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 eighty-four: Thundering Will

The heroes, after Serena had earned her second Princess Key, were wondering what to do; other Pokémon Showcases were going to be available for Serena to take part in, but in order to get to one in time and also provide time to get to where the Master Class Showcase will be held, Ash (and by extension Kenny and Trip) would have to give up entering the Lumiose Conference because of the backtracking necessary to get Serena to a Showcase she can enter and win to earn the last Princess Key that she needed. Even if Serena won there and was able to enter the Master Class Showcase as a result, Ash and the reborn trainers wouldn't get to Snowbelle City in time to all earn badges there so they can enter the Lumiose Conference.

However, right as Serena began breaking down into tears as she didn't want her dreams if it meant Ash had to give up on his, an answer had presented itself, an answer that Dawn went over with the rest of the heroes as they made their way in the direction of Joule Town. "So what all is this 'Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase' gonna be about, my main man?" Kenny asked as he and the rest of the heroes walked as Dawn looked over the letter she got.

"Apparently," Dawn began, "It's a special Pokémon Showcase that the Showcase Committee is hosting at the behest of the Kalos region's government in an attempt on part of Kalos to foster goodwill and good relations between Kalos and the other regions. The reason why it's called the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase is due to how Champions from other regions are being personally invited to attend and watch as VIPs. As a side note, Diantha the Kalos Champion is also being invited as a VIP."

"What else?" Bonnie asked.

Looking over the letter she got some more, Dawn went on, "The Showcase will functionally be the same as other Rookie Class Showcases. However, it's implied that the region Champions being invited to watch as VIPs may have a deciding vote in who wins. Additionally, the Princess Key that will be awarded to the Performer who wins the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase, called the Champion's Favor Princess Key, will be counted as enough Princess Keys for whoever has it to qualify to enter the Master Class Showcase. So for example, if the Performer who wins it had earned zero keys beforehand, the Champion's Favor Princess Key will count as three standard Princess Keys."

"So whoever earns that special Princess Key will automatically qualify for the Master Class Showcase," Kenny said, drawing an affirmative nod out of Dawn.

Serena clenched her right hand into a fist as she looked down at it. "I'm going to win. It's my last chance to qualify in time for the Master Class Showcase without costing Ash the chance to qualify in time for the Lumiose Conference."

"Hey, what about me and Trip?" Kenny asked.

Ash was about to speak up, but stopped short when a loud crack of thunder sounded in the distance. "Oh man, the skies don't look too friendly," Kenny said, "I think that it might rain."

"I got this," Ash said. Taking out a poké ball, Ash tossed it up while saying, "Come on out, Moltres!" Coming out from the ball Ash tossed up was his Moltres, who he caught during the incident where his Talonflame had evolved from Feltchinder. Pointing at the dark stormy clouds above, Ash asked his Moltres, "Can you use Sunny Day to do something about the situation above, Moltres?"

Ash's Moltres nodded in the affirmative before raising its head up to look up towards the dark stormy clouds above. Moltres then let out a cry as it seemed to be exuding some manner of power; seconds later, the dark stormy clouds above began to part, the cracking thunder in the distance faded away. Within quick order, the skies above were now clear and sunny. "So... what?" Kenny said, "We can just, like, control the weather whenever we want now in order to suit out tastes at the mo-"

*CRASH*

Kenny was cut off when a bolt of electricity struck down on the ground near the heroes. Looking around, it was Serena who first spotted the source. "What is that thing?!" Serena cried out in alarm as she pointed out the legendary Pokémon Zapdos. The mighty thunderbird clearly didn't like that the dark stormy clouds above had been banished by Moltres's Sunny Day attack. Zapdos cawed angrily at Moltres, who cawed back in an equally angry manner

"This doesn't look good," Bonnie said as she and the others looked up at where Zapdos was flying. Dedenne and Floette came out and stood with Bonnie in looking up at where the thunderbird was cawing down at the firebird. Suddenly, Zapdos flew up into the air and aimed a Thunderbolt right at Ash's Moltres.

