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 twenty-six: Need a sixth Pokémon? Why not Clauncher?
It was the day of the second Alola Pokémon Contest that was being redone to re-award one of the Tiki Necklaces that were ruled voided because they were won by a villain using an alias to compete. Serena was as nervous as she was confident as she stood in the Ula'ula Island contest hall with Ash and the reborn trainers, with Ash's Pikachu on his shoulder and Dawn carrying her named Poipole Wyrmscale in her arms as if it were her baby. Wyrmscale essentially WAS Dawn's baby, but that's another point that can be discussed at another time.
"So Serena," Ash said, "I'm not going to ask if you think you can do this, because I know full well that you can." Giving Serena a confident smile, Ash while giving a thumbs up continued, "I have every confidence that you can pull off a win here!"
Serena, blushing a bit under the praise from Ash, nodded once while saying, "Thanks, Ash." Pikachu likewise cried out at Serena in a tone that was the same as Ash's, and Wyrmscale from where it laid being held in Dawn's arms waved at Serena and cried out in a 'you can do this' kind of tone.
"Your training is coming along nicely, my very young apprentice," Kenny said as he addressed Serena, "Believe in yourself and in the power of the force, and there will be no accomplishment that you can't achieve."
"Since when was I your apprentice?" Serena asked, sounding rather confused.
"What's the force?" Ash asked, sounding just as confused as Serena.
Trip, due to Dawn holding Wyrmscale, chopped Kenny on the back of the head for being silly. "Kenny's just telling you, in his own way, that he has every confidence in your ability to pull out a win here. In addition to all the practice you've done, you got a new Pokémon that, if you use it right, will help you net a win."
Serena nodded in agreement. "Yes, Dawn taught me a few tips and tricks that I could use to make the most of things. Hopefully they'll work."
"If you keep the plan a secret until you use it against an opponent in a battle in the battle round of the contest, then I fail to see how any of the other Coordinators will see it coming," Dawn replied, "Just be careful." Serena nodded once to Dawn in thanks before an announcement over the intercom system in the Contest hall told all of the Coordinators that the Contest was going to be starting up soon. Serena told Ash and the reborn trainers that she had to go get ready. Ash and the others all wished Serena the best of luck as she competed to (hopefully) earn her second Tiki Necklace.
Serena has skill with all of the practicing she's done, some of which was carry over from her work in the Showcases in Kalos. She also has experience winning as she did win one Tiki Necklace so far, as well as the Princess Keys she earned in the aforementioned Kalos Showcases. But luck was still a factor as always, and there was worries that Serena's recent burst of luck from when she caught her fifth Pokémon may have faded before the Contest today. All that Ash, Dawn, Kenny, and Trip could hope for was that Serena will do her best and come out on top in the end.
...
The appeals round went by smoothly enough, seeing Serena advance to the battle round no problem. May and Shauna who were also competing also made it past the appeals round, meaning that Serena's biggest rivals in the Contest scene in Alola were potential opponents for her to have to battle against. Luckily for Serena, May and Shauna were battling one another first, meaning Serena didn't have to worry about potentially facing both of them over the course of the battle round of this Contest. Which one between May and Shauna would win the battle would come down to luck, as well as give Serena an idea on what to expect.
As it turned out, Shauna got the win over May, but it came from a VERY close battle between Shauna's Swirlix and May's Skitty. Neither Pokémon actually went down in the battle either; the five minute time limit ran out, and it was seen that Shauna barely had more points that May. It was a good thing that Shauna won thanks to the time limit and how points worked; from where she sat in the audience, Dawn felt that if battles in Contest battle rounds were determined solely through knocking out opponents, then May would have won in the end as May's Skitty, with all due respect, was stronger than Shauna's Swirlix.
Eventually, however, the final battle in the Contest's battle round came up, and it saw Serena face off against Shauna. Here, Serena decided to put the strategy Dawn advised her on to the test; Serena was aware that Shauna's only Pokémon were Venusaur, Floette, Swirlix, and Gothita, and out of all of those Venusaur was the overall biggest threat that Shauna was packing. As such, Serena put Braixen in the LAST spot in her party lineup while putting her newly caught shiny Zorua in the front; this was to take advantage of Zorua's Illision ability to trick Shauna into thinking she was using Braixen and make calls based on thinking Braixen was out.
