically, Clemont has NOT been arrested. He's being held for questioning because of a case where a duplicate of Clembot had committed several crimes."
Folding his arms over his chest, Trip said in a dry tone, "Bonnie really needs to learn what is and isn't appropriate to say in certain situations."
"I actually heard about a robot committing crimes in Lumiose City," Alexa said, "I've also tooken notes of the crimes, and have a few theories that should lead to the capture of that criminal robot."
The heroes all turned to Alexa. "What do you have?" Dawn asked.
Later, Alexa discussed with the heroes her theories; mainly that the evil Clembot will strike later that night, and at one of two locations; an electronics storage facility and the Lumiose Museum. Alexa had also uncovered a name in her journalistic snooping around, a man called Belmondo. Deciding to try to lay in wait for the evil Clembot, the heroes split up into two teams; Ash, Dawn, and Trip would go to the Lumiose Museum, and Kenny, Serena, and Bonnie would go to the electronics storage facility. Alexa and Meyer took information about Belmondo to the Jenny who had Clemont and Clembot in holding while the heroes acted.
At the electronics storage facility, Bonnie sniffled in shamed sadness. "Clemont's gonna hate me forever now," Bonnie said in a guilty tone, "I got him arrested."
"Technically, you got him held for questioning," Kenny pointed out, "He doesn't have an actual arrest on his record."
"But it's still my fault Clemont's gonna be a hardened, grizzled criminal now," Bonnie said, "He's gonna get out with a tell toned muscular body, he'll wear a bandana over his head, he'll probably have a tattoo-"
"Bonnie, your older brother isn't going to change THAT much just because he's being held for questioning," Serena said, "Although you really should have thought about what you were going to say BEFORE you had said it. This could have been avoided if you thought ahead and realized connecting Clemont to Clembot the way that you had done while Officer Jenny was standing right there wouldn't have been the be-"
*CRASH*
Serena was cut off when she and the others heard a crashing noise. "It came from over there!" Bonnie said as she pointed the way, prompting her, Serena, and Kenny to go running in the direction of the noise. When they caught up, the girls and Kenny saw the Dark Clembot trying to carry away a sack of goods over its back.
"Aha! It's the shiny Clembot!" Kenny said.
Turning around, the Dark Clembot spotted Kenny and the girls. "I will not let you humans stop me!" Dark Clembot said, "Go Magneton!"
"Okay, Elay!" Kenny said as he sent out his shiny Sandslash, "Let's make it cringe!" Pointing forward, Kenny said, "Elay, use Earthquake!"
"Magneton, use Screech!" Dark Clemont said.
The battle wasn't even very long; Elay just rushed Magneton, jumped up onto it, then pushed it down into the ground where Elay triggered a massive ground quaking attack with Magneton at ground zero of the quake, getting slammed with seismic waves that knocked it out. After Magneton was defeated, Elay jumped off and away from his defeated foe before looking up at Dark Clembot. Elay, his eyes going in opposite directions, stood there silently until he made a tongue click.
The Dark Clembot recalled the fainted Magneton. "I have to get away," the Dark Clembot said as it turned around and tried running off.
However, Kenny called out, "Elay, bash into the robot with Rapid Spin!" Elay jumped up and flew at the Dark Clembot while spinning quickly, bashing right into the Dark Clembot's back. The Dark Clembot was knocked over and partly damaged, and it tried getting up, but Elay on Kenny's orders busted the legs at the knee joints and arms at the elbow joints, effectively crippling the Dark Clembot.
"That... was a little extreme," Bonnie said.
Gesturing to where the Dark Clembot laid, Kenny said, "It's a robot programmed to commit crimes. I think crippling it so it can't get away is a sound call. Besides, it can always be fixed if need be, and I wouldn't order such violence on a GOOD robot like the good Clembot." Kenny then had Serena call it in that the real evil robot had just been captured. Serena while calling it in got it that Ash, Dawn, and Trip had captured Belmondo at the museum, he was apparently waiting around for Dark Clembot to show up and help him out. With the real criminal element taken care of, the heroes would now be able to free Clemont and Clembot.