"Moltres, dodge and use Flamethrower!" Ash called out, prompting his legendary Pokémon to fly up to avoid what would have been a very devastating blow. Moltres then fired a Flamethrower attack right at Zapdos, who retaliated with another Thunderbolt. The two attacks flew into each other, colliding and blowing up to create a huge explosion. As the dark cloud from the explosion still lingered, Ash called out, "Moltres, use Ancient Power! Straight ahead!"

Moltres conjured up and cast its Ancient Power attack, threw it straight ahead through the explosion cloud. The attack ended up hitting Zapdos along its left side next to the inner side of its left wing. Additionally, the reborn trainers noticed that Moltres looked to have surged with power just now. "Ancient Power's secondary effect of boosting all five primary battle stats must have activated!" Trip said, "That ought to help Ash's Moltres in its tango against Zapdos!"

Indeed, Zapdos was still reeling from Ancient Power when Ash called out, "Moltres, use Flamethrower!" The explosion cloud had just settled as Moltres's Flamethrower flew right at Zapdos, not only hitting it and doing more damage than normal thanks to the boost from Ancient Power, but also inflicting a burn on the thunderbird. Zapdos cried out in pain before firing a stream of Air Cutters, which Moltres dodged. However, the Air Cutters ended up flying right in the direction of where Bonnie was standing with Dedenne and Floette, making them all cry out in panic and cower as the assault came at them.

"Hawlucha, Noibat!" Ash said as he sent his flying Pokémon out, "Get Bonnie and Dedenne out of there!"

"Freed!" Dawn said as she sent out her named Noibat, "Go rescue Floette and pull her out of danger!"

Right before the Air Cutter assault could have struck Bonnie and the fairies, they were saved when Hawlucha and a pair of Noibats flew in and grabbed all of them before quickly flying out. With Bonnie and the fairies out of harm's way, Ash was able to focus on his battle against Zapdos. "Moltres, use Ancient Power!" Ash called out, prompting his Moltres to conjure and cast another Ancient Power at Zapdos, hitting it right on its burn mark no less and eliciting a pained cry that made it clear hitting the burn mark resulted in a critical hit.

But Zapdos wasn't done yet, and it was able to land a Thunderbolt on Ash's Moltres. The mighty firebird was hurt greatly, but it was able to endure thanks to the boost in power from earlier by using Ancient Power. Additionally, Moltres wasn't paralyzed, so it was still free to move around. Zapdos, seeing its opponent hadn't gone down yet, conjured and cast its own Ancient Power attack, prompting Ash to call for Moltres to counter with its own Ancient Power. The two identical attacks collided into each other, but Moltres's was able to endure a bit and go on to hit Zapdos. Again, the boost from Moltres's first Ancient Power.

"Moltres, use Flamethrower!" Ash called out. Moltres fired its Flamethrower attack right at Zapdos at the same time Zapdos cast another Thunderbolt; the two attacks actually flew past one another and went on to strike their targets. Moltres was hit and was barely able to endure; the reborn trainers could tell one more attack from Zapdos would defeat Moltres. However, Moltres's Flamethrower not only hit Zapdos, but right on the burn mark caused by a previous Flamethrower. Being struck there made Zapdos cry out in pain again before it was overwhelmed and forced to land on the ground.

When Zapdos landed on the ground, it fell over onto the ground front side first, clearly collapsed from exhaustion and unable to do much of anything. The heroes were surprised that Ash, even with Moltres, was able to defeat Zapdos; despite how they're equals, Zapdos does hold a type advantage over Moltres. Ash's guidance must have made the difference, thanks to his ability to reason and make the right calls. Moltres, seeing it had won despite the wicked pain Zapdos was able to inflict on it, saw that it had more reason to stand as truly equal to its fellow legendary trio member.

Right as Serena was about to congratulate Ash for successfully stopping Zapdos, Ash took out a poké ball, expanded it, and threw it at Zapdos while calling out, "Go Poké Ball!" The ball flew at the downed Zapdos, took it inside, then fell to the ground with a light clink before it began shaking around for a bit. The heroes held their breaths, and Trip readied one of the spare Master Balls he got at the Kalos Poké Ball Factory in case Zapdos broke out of the ball Ash threw at it. However, that was not going to be necessary, as the poké ball Ash threw at Zapdos made a click sound, indicating that Ash had successfully captured Zapdos.

