Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter Two-hundred and six: The first Pokémon Contest in Alola
Dawn, Kenny, and Trip were in the backyard of the new house that Serena and her mom Grace live in one evening, watching it as Serena was leading her Braixen, Pancham, Sylveon, and Phantump through some routines. Ash and his Pikachu were sitting on the ground nearby, their backs against a Rhyhorn that was contentedly sound asleep as Serena and her Pokémon were going through the motions of their moves. Eventually, Serena called for a break, allowing her Pokémon to take it easy and catch their breaths for a bit.
As Serena and her Pokémon relaxed, Dawn said, "Well Serena, tomorrow's the big day, the day where you participate in your first ever Pokémon Contest."
Serena nodded in the affirmative. "Oh yeah. I got it that Pokémon Contests are divided up into performance and battle rounds. The performance rounds are like the whole of performing in Pokémon Showcases from what I had figured, and the battle round is just something extra tacked on."
Ash nodded in agreement over where he and Pikachu sat. "In Contests, you first have to perform well enough in the performance round in order to advance to the battle round. In the battle round, each battle is given five minutes, during which Coordinators have to reduce the points their opponents have. The Coordinator with the most points at the end of the five minutes wins. Alternatively, a battle can end early if one Coordinator runs out of points or if their Pokémon is defeated in battle."
Looking at Ash in mild surprise, Kenny asked, "Ash, how do you know all of that?"
"I picked up some info on Contests while Brock and I traveled with May and Max in Hoenn," Ash explained, "As well as when May tackled contests in Kanto. I had even participated in a contest this one time." Turning to look at Dawn, Ash asked, "Dawn, you mentioned something about your and Trip's mom getting an Alola Contest Pass for Serena?"
"I delivered it to Serena before you came here to join us in watching Serena practice," Dawn said, "Also, me and Trip's mom will serve as a judge and her friend Lila will be the master of ceremonies. Also, for Contests in Alola, Coordinators can use different Pokémon in each round. Additionally, Coordinators can't use gimmicks like Mega Evolution or Z-Moves unless they're in the battle round and their opponent has access to the same gimmick." Gesturing to Serena, Dawn said, "For example, if Serena had a Z-Ring and a few Z-Crystals, she wouldn't be allowed to use Z-Moves unless her opponent in a battle round ALSO has a Z-Ring and a few Z-Crystals. Breaking this rule can be grounds for disqualification."
Ash folded his arms over his chest, nodded in understanding. "So it's a bid to enforce fair play. Are there any other restrictions?"
"You can only enter with Pokémon that are confirmed to actually belong to you," Trip said, "Meaning no entering with Pokémon you're borrowing from a friend. Other than that, coordinators more or less have free reign to do whatever, within reason of course."
"So there's no restrictions on using shiny Pokémon," Serena said, "Unlike with what Palermo's doing with Showcases in Kalos. Similarly, there's no restriction on using legendary Pokémon if you have them."
"Dawn would be awesome in Alolan contests if she entered with Tsukune or Fangfang or Kurumu," Trip said, a slightly amused smirk on his face.
Dawn gently shook her head. "Well it's a good thing Contests and similar events aren't really my up of tea." Looking to Serena, Dawn asked, "Just so we are clear Serena, you got this." Dawn's expression relaxed into a gentle smile. "You're a lot better than you'd think, and you do have experience thanks to your time working the Showcase scene in Kalos. Even the battle portion shouldn't be too big a stretch for you, thanks to the work you've done with Ash."
Pounding a fist into his hand, Kenny said to Serena, "You're gonna kick all the butt tomorrow, Serena! I just know it!"
Serena gave a gentle and emotionally touched smile at all of the support she was being shown. Even Trip and Ash were teling her that she can do it. "...Thanks guys," Serena said, "I'm going to give it my best." The heroes all cheered as they wished Serena the best of luck in the Contest tomorrow, the first Pokémon Contest in all of the history of the Alola region.
The following morning, the reborn trainers and Ash were at the Contest Hall that's been established for Alolan Pokémon Contests. "Oh," Dawn said as she looked at a pamphlet, "It says here that Coordinators in Alola will earn special tiki necklaces called Contest Tikis for winning Contests, and that they need to earn a total of four in order to qualify for the Alola Contest Grand Festival."