...
"This is the last battle in the battle round of this Contest," Lila said as she did her role as master of ceremonies, "Between the Coordinators Serena and Shauna! This battle will have a five minute time limit, and the winner will be determined if a Coordinator has more points left than their opponent when time runs out, or if one Coordinator runs out of points before time's up, or if one Coordinator's Pokémon knocks out the other Coordinator's Pokémon in battle before times up! Now then, let this battle begin!"
Tossing up a Poké Ball, Serena said, "Go, Braixen!" Although it LOOKED like Serena's Braixen, in reality it was Serena's shiny Zorua using Illusion to disguise itself as Braixen.
Shauna tossed her Poké Ball containing the Pokémon she was using up at the same time Serena tossed her ball up. "Go, Gothita!" Shauna called out, sending in her Gothita. Shauna, with a confident smile on her face, pointed forward and said, "Gothita, use Psybeam!"
"Braixen, use Shadow Ball!" Serena called out, prompting 'Braixen' to conjure and cast a Shadow Ball at Gothita. Gothita was hit and took a lot of damage, but 'Braixen' was also hit and didn't even look fazed. As such, the exchange saw Shauna lose a lot of points.
Shauna was confused by what was going on, she figured that Serena must have achieved some sort of special power via training for Contests. "This won't be enough to stop us," Shauna said, "Gothita, use Confusion!"
"Braixen, use Sludge Bomb!" Serena called out.
Gothita was able to conjure its Confusion and blast 'Braixen' with it, but nothing happened. This left 'Braixen' free to conjure and cast its Sludge Bomb at Gothita, hitting it and not only costing Shauna more points, but also inflicting poison on Gothita. Shauna was now very much confused, as well as worried, by what was going on. But she refused to give up, especially as she got this far. "Gothita, use Psychic!" Shauna called out.
"Braixen, use Extrasensory!" Serena commanded. 'Braixen' was quicker and conjured a psychic assault that wracked Gothita's mind; the attack wasn't very effective, but it did make Gothita flinch which cost Shauna more points. Then Gothita's poisoning pained it, and that was actually enough to make Gothita fall over onto the floor of the stage, clearly out of it.
"Gothita is unable to battle!" Lila announced, "The winner is Braixen! Victory of this battle, and the winner of this Contest, is Serena!" The audience cheered excitedly for the impressive, albeit curious and mildly confusing, win that Serena had scored, a win that only Ash and the reborn trainers knew the truth behind as Dawn and the boys were able to figure it out that Serena was using her shiny Zorua, although the dramatic reveal never got a chance to occur as Shauna decided to use her Gothita which apparently only knew psychic type attacks; Illusion or not, Zorua is STILL a pure dark type, meaning psychic attacks used on it are rendered moot.
Regardless, Serena was awarded her second Tiki Necklace, putting her at the halfway point of having what all she needed to qualify for the Alola Contest Grand Festival. Serena was happy to have won, but even so she knew she had to be careful and not let the win make her head swell up; she knew that getting too full of herself will lead her to suffering a hard fall, probably because newfound ego got in the way of thinking clearly. She would relax and even celebrate with her Pokémon that they had won another Contest, but Serena needed to be sure to not let things go to her head.
If she did fall, then the fall due to ego would hit even harder.
The next day, Kukui was leading his class on a field trip to Poni Breaker Coast along Poni Island. "Today class, we're going to be viewing a horde of Clawitzer reported to be in this area as it's mating season for their species," Kukui said, "Now then, are there any questions before we begin the lesson?"
Holding up a hand, Lillie said, "I have one, but it's admittedly not related to the lesson." Turning to look at Serena, Lillie said, "Serena, I got the details from your Contest win yesterday, and heard that your Braixen used the moves Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, and Extrasensory. Those are moves that Braixen as a species are by no means capable of learning. What's your Braixen doing knowing moves it shouldn't be capable of using?"
"It actually wasn't Serena's Braixen," Trip explained, "It was her Zorua disguised as Braixen via its Illusion ability. The Illusion was never broken because Shauna's Gothita apparently only knew damaging psychic type attacks, and Zoura has to take damage directly from an attack for its Illusion to break."