"Ash..." Serena said, looking on in disbelief, "...caught Zapdos. He caught another legendary Pokémon." Gently shaking her head, Serena said, "What other surprises will be in store for us toda-" Serena was cut off when she and the others heard the sounds of Pokémon evolving burst out from right behind them. They all turned to look and saw that Ash's Noibat and Dawn's Noibat Freed were both evolving. After the processes were done, the two Noibats were now both Noiverns.

"And Ash's Noibat evolved into a Noivern," Kenny said, "As did Dawn's. Truly today was fortuitous for our company."

"We ought to get over to the nearest Pokémon Center," Ash said as he recalled all of his Pokémon, "We can really use the rest." Dawn nodded in agreement as she recalled her now Noivern. With the encounter with Zapdos resolved not only effectively but netting Ash a new member to his Kalos rotation, the heroes proceeded on their way to Joule City.

...

After getting to Joule Town, the heroes learned that a worker was lost in one of the caves on the route they took to Joule Town, so they headed back while dropping off their Pokémon who needed to rest at the local Pokémon Center. They found the worker named Stan, who broke his leg and needed help. The heroes helped him, as well as agreed to bring medicine he was delivering to Joule Town. The heroes carried Stan out of the cave, then got him over to Joule Town while delivering the medicine he was set to bring over on his behalf.

After getting Stan to Joule Town and delivering the medicine, the heroes stayed for a bit to enjoy a yearly event called the Zapdos Festival, where Joule town residents celebrate the thunderbird due to a local legend where Zapdos struck a tree and as a result the tree grew taller and bore a lot of fruit. Having no idea how the townsfolk would react to it if they heard he caught Zapdos, Ash asked the rest of the heroes to keep what happened there to themselves. The reborn trainers, as well as Serena and Clemont, all agreed, although Clemont had to cover Bonnie's mouth with his hand as she was about to spill the beans.

After much traveling, the heroes made it to a place called Jacore Town, which was about half a day's journey from Sojourn City, where the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase was set to be held. After dealing with an incident about a gem theft and two guys owning 'arms' from the same Binacle, Serena got to training for what would be her last shot in qualifying for the Master Class Showcase. Ash, who was training with Dawn, Kenny, and Trip to help further fine tune the ability to reliably use his Greninja's special transformation, asked for a break in the training.

Dawn and the boys, curious, nonetheless agreed. With the break in his training, Ash walked over to Serena, got her attention. "Hey Serena," Ash began, "How goes the training for the next Showcase?"

"My Pokémon and I are giving it everything we got," Serena said, drawing affirmative cheers out of Braixen, Pancham, and Sylveon.

Ash nodded once in understanding to the Pokémon, before turning to look back to Serena. "Anyway Serena," Ash began, "You know how Ochaco was able to win so much because she was able to use shiny Pokémon she borrowed from Ideku? Well, I was wondering if you'd be willing to accept my offer to borrow some of my Pokémon to help you with your next Showcase, assuming you think you can get them able to work well in Showcases in time."

"Oh yeah," Trip spoke up, "Competing Performers can actually use borrowed Pokémon, provided both the Pokémon being borrowed and the original owner consent."

Serena lit up a bit in flattered embarrassment. "Umm, if some of my Pokémon don't mind sitting out a Showcase, then sure. I wouldn't mind borrowing Pikachu or Greninja or-"

Ash cut Serena off by gently shaking his head. "I wasn't going to offer to let you borrow Greninja as I'm still working on training it to master its special transformation power," Ash explained, "And I'd much rather not have to loan Pikachu to anyone period unless it's a real dire emergency." Ash took out two poké balls and held them out to Serena. "I was going to offer to let you borrow Zapdos and Moltres."

"Wait, wait, wait, time out here," Kenny said. Looking to Ash, Kenny said, "You're planning to let Serena borrow Zapdos and Moltres?"

Shrugging, Ash replied, "Well why not?"