"Only four?" Ash said in mild surprise, "If I recall correctly, Coordinators need to win five ribbons or their equivalent in order to qualify for Contest Grand Festivals."
"In Alola, only four Contest Tikis are needed to enter the Alola Grand Festival," Dawn explained as she read the pamphlet, "Apparently this reflects the fact that Alola has four islands." Looking up from her pamphlet, Dawn said to Serena, "Good luck in your first Contest, Serena."
Serena gave a single nod. "I'm going to give it my all. I'm going to give every Contest that I enter my all. I won't stop until I make it to the Grand Fes-"
"Oh snap, Ochaco's here," Kenny said in a surprisingly casual tone, cutting Serena off and making her turn to see Ochaco from the Kalos region in the Contest hall. Ochaco, a girl interested in studying Pokémon revived from fossils, had trumped Serena multiple times in the past in the Kalos Pokémon Showcase scene due to her very generous usage of shiny Pokémon. Ochaco was even there with Ideku, who looked like he was wishing her luck. The heroes walked over to Ochaco and Ideku to greet them and see how they're going.
"I wasn't expecting that you'd be here in Alola, Ochaco," Serena said, getting Ochaco's and Ideku's attention and getting them to turn to face her and the other heroes.
Ochaco, who was hiding a dark secret that no one else present was aware of, smiled warmly at Serena. "It's nice to see you again, Serena. Giving the Contest circuit here in Alola a go now that it's open for business?"
Serena nodded once in confirmation. "I did a lot of training for it, watched videos of past Contest performances in other regions to have some idea of what to expect. I even read up on all of the rules for Alolan contests so that I won't unknowingly break a rule."
"Yeah, apparently Coordinators here can only use Pokémon that they actually own, and they can't use gimmicks unless they face an opponent in a battle round and said opponent has access to using the same gimmick," Ochaco said, "But everything else is fair game. I can use my Lopunny and Mawile freely."
"Mawile?" Ash spoke up in a curious tone. Rolling her eyes, Ochaco took out a ball and tossed it up, calling out a shiny Mawile in the process. To Dawn's piqued interest, Ochaco's shiny Mawile wore a pauldron over its left shoulder that had a Mawileite in it, and the pauldron was attached to Mawile with a leather strap harnes, sort of like gladiator armor. "You have a shiny Mawile!" Ash exclaimed.
"She's also got a Mawileite, I see," Serena remarked.
"Mawile is male," Ochaco pointed out, "So you mean to say that he's got a Mawileite. And don't worry, unless I see an opponent Mega Evolve a Pokémon first, I won't be Mega Evolving my Mawile here." Recalling her shiny Mawile, Ochaco said, "Anyway, I've prepped my Pokémon for today, Mawile and Lopunny especially so. I'm confident that I'll be doing well, especially as Ideku's helped me train my Pokémon for the battle rounds in the Contests."
Dawn nodded in acknowledgement of that. Ideku has proven many times over to be a skilled, knowledgeable, and powerful trainer. Not to mention that Ochaco can train her Pokémon by having them spar with legendary Pokémon; working with opponents of such a level is bound to have a positive impact on making a Pokémon stronger. Serena had her work cut out for her indeed given that she was facing a powerful rival in the Alolan Contest scene already. Serena knew the competition was going to be even higher when she saw May (accompanied by Max) and Shauna (accompanied by Trevor and Tierno) enter the contest hall to sign up for the contest.
The first Pokémon Contest in Alola region history.
A short while later, Ash and the reborn trainers were all sitting in the audience waiting for the Contest to start. The rest of their classmates couldn't make it, so it was just them there to cheer Serena on. Regardless, the contest was started with Lila acting as the master of ceremonies, doing her duty for that role. As for the panel of judges, Dawn and Trip's mom Johanna was one, followed by the Nurse Joy from the closest Pokémon Center, then lastly and to the complete and total surprise of Ash and the reborn trainers, Kahuna Hala.