As it turned out, Belmondo was jealous of Clemont's success in making a quality robot in the form of Clembot, so he hacked Clemont's computer to get Clembot's blueprints so he could make his own Clembot, but with additions he felt would make it better. He also had Dark Clembot commit crimes because he's greedy like that. Although the heroes were able to clear the names of Clemont and Clembot and get them freed, Belmondo managed to escape and get away, due to Officer Jenny putting two greenhorn cops on guard duty, with said cops being easily tricked by Belmondo.
Belmondo was now on the run, but Clemont and Clembot had their names cleared, thus they were freed. Clemont was even able to take the broken Dark Clembot and study it to see what all Belmondo had done to 'improve' upon the original. Clemont said that Dark Clembot being an improvement over the original Clembot is a zig-zagged case, and that while there were some genuine improvements, a few features that made Clembot as good of a robot as it was were sacrificed in the process, also some parts in Dark Clembot were of inferior quality to the original Clembot.
Having taken over owning Dark Clembot, Clemont fixed up what all he saw wrong with it; Clemont also saw a feature that would allow Belmondo take control of Dark Clembot remotely, so Clemont removed that feature. Clemont also checked the original Clembot to see it if had a similar feature and it didn't. Clemont made changes to Dark Clembot to make it more agreeable like the original Clembot, including changing its facial structure to make it look exactly like regular Clembot. But Clemont also upgraded the original Clembot based on the improvements in Dark Clembot, but he used superior quality parts in Clembot.
Much like he did for Dark Clembot, improving its overall quality. By the time all was said and done, Clemont effectively had two Clembots who looked exactly the same save for the newer one having a different color scheme. Clemont wanted to give the Dark Clembot a different name to differentiate it from its former life as a criminal, which is when Kenny suggested that the former Dark Clembot be dubbed as Shiny Clembot, much like how shiny Pokémon are differently colored from their counterparts of the same species. Clemont, smiling in amusement, took Kenny's suggestion, thus Shiny Clembot was dubbed.
...
The following day after all of the chaos was settled, Clemont was able to have his battles with Ash, Dawn, Trip, and Kenny in that order. Clemont used Bunnelby, Heliolisk, and Luxray against Ash's Trevenant, Goodra, and shiny Steelix. Trevenant quickly dispatched Bunnelby, and got Heliolisk about halfway down before it took some damage and was paralyzed. Ash swapped Trevenant out and sent Goodra in, who was able to finish Heliolisk off with a solid Dragon Pulse. Ash then swapped in Steelix to deal with Luxray, and that contest was soon ended in favor of Steelix, as Luxray had only Swift as a move capable of hurting Steelix.
Luxray's other attacks were all electric moves which have no effect on the part ground type Steelix, and Steelix also being part steel made it resistant to the normal type move Swift. Ash got his Voltage Badge, and a lot easier than how Dawn remembered it from the anime in her previous life. Speaking of Dawn, she had the next go at Clemont later that day. Dawn soundly won against Clemont and earned her own Voltage Badge, with Albedo taking out Bunnelby, Shalltear taking out Heliolisk, and Germany taking out Luxray.
The following morning, Trip had his go against Clemont, and won similarly as easily. The final match up in the Trip versus Clemont battle saw Clemont's Luxray face off against AkiBot 966; being dual ghost ground type made AkiBot 966 immune to EVERYTHING Luxray knew that could cause damage. As Clemont awarded Trip the Voltage Badge after that battle, Bonnie commented on how it wasn't really fair that Luxray couldn't do anything against Trip's named Golurk, to which Clemont replied that Trip using a Golurk was actually a sound move.
Later that day, Kenny had his go against Clemont and soundly won as well. The main highlights were Elay making an appearance because he's a shiny Sandslash, and Moista Fista who's an Ursaluna due to time travel shenanigans the reborn trainers unintentionally took part in back in Unova. With Kenny victorious with Voltage Badge in hand, the heroes aiming to earn badges in Kalos were done with Lumiose City, at least until the Lumiose Conference rolled around for Ash, Kenny, and Trip to take part in after they get eight Kalos gym badges each.