It was both a complete surprise and something that totally didn't surprise her to Dawn that Ash was so willing to lend a pair of legendary Pokémon to Serena for her to use in the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase. Dawn also wasn't too surprised by Ash being more willing to lend out two legendaries than he was to lend out Pikachu. Serena, with the blushing on her face now a bright and furious red, nodded once in agreement as she accepted borrowing Ash's Zapdos and Moltres. At this, both Braixen and Pancham fell back onto their respective butts as they breathed tired sighs of relief, indicating that they wouldn't mind swapping out so Zapdos and Moltres can swap in to help Sylveon.

Seeing that Braixen and Pancham were both tired, Serena agreed to have Zapdos and Moltres take their place. The two legendary birds were then called out and, after Ash explained the situation to them, both casually (and somewhat happily, actually) accepted being borrowed by Serena to take part in the Showcase training alongside Serena's Sylveon. As such, while Serena ran Zapdos and Moltres through the steps of the routine they'll do with Sylveon's help, Ash went back to training Greninja under the guidance of the reborn trainers and their Mega Evolved Pokémon.

Dawn and Kenny swapped back to Leni and Cell, but Trip was STILL using Veda. Ash, despite wondering why Trip never changed out his Mega Abomasnow, still decided that Trip knew what he was doing and decided to trust him on this one. The time on the invite Dawn got gave them the rest of the day and all of tomorrow for training before they had to get going to Sojourn City for the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase.

Where Serena, thanks to Ash's help, planned to make a legendary entrance into the Master Class Showcase.

After the training was completed as much as possible before they had to get going, the heroes hit the road and, following the map Trip had, were able to reach Sojourn City in time for the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase. The heroes first stopped off at the local Pokémon Center to rest their Pokémon. While there, Ash and the reborn trainers perked up when they heard a familiar female voice call out, "Ash! Dawn! Kenny! Trip! I figured that I'd be seeing you guys here!"

The heroes all turned around to see Iris, who Ash and the reborn trainers traveled with in Unova, come walking up to them. She was dressed up in her Unova Champion outfit from the Black-2 White-2 games. "Iris?" Ash said, "What are you doing here? And what's with the getup?"

Gesturing to herself, Iris said, "You're looking at Unova's latest and current Champion!"

"So you're the one who sat down in the seat Ideku worked hard to earn after he was booted from it because of a xenophobic law passed through Unovan legislature," Trip remarked as he gave Iris a wry look.

Returning Trip's look with a likewise one of her own, Iris said, "Just so we're clear, I don't hold the same views myself. I have no problem with foreigners period, even if they hold positions of authority on Unovan soil that lets them boss around folks who are Unovan born and raised. Granted, I do have my own personal reasons for being happy that Ideku was booted from being the Champion of Unova, but it's not because he's foreign born."

"You're still upset that he withheld knowledge of his capture of Enamorus from the public until he revealed it during the Vertress Conference," Dawn said, sounding more like she was stating the obvious than making a guess.

Pointing at Dawn, Iris said, "When someone catches a legendary Pokémon like that, they have to make it public knowledge! The public has a right to know!"

"Oh," Bonnie said, "Does than mean that A-"

Bonnie was cut off when Clemont put a hand over her mouth. "Bonnie, it's not up to you to share info like that!" Clemont scolded.

Iris's eyes narrowed out of suspicion. "...What happened?"

Dawn rolled her eyes and sighed. Taking out an Ultra Ball, Dawn expanded it and tossed it up to call out her named Darkrai Tobias, drawing a surprised look out of Iris. "Bonnie was about to blab about how I had caught my Darkrai here," Dawn explained, "I first would like get word of it out to my home region of Sinnoh, if it's okay that the other regions have to wait until they're informed."

"That... is understandable, yes," Iris replied as Dawn recalled Tobias. After settling down, Iris said to Dawn, "I take it you received your VIP invitation to the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase?"

"I did, yes," Dawn said.

Iris nodded once in understanding. "Good," Iris said, "Anyway, I can show you over to the Sojourn City Showcase Hall. We need to pick spots in the VIP booth."