"I've actually always been something of a fan of the Contests held in regions like Hoenn and Kanto and Sinnoh," Hala said when asked about him being a judge, "To think that I would be asked to be a judge for the first Contest ever held in Alola! It truly is an honor!"
After Hala and the judges gave their bit, the contest was underway. Prior to the contest starting, Dawn and Trip met with Johanna and asked her to uphold the professional standard that being a Contest Judge required of her, to not show any bias for their friends despite them being... well, their friends. Johanna knew how her children felt, what they were aiming at, and assured them that she would hold all Coordinators competing in Alolan Contests to the same standards she held herself to when she competed in Contests in the past.
And luckily for all Coordinators in the Contest that the heroes cared about, they all got passing marks as far as Johanna was concerned. Nurse Joy was similarly impressed, and Hala was very clearly blown away by what all he saw, although he kept himself from showing bias. Regardless of all of that, at an absolute minimum Serena, May, Ochaco, and Shauna all made it past the performance round no problem, with Serena having used Sylveon, May having used Blaziken, Ochaco having used her shiny Mawile, and Shauna having used a Floette.
After that came the battle round, and it first would see Serena face off against Ochaco. The rules were explained to the girls; five minutes were allowed for the battle, during which they had to reduce the points each other had. By the end of the five minutes, whoever had the most points would be declared the winner. Alternatively, if a Coordinator ran out of points before the five minutes were up then their opponent would be declared the winner then and there, or if a Coordinator's Pokémon knocks out their opponent's Pokémon then the victorious Coordinator would win.
Serena, taking a calming breath to steady herself, tossed up a ball while saying, "Go, Phantump!"
"Go, Lopunny!" Ochaco called out.
Both girls had sent out their Pokémon, and both were shinies to the amazed surprise of the audience. "Incredible, folks!" Lila said as she was clearly trying to ham it up while commenting on the Contest, "Both Coordinators in the first battle round of Alola's first Contest are using incredibly rare shiny Pokémon! This Contest is going to go down in Alolan history even more so than it was before!"
Serena smiled a bit confidently, feeling that things might look good for her as Phantump, due to being part ghost type, was immune to whatever normal attacks the normal type Lopunny had. "Don't worry Phantump, we got this!" Serena said, "Use Branch Poke!"
"Lopunny," Ochaco called out, "Use Brutal Swing!"
Serena was caught off guard by Ochaco calling for Lopunny to use Brutal Swing, and while the two Pokémon went up to one another to attack, Phantump failed to do anything to Lopunny while taking massive damage from Lopunny's Brutal Swing, costing Serena a notable chunk of her points. The loss of points worried Serena, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. "Phantump, use Horn Leech!" Serena called out, "Try to recover some health!"
"Lopunny, use Acrobatics!" Ochaco called out. As Phantump tried rushing Lopunny again, Lopunny jumped up and landed down at Phantump, then jumped around it very quickly while striking it all over. Acrobatics, aside from being a flying type, doubles in base power if the user isn't holding an item. Lopunny was going in empty handed, so Acrobatics, already super effective on Phantump meaning it did double damage anyway, doubled in damage again. As such, the final strike from Lopunny's Acrobatics ended up sending Phantump flying until it hit the floor of the stage behind Serena where it laid, clearly out of it.
"Phantump is unable to battle!" Lila announced, "The winner is Lopunny! Ochaco advances to the next round of the battle stage!" The audience cheered in applause for the impressive victory that Ochaco had scored. Serena, for her part, kept it together just long enough to recall Phantump and leave the stage after congratulating her opponent for the impressive victory she had scored against her. Ash and the reborn heroes, all of them worried and acting out of concern for Serena, went to go find her, hoping that she was going to be alright.
It was Dawn who first found Serena, by virtue of checking a women's restroom, and discovered that Serena was sitting in a stall crying her eyes out.
...
Other highlights of the battle round saw May actually lose to Shauna, but that was because May sent out her Wartortle and could not have anticipated that Shauna would use her Venusaur of all things. The last battle ended up seeing Shauna versus Ochaco, and Shauna lost because she sent in her Floette while Ochaco sent in her shiny Mawile. As such, it was Ochaco who took home the first Tiki Necklace in Alolan Pokémon Contest history. It even made the paper, and it was discussed in the heroes' homeroom at trainer school the following day.