Since the heroes aiming to earn badges were done in Lumiose City (at least for the time being), Clemont put Clembot back in charge of the Lumiose Gym, with Shiny Clembot being made the gym referee. This allowed Clemont to rejoin the heroes so that they could continue their journey. When Kenny expressed surprise that Clemont hadn't scolded Bonnie because she got him in trouble with the local law enforcement, Clemont explained that his and Bonnie's dad told him not to be too upset with Bonnie on a count of how she's a young kid who didn't know better, and that all Bonnie should get as punishment is being taught better so that she won't make similar mistakes in the future.
After dealing with Ash and the reborn trainers aiming to earn Voltage Badges, the heroes stayed in Lumiose City a little bit longer because Professor Sycamore needed help with the Garchomp from earlier, who he got a Garchompite for, also Sycamore got his own Mega Ring set with a Key Stone. With this, Sycamore was able to make real progress in his research on Mega Evolution. Things were a bit touch and go at first, but eventually Sycamore was able to Mega Evolve the Garchomp, allowing him to gather much needed information and research data. After that, the heroes were able to continue on their way to Laverre City, where they learned another gym was at.
...
As the heroes were making their way to Laverre City, the heroes took a break for lunch. Clemont's Chespin tried taking some food from who it THOUGHT was Serena's Pancham, but it turned out to be Kenny's Pancham Panda who, seeing the theft, had an utterly pissed looking snarling expression on its face right before lunging right at Clemont's Chespin. Kenny's Houndoom, Goofy, ran over with Kenny and Clemont to help break up the fight. "Chespin, you need to quit stealing food from the others here!" Clemont cried out.
"And Panda, you need to stop getting so riled up," Kenny said, "A gentle approach can do a lot more in the lon-" Kenny was cut off when Ash's Goodra, carrying its food dish, came over and began sharing its food with Chespin and Panda, greatly diffusing the tension. The humans all let out relieved sighs, glad that Ash's goodra was around to help calm everyone down.
...
The group, having finished their lunch, packed up and proceeded to get going, but they stopped short when they heard a Bellsprout call out. Looking over, the heroes saw a man in a truck pull up, with a Bellsprout sticking out of the other window. "And you might you be?" Kenny asked while gesturing to the man.
"The name's Keanan, a warden for the wetlands area around here," replied the now identified Keanan, "And my Bellsprout here recognized Goodra. It was a Goomy that used to live in this area a while ago."
"We're near Goodra's old homeland?" Serena asked, sounding surprised.
Ash had a concerned look on his face. "...We got the gist of what happened in Goodra's homeland. It was invaded by hostile bug Pokémon."
Keanan nodded in the affirmative. "A few poison types as well. You see, there's a special spring in the wetlands that has healing properties, and Goodra when it was a Goomy lived near the spring with its friends. But then a Florges came in, leading a veritable army of bug and poison Pokémon came in to take over. It was clear that the Florges and its army wanted the area for themselves, particularly the spring which I saw Florges put a hurt Floette into to heal it."
"And this leads to Goodra when it was a Goomy getting to Ash because..." Serena said, trailing off in a manner showing that she expected to be filled in.
"An attack blasted Goomy away onto the back of a Swanna in a passing flock that was fleeing from the wetlands when Florges and its army attacked," Keanan explained, "I hadn't seen Goomy since. At least until now, and hoo boy am I surprised to see that it's a Goodra now."
"So Florges and its army took over the wetlands and drove out the original inhabitants," Dawn reasoned.
"Technically, Florges and its army drove the original inhabitants off into a far corner of the wetlands," Keanan said, "So that Florges and its army could control a vast majority of the area, including the area with the healing springs where Florges treated Floette."
Gesturing to Keanan, Trip said, "It sounds like Florges's main concern was treating Floette. If that's the case, why didn't Florges simply ask the original natives for help, instead of forcing the original natives out and taking what it needed by force?"
Shrugging, Keanan replied, "My guess is that Florges was afraid the Pokémon originally native to the wetlands would have said no."