"Just let me get my Pokémon who are being treated here first after Nurse Joy says they're clear to go," Dawn replied, drawing an understanding nod from Iris. Clemont said that he would take Bonnie to go get snacks for everyone while Iris would get to catch up with the others. The reborn trainers could tell that Clemont was using that as an excuse to take Bonnie away so as to keep her from spilling any beans that shouldn't be spilled; Bonnie here seemed to have a tendency to speak up about topics that she didn't know shouldn't be made public knowledge.

Serena also furthered the alone time Ash, Dawn, Kenny, and Trip had with Iris by heading over to the Sojourn City Showcase Hall to register and enter the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase. That gave the team from Unova, minus Cilan and Bianca, time to catch up with one another. It was a good thing Clemont, Serena, and Bonnie had all taken off, as some of what Iris had to share was of a... less than pleasant... nature.

...

"Clair's Druddigon was killed?!"

While catching up with Ash and the reborn trainers, Iris told them about Team Scorn's second attack on Blackthorn City, during which Admin Brother, the head of Johto's native sector of Team Scorn, did some damage while aided by Admin Mage, the head of a different region's native Team Scorn sector. During the second attack on the city where Clair is the gym leader, her shiny Druddigon was killed when Admin Mage beat it badly with unarmed fighting skills before twisting its head to snap its neck. Dawn, Kenny, and Trip also learned that the substitute gym leader for Olivine City, Bulat, had defected to Team Scorn.

Ash didn't know Bulat, or Brother or Mage, but he did know Clair. "...Holy geez, Clair's Druddigon," Ash said, "That's terrible."

"Yeah, I know that Admins in Team Scorn tend to have at least one kill each under their respective belts," Kenny said, "But all of said kills known before now were human lives. This is the first I'm hearing of a Team Scorn Admin taking the life of a Pokémon." Dawn could tell from Kenny's tone that he considers taking a Pokémon's life to be arguably worse than taking a human's life.

"Speaking of," Iris began, "What word do you guys have on whatever sector of Team Scorn is native here to Kalos?"

"It's called the Shield Sector," Dawn began to explain, "It's led by a guy called Admin Hero."

Iris scoffed incredulously. "Like anyone in Team Scorn has the right to be called a hero."

Dawn nodded in understanding. "We got it that Hero is only his code name. His real name is Kaito Fu. He's a disgraced former Kalosian regional hero who fell into Team Scorn as a result of a petty Kalosian noble ruining his life simply because he kept telling her no when she wanted his shiny Chesnaught."

"How bad was the ruining?" Iris asked.

"She levied a false rape accusation against him," Trip explained, "And was able to take his shiny Chesnaught for herself in the confusion while he was stripped of his honors and the like."

"What the heck?!" Iris practically screamed, "How could she do something like that to someone who didn't do any wrong? It's basically her fault that this Kaito guy joined Team Scorn!"

Gesturing to Iris, Dawn said in a dry and sarcastic tone, "Welcome to the world of Kalosian nobility politics."

Iris let out a troubled sigh. "Politics. The last word I wanna hear right now."

"...I can only assume it's because of you taking Ideku's place because new laws in Unova made it so?" Dawn asked.

Iris nodded once in the affirmative. "Because of what Unova's government did to boot that info-withholding jerk from his position, Unova got roasted in inter-regional news, still is to an extent as we speak. Apparently the citizenry of other regions are accusing Unova as a whole of being nothing but a hotbed of xenophobic jerkwads. It had also had the effect of other regions withholding offers of assistance to Unova to deal with its native Team Scorn sector, and regions already giving assistance in that regard have stopped and pulled out what they could."

Dawn nodded in understanding. "So Unova is now politically isolated from the other regions, forcing them to deal with their native Team Scorn sector on their own."

"The other regions have made statements that are words to the effect of 'you don't want to let us over to play, so we won't come over and help you'," Iris said, "They are more or less requiring Unova and its people to wholesale drop all of its xenophobic attitudes before they're willing to restart with sending aid to help deal with Unova's native sector of Team Scorn." The new Champion of Unova let out a troubled sigh. "Considering how firmly ingrained into the mind of the average Unovan that being told what to do by someone who's foreign born is not cool, I doubt negotiations will go smoothly."

"What are the opinions of other regions on this?" Ash asked.