"You actually thought that your Phantump was guaranteed a win against Ochaco's Lopunny due to Lopunny being a normal type and Phantump being part ghost type?" Sophocles said to Serena as he held a copy of the newspaper that had the article about Ochaco's win, "How naive can you be? Any self respecting trainer would teach a normal type Pokémon they have at least one move capable of hurting a ghost type Pokémon! No wonder that Ochaco girl won!"
"Just because you have a point doesn't mean you get to be a jerk to Serena about it, Sophocles," Ash pointed out dryly, his expression dry and unamused.
"Ash's got a point," Mallow agreed, drawing agreeing nods from Lana and Lillie, "There's no need to be mean to Serena when pointing out that she made a mistake." Sophocles, unamused with how he was being ganged up on held the newspaper back up and read it some more.
Seeing that Serena was looking down at her desk, clearly still bummed about having lost on her frist go at a Contest in Alola, Dawn said, "Well now, I think that Serena needs some cheering up."
"What did you have in mind, Dawn?" Trip asked.
"If I recall correctly," Dawn began, "Ash is setting himself to go find that wild Litten again to bring it more berries for itself as well as its old Stoudland friend. Maybe Serena can go with Ash and help him? It could at the very least help take Serena's mind off of things."
"Oh yeah, that's a good idea, Dawn," Ash said, then he immediately turned to look at Serena and asked her if she'd like to come along with him to go find that wild Litten and help him help it and its old Stoutland friend. Serena agreed, still a bit surprised that Ash had actually asked her to accompany him on... anything, really. And Serena got vibes that it would be just her and Ash, she would have Ash all to herself, not counting any Pokémon that would be there.
Serena felt a little bit better already.
A few days later at the hotel that the reborn trainers were staying at, they were leading some of their Pokémon through routine exercises before they got going to classes at the trainer school. "Alright Kirara," Dawn called out to her named Litten, "I think that's a good stopping point." Kirara turned to look at Dawn, gave her a calm and happy meow, then scampered over to her before rubbing the side of her body against Dawn's right shin.
Dawn gave a gentle giggle as she bent over to scratch Kirara's head, drawing some affectionate purring from the cat Pokémon. "I had always pegged you as more of a dog Pokémon person than a cat Pokémon person," Kenny admitted, "Given how well you work with your Arcanine. But here you are, enjoying the company of your little Litten right there."
"Well I'm willing to raise whatever Pokémon that comes under my care," Dawn said, "Well... most any Pokémon. There's actually a few I wouldn't be all that comfortable with owning."
Trip had a surprised look on his face. "Really? Like what?"
"The two stand out examples that come to mind for me right now are Panpour and Simipour," Dawn said, "I'm sorry, but their closed-eyed smiling expressions just utterly piss me the fuck off, and I always feel compelled to punch them in those stupid fucking closed-eyed smiling fucking faces of theirs."
"Remind me to never have Cilan's bro Cress have you work with his Pokémon," Kenny said dryly, but with a hint of amusement in his tone, "Would you be willing to raise either of the other two elemental monkey Pokémon?"
"Actually, now that you mention it," Dawn began, "I wouldn't mind raising a Pansear, or evolving one into a Simisear."
"Is... Isn't Simisear a rather unpopular Pokémon?" Trip asked.
"In Dawn-Land, Panpour and Simipour are on the bottom rung of the ladder," Dawn said evenly, "A Pansear and or Simisear would enjoy a much loftier spot."
As the reborn trainers were talking, Suzaku the Popplio and Cell Jr. the shiny Rowlet came wandering over, looking up at the trainers with Kirara. Seeing that the trainers were talking to one another but not focusing on them, Suzaku got their attention by using Growl, which for Suzaku resulted in him making a cry that sounded pretty much spot on for a vuvuzela. This caught the attention of the reborn trainers who all turned to look at Suzaku. "How is he even doing that?" Trip asked.