Folding his arms over his chest, Ash said, "So we need to make Florges and its army realize that what they're doing to the original inhabitants of the wetlands is wrong, and make them share the wetlands."
Keanan gently shook his head. "...It's not so simple, and for two reasons. One, a matter of issue between wild Pokémon needs to stay between wild Pokémon, at least if you ask me."
"Umm, Florges and its army of bug and poison types are a textbook example of an invasive species," Bonnie said, "It doesn't matter that they and the native Pokémon are all wild. This invasion and conquest could seriously threaten the ecosystem of the wetlands, especially since the invasive Pokémon sound like they're species that are not typically native to wetland areas."
Sighing, Keanan replied, "That is a point, although given what my second reason is, it's a moot point by this point."
"Your second reason?" Ash said, his tone curious.
Jerking a thumb at his truck, Keanan said, "You'll notice all of the boxes in the bed of my truck, right? Yeah, the second reason that things aren't so simple, and this'll probably cause even MORE damage to the ecosystem of the wetlands, is the fact that ALL of the Pokémon living in the wetlands area that I'm the warden for, both the original inhabitants and the invasive army led by Florges, had been captured."
"All of those Pokémon were captured?!" the heroes all exclaimed in unison.
Keanan nodded in the affirmative. "Indeed. They were all captured by a huge number of members of Team Scorn." Keanan let out an ironic chuckle. "Since all of the Pokémon living in the wetlands area I was the warden for were wild Pokémon, nothing was stopping them from being captured. There's now virtually nothing left for me to look over, hence why I'm being pulled out by the office based in the city."
"Team Scorn captured all of the Pokémon?!" Ash exclaimed, looking downright furious. Similarly, Goodra looked furious as well.
"Kalosian regional police are looking into the matter," Keanan said, "But there's no telling what all can be done about it at this point. I'm heading back to the city with my Bellsprout. It was interesting to run into Goomy again, although it's a Goodra now." After saying his good-byes, Keanan took off, leaving the heroes behind as he and his Bellsprout drove off for the city.
After Keanan was out of sight, the heroes went to investigate things. Sure enough, the wetlands that were once Goodra's homeland were now devoid of life; they even found the spring that Keanan mentioned, and saw signs it had been used somewhat recently. But all of the wild Pokémon who were at the wetlands were gone now. It didn't matter if only original inhabitants or Florges and its invasive army were counted; all of them were equal now. Captured and taken away by the cruel greed and vile villainy of Team Scorn.
Goodra was utterly pissed by this development. Seeing the angry scowl on his dragon's face, Ash said, "I agree, Goodra. We'll make Team Scorn pay for this." Goodra nodded in agreement with Ash before he recalled it to its pokéball. There was nothing left for the heroes to do but move on, so move on they did. All that this stop along the way to Laverre City did for them was give them more reason to bring the fight to Team Scorn.
A fight that Goodra was fully intending to stick with Ash for.
END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the Dark Clembot events covered, with Clemont taking over Dark Clembot and remodeling slash reprogramming it to make it good. The original inventor of Dark Clembot got away, but he may be back. Then Ash and the reborn trainers all challenge Clemont one at a time and each win, netting each of them their respective fifth Kalos gym badges. Then the wetlands events are briefly touched upon, with changes made to show Team Scorn had upended everything, also Ash is going to be keeping Goodra here (no releasing to protect the wetlands or anything). Anyway, the next chapter will see some filler episodes skipped in favor of getting the heroes straight to Laverre City, where the heroes can earn more badges.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Germany (male Garchomp), Albedo (female Gliscor), Shaltear (female Rhyperior), Leni (female Lucario), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny), Moista Fista (male Ursaluna), Goofy (male Houndoom), Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Black (Giratina; Origin Form)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Fourze (male Electivire), AkiBot 966 (Golurk), Myde (male Empoleon), Tsunade (female Gastrodon; east sea), Deelia (Dialga), Todoroki (male Goodra; alpha; Hisuian)
Ash's Pokémon: (on hand) Pikachu (male), Charizard (male), Goodra (male), Frogadier (male), Steelix (male; shiny), Trevenant (male)