Lillie, with a wondering look on her face, looked up as she was thinking about something for a moment. "...Okay, everything makes sense now."
"Yeah, and no one tell anyone about it," Kenny said, "It's a secret strategy that Serena's got, and so far it hasn't been busted. In theory, Serena can try it again on an opponent without them reasonably being able to anticipate it."
Nodding once in agreement, Kukui said, "Yeah, that does sound legit. And I have been wondering how Serena's Braixen had been able to use those moves as Burnet saw the Contest and she told me about it, although now I guess I ought to explain that it was actually a Zorua." Clapping his hands together, Kukui continued, "Moving right along, we got us some Clawitzers in the wild to observe."
The rest of the class all cheered in agreement, and soon got to work going about making observations about the Clawitzers in the wild. However, what none of them would have expected was that not only would they be greeted by a surprise, but said surprise would lead to Serena completing her party and in such a way that it would help bolster her odds in Contests in Alola even more.
...
Eventually the classmates all took a break for lunch, where they set up a picnic near a shore so they can also see the Clawitzers. "So I was thinking," Kenny said, "That given when I'll have the script ready for the next Kenny Harris Studios movie, I feel that Serena may have to go with using Pancham."
Serena, looking curious, said, "Why Pancham? Don't get me wrong, Pancham is cute, and you said I had to use a small cutesy Pokémon. But I was figuring using Zorua-"
"-Would give your big name opponents in the Contest circuit here in Alola an idea about your secret you had used to easily mop the floor with Shauna," Kenny said, "They will be able to anticipate your Zorua, thus negating some of your advantage."
Ash nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that is a valid point Kenny has," Ash said, "You really ought to-"
*VRRRRRRR*
Ash was cut off when he and the others all heard the sounds of a Pokémon egg glowing with energy that indicated that it was about to hatch. Getting up, the heroes and their classmates followed the sound and eventually found a bluish egg in a small pond in a crater near the shore. The egg glowed with a flash, and soon the egg ended up hatching right before the eyes of the heroes and their classmates. To thier surprise, the egg had hatched into a Clauncher, but what really surprised the heroes was the fact that the newly hatched Clauncher is a shiny.
"The egg hatched into a shiny Clauncher!" Lillie exclaimed, "But what's a Clauncher egg doing here?"
"Well we ARE near the coast where a bunch of Clawitzers had gathered for their mating season," Sophocles pointed out, "Maybe they brought the egg Clauncher here hatched from to shore."
The shiny Clauncher looked up at the humans, its little whiskers wriggling a bit, before it wandered over to them. Serena, smiling gently, knelt down as Clauncher got close and proceeded to wipe its face gently with a napkin. "Here, you got splashed a bit," Serena said as she wiped Clauncher's face gently, "This ought to-" Serena had stopped short when the shiny Clauncher took the napkin from her, finished wiping its face itself, and then to Serena's bafflement ate the napkin.
"D... did Clauncher just eat a napkin?" Sophocles asked, looking confused.
"Maybe it's just hungry," Serena reasoned, "I say we bring it back with us and feed it." Hearing Serena mention feeding it caught the shiny Clauncher's attention, so it proceeded to follow Serena back to the picnic area.
...
When the heroes and their classmates arrived back at the picnic area, Serena got a dish of Pokémon food ready for Clauncher, and she even put some Poké Puffs next to the dish. Seeing the food before it, the shiny Clauncher let out an excited gasp before saying something in Pokémon-talk, before relenting and looking sad for some odd reason or another. "Clauncher is excited to see such a spread before it," Rotom Dex said, "But it realized that it has no way to pay for it, so it's sad."
"Uhh..." Serena said to Clauncher, "...The food is free." Clauncher then let out an excited scream before lunging at the food and horfing it all down as quickly as possible, leaving not even one crumb. As Clauncher ate, the heroes and their classmates looked on in surprise.
Gesturing to the shiny Clauncher, Kiawe said, "Umm, wow, it must be really hungry."
"Well it did just hatch from an egg," Serena said, "So it probably just-"
"DRAG!"
Serena was cut off when she and the others heard a Pokémon cry out, then turned and saw that some of the Clawitzers were being confronted by an