Seeing that the trainers, Trip especially, were looking at him, Suzaku gave a happy cry of, "Pop pop!" Then Suzaku, looking relieved and like he was able to let something go on and happen, promptly proceeded to evolve, glowing bright white as his form shifted and grew. Similarly, Kirara and Cell Jr. also both proceeded to evolve, both of them looking as if they were waiting for their trainers to pay attention to them and see them evolve first. It was sort of like when a young child wanted their parents to look at them before trying to impress them with something.
After the evolving was complete, Suzaku, Cell Jr., and Kirara had evolved into Brionne, Dartrix, and Torracat respectively. "Dudes, our Alolan starters evolved after we had trained them enough!" Kenny exclaimed.
Dawn, looking at the now evolved Pokémon, gave them amused looked. "I... think they wanted us to see that they were ready to evolve, hence why Trip's Brionne had gotten our attention the way he did a few moments ago when he was still a Popplio."
Looking to his now Brionne, Trip said, "Ah, so you just wanted us to see that yo-" Trip was cut off again when Suzaku made the vuvuzela noise again simply by opening his mouth. "...Seriously," Trip said in a dry tone as Suzaku cried on like a vuvuzela, "How is he doing that?"
...
Later at the trainer school, the reborn trainers showed their classmates that Kirara, Cell Jr., and Suzaku had all evolved. The classmates, Lana in particular, were a bit weirded out by how Suzaku can make vuvuzela noises somehow, but they all still nonetheless congratulated Dawn, Kenny, and Trip on evolving their Pokémon. A stand out scene was when Lana's Popplio came out to greet Suzaku, and Ash's Rowlet came out to greet the shiny Dartrix, only for the now evolved Cell Jr. to not react much to Ash's Rowlet's attempts to be friendly, to which Kenny attributed to Cell Jr. being depressed.
What surprised the reborn trainers was when a Litten came out from one of the balls Ash had, and Serena explained that Ash had caught the wild Litten that was living with the elderly Stoutland. Ash's Litten walked up to Kirara, and the first thing that occurred when the two were right in front of one another was seeing the named Torracat lick Ash's Litten around its left ear, like a mother cat caring for its kitten. After Kirara was done, Ash's Litten nudged right up against Kirara and rubbed its head against her, purring gently in a manner reminiscent of a young kid showing affection to a parent.
"Wow, Ash's Litten seems fond of having a parent figure," Kenny remarked.
Serena had a mildly unsure look on her face. "...Umm, I can... fill in some details after school today." The tone of Serena's talking, as well as her expression, made it clear to the reborn trainers that something bad in the heartbreaking sense had happened.
The reborn trainers had just recalled their Pokémon that they had out when Sophocles said in a dry and wry tone, "Let me guess, the elderly Stoutland who Ash's Litten was living with had died."
"Wow Sophocles, way to be a blunt jerk," Lana said.
"Hey, we can't afford to live in a sugarcoated world right now," Sophocles snapped back, "And it's pretty easy to figure out what had really happened!"
"Still doesn't give you the right to be a jerk about things," Mallow cut in.
Sophocles was about to speak up but got cut off when Kukui came into the classroom. "Alright children, let's take our seats," Kukui said, getting everyone to sit in their desks, "Now tomorrow, we're going to be having our school's open house, during which the parents of all of you guys will be able to visit and see how things go. We're also going to have some of you give presentat-"
*YAWN*
Kukui was cut off when Ash let out a loud and legit but non-sarcastic yawn. Everyone looked to Ash, saw he was actually legitimately tired. "I'm sorry, Professor Kukui," Ash began, looking a mix of tired and embarrassed, "But I didn't get much sleep last night."
Nodding in understanding, Kukui said, "Yeah, I know you got back late from Serena's place."
"Oh ho ho!" Mallow said, a sly and amused look on her face as she turned to look at Ash and Serena, "Ash was at Serena's place until late last night! Methinks that there's something juicy and gossip-worthy going on!"
"I was just helping Serena train to better prep for battle rounds in the Pokémon Contests here in Alola," Ash explained, "She had asked for my help."
"Ash was also able to get in some training for his Litten who he had caught recently," Serena added.