"Both Kanto and Johto aren't amused at all with Unova's government pushing xenophobic bills into law," Iris said, "Johto especially as the laws in question were why someone from Johto who became the Unova Champion was stripped of the title. Hoenn is still trying to recover so it can't send foreign aid, but if they could they would not send any to Unova. Similarly, Hoenn is in no position to deny foreign aid from Unova if they offer it to them, although other regions are keeping an eye on it if Unova sends any aid to Hoenn, so as to make sure Unova doesn't 'lord over the poor, helpless foreigners' or whatever."

"You don't say," Dawn remarked.

Iris nodded in the affirmative. "Sinnoh from what I gathered was gearing up to help Unova with its Team Scorn problem, especially considering that with the exception of one incident, Team Scorn never carried out any activity in Sinnoh. However, Sinnoh decided to withhold that help after hearing about the xenophobic slant Unova's government is taking in its law making as of late. Kalos had been sending up to Unova but cut off the helpline off. Alola is caught up trying to deal with a newly risen Team Scorn sector in their region, Galar is a mix of Kalos's reason and Alola's reason, and I'm confused as all get out by the Team Scorn news coming out of Paldea."

"Paldea?" Dawn spoke up, her interest piqued by the name of a region she was unfamiliar with.

"Oh yes," Iris said, "The Paldea region. A bit of a particular place, Paldea's native Pokémon League works differently than the leagues of other regions, aside from Alola who more or less doesn't have a Pokémon League. Long story short is that due to how it's set up, Paldea can have multiple active Champions all at once, although the Top Champion remains as Paldea's official Champion as far as inter-regional business and the like is concerned." Leaning back in her seat, Iris explained, "Paldea's Top Champion couldn't come to the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase for one reason or another, so she sent someone who passed Paldea's Champion's Assessment, a boy named Rimu, in her place."

Dawn was getting more and more intrigued by this new information she was getting about Paldea, a region she never heard of back in her previous life. Might it be that Paldea is the region in the Scarlet and Violet games Trip in his previous live lived just long enough to see the reveal of only the game names and the starters revealed? Dawn is wanting to learn more about this, as much as she could. And given that she and the other Champions would be getting together to watch the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase, Dawn figured she'd have all the chance in the world to learn what all she could.

New info on Pokémon always excited Dawn in her previous life. And here, it was no different.

END, CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FOUR

Author's notes;

This chapter covers adapting the events where Ash's Noibat evolves into Noivern, also Dawn's Noibat evolves at the same time. Additionally, Ash captures the wild Zapdos here, giving him yet another substantial boost to the power his Kalos rotation can field. Then the heroes stop off for a break where Ash offeres to Serena to let her borrow Zapdos and Moltres for her to use in the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase; if Ideku can let Ochaco borrow his shiny Raichu and shiny Talonflame, then Ash can let Serena borrow the two legendary Pokémon that he owns.

The heroes then make it to story-exclusive location Sojourn City, where they meet up with Iris who has become Unova's new Champion. Ash and the reborn trainers catch up with Iris, and learn that Clair's Druddigon was killed, as well as learn about the current political climate between regions, where Unova's painted as a bad guy due to passing bills through their region's legislature to keep foreigners from bossing around Unovan born and raised folks on Unovan soil. Dawn, Kenny, and Trip also get word from Iris about Paldea, the region none of them in their previous lives lived to see.

But that's not here nor there. Anyway, the next chapter will see the Champion's Favor Pokémon Showcase, as well as Dawn, Kenny, and Trip seeing their first taste of the generation nine games, as Iris will be challenging the aforementioned Rimu to a battle. See you all later.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Tobias (Darkrai), Germany (male Garchomp), Freed (male Noivern), Leni (female Lucario), Tsukune (Palkia)

Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Goofy (male Houndoom), Shallot (male Glaceon), Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Black (Giratina; Origin Form)

Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Fourze (male Electivire), Veda (female Abomasnow), Myde (male Empoleon), Kululu (male Greninja), Deelia (Dialga), Todoroki (male Goodra; alpha; Hisuian)

Ash's Pokémon: (on hand) Pikachu (male), Zapdos (gender unknown), Moltres (gender unknown), Greninja (male), Noivern (male), Charizard (male)