Kukui got the class to settle down. "Well hopefully you'll be perked up enough to give a presentation in front of the class and their parents. I even got it that your mom Delia will be coming in from Kanto to see it." Ash nodded in confirmation, then after Kukui finished the announcements he started class as normal.
The following day at trainer school, the reborn trainers saw that everything had been set up for the open house. They arrived with their families, which for Dawn and Trip was just their mom Johanna, and for Kenny his mom and little sister. They also came in with a tired looking Ash and a perked up and happy Delia, also Mimey the Mr. Mime came in with Delia, and it was wearing a floral shirt common in Alola. "Did you stay up late into the night to work on that report I saw you put into your bag?" Delia asked as she turned to look at Ash after hearing him yawn.
"No, I was helping Serena train for her go at the Contests here in Alola," Ash replied, "I finished my report about an hour after I met up with Dawn, Trip, and Kenny after school as I wanted to ask Dawn to help me with it."
"You asked Dawn for help?" Johanna asked, sounding mildly surprised.
Dawn nodded once in confirmation. "Apparently I'm currently the top student in class, so Ash figured I'd be able to help him get his report he's going to present in order."
"And what of your report you're going to give?" Johanna asked her daughter.
"Kukui-sensei actually asked me to specifically do a report on what all info there is on Hisuian Arcanine, given I got Argent," Dawn said, "I kept it to the facts that were obtained via actual research done by trusted authorities, as well as tossing in a few tidbits I had discovered on my own." Kenny and Trip confirmed that they had been similarly asked by Kukui to do reports on Priestess (Kenny's Hisuian Lilligant) and Todoroki (Trip's Hisuian Goodra) respectively. As for Ash, his report would be on the differences between the Kantonian and Alolan versions of Vulpix, as well as what he's learned since coming to Alola in general.
...
The families of all of the heroes' classmates had shown up. Clemont and Bonnie were at the school as well given Clemont's the sex ed teacher, and as such Bonnie had joined Kenny's little sister who got Lana's little sisters Harper and Sarah to join her in playing around. The little girls were running all over the place, and it took the combined efforts of Lana's mom, Kenny's mom, and Clemont to get all of them to settle down, although things first came to a head when, in the running around of the little girls, they rushed past Ash and nearly knocked him over.
Trip and Kenny caught Ash in time, and as the little girls were being scolded, the reborn trainers asked if Ash was fine. "I'm... *yawn*... I'm going to be fine," Ash said, showing that him being tired is part of why he was almost knocked over. Dawn said she'd look into asking Kukui if Ash could go last to present his report, given that he needed the extra time to rest.
In the classroom, the heroes and their respective family members who were present were all gathered around as presentations were given at the front of the class. Dawn went first, and gave a factual report on Hisuian Arcanine while she had Argent out next to her. She kept to what facts were confirmed by research, although she did gush a bit when giving her personal opinion on how awesome it is that Argent's hidden ability Rock Head lets him use Flare Blitz without getting the recoil damage from using it. Dawn ended by saying that consequence-free Flare Blitzes like that are pretty awesome, and Argent gave a single bark, which ended Dawn's presentation.
Trip had similar success with the presentation he did on Hisuian Goodra and, with a little help from Ash, was able to show the differences in appearance between Hisuian Goodra and Kalosian Goodra. After Trip's successful presentation, Kenny went next and proceeded to give his presentation on Hisuian Lilligant while he had Priestess out next to him. Kenny's presentation was going pretty smooth, and from what Dawn and Trip saw, by all accounts Kenny's go would be just as successful as the ones that Dawn and Trip themselves gave. However, Kenny's presentation was interrupted halfway through by Serena crying out, "Hey, get out of Ash's bag, Togedemaru!"
Kenny stopped short, then everyone turned to see where Ash's bag was, only to see Sophocles's Togedemaru was sticking out of Ash's bag, having knocked some stuff out in the process. Togedemaru then came out of Ash's bag, holding a small plastic, sealed up bag full of Poké Puffs. Togedemaru, looking victorious, proceeded to tear the bag open and messily gobble up the Poké Puffs. "Hey, those were the Poké Puffs I made for Ash's Pokémon as thanks for Ash helping me train for contests!" Serena snapped, "Those aren't for you, Togedemaru!"
In the scramble to get Togedemaru away from Ash's bag, a bit of chaos unfurled as well as a bit of a mess being made. The sheer chaotic aura of the situation helped to perk Ash up some, although his mood soured even more when he picked up and held a smeared and slightly torn sheet of paper. "Togedemaru ruined the report that I was going to give in front of the class!" Ash complained.
"What the heck, Sophocles?! Why can't you control your Togedemaru?!" Lana scowled.
"I think it's not so much that he can't," Mallow said, "As much as that he won't. Not once had I ever seen Sophocles scold Togedemaru for what all mischief it gets up to, also I fail to recall Sophocles making Togedemaru apologize to Ash's Greninja for attacking it after losing that game to it."
"That little beast did what to one of my son's Pokémon?" Delia said, having just learned that Sophocles's Togedemaru had been a sore loser towards Ash's Greninja.
"Well in Sophocles's and his Togedemaru's defense," Sophocles's mom began, "That Ketchum boy shouldn't have put food in his bag then left it with easy reach of Togedemaru."
"I was saving them for after the presentations," Ash began, "When I was going to give them to my Pokémon as well as Mimey since I knew Mom was bringing him to Alola with her!"
"Also," Johanna began when she turned to address Sohpocles's mom, "By what you just said, you suggested that it's the fault of others if your son's Togedemaru misbehaves, and that your son's Togedemaru shouldn't have to be made to know better!" That prompted Sophocles's mom to verbally attack Johanna, causing Johanna to fight back, and eventually the entire classroom dissolved into a big huge argument that was only broken up because Team Skull grunts showed up at the school, prompting the heroes to all rush out to confront them.
As it turned out, the Team Skull grunts wanted only to relax and rest a bit as they had just gotten off fighting off an equal number of Team Scorn grunts, and thought that a party was happening at the trainer school and asked if they could come to the party. The heroes, although wary of Team Skull, decided to agree and let them come to the open house, with Kenny even bringing them some refreshments. When one of the Team Skull grunts, Rapp, asked what all was going on at the party so far, Dawn explained to her that they were presenting reports, but things were sidetracked because Sophocles's Togedemaru ruined Ash's report and ate some treats he had brought for his Pokémon.
"...Seriously?" Rapp said, "Dang man, that is messed up. That kid needs to seriously step up the discipline game with his Pokémon."
"Even Team Skull thinks that Sophocles needs to rein in Togedemaru," Mallow remarked dryly.
END, CHAPTER TWO-HUNDRED AND SIX
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the first Alolan contest which, despite Serena's efforts, she loses to Ochaco who ends up winning. A few other things are covered, such as Ash catching Litten, the Alolan starters the reborn trainers have evolving, and the open house episode where the conflict is on Togedemaru rather than Team Skull. I'm actually building up a sub-plot involving Sophocles's Togedemaru, as I'm not all that fond of its brattier moments from the anime but want to try to... reform it, as it were. But more on that later. Anyway, the next chapter ought to see Gladion show up in the flesh, the bit about Sophocles's family moving house will be briefly covered, Ash and the reborn heroes will learn more about the Island Challenge trials on Akala Island, and a major sub-plot where Kenny will shine will start up. Until then, take care.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Lincoln (male Latios), Argent (male Arcanine; alpha; Hisuian), Kirara (female Torracat), Tsukune (Palkia), Drachen (female Salamence)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Hovernyan (male Meowstic), Jibanyan (male Skitty; shiny), Cell Jr. (male Dartrix; shiny), Kermit (male Politoed), Darknyan (male Meowth; Alolan), Shenron (Rayquaza)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Myde (male Empoleon), Fourze (male Electivire), Mr. Popo (male Magmortar), Suzaku (male Brionne), Deelia (Dialga), Tetsu (Xerneas)
Ash's Pokémon: (on hand) Pikachu (male), Greninja (male), Goodra (male), Mimikyu (female; shiny), Rowlet (male), Litten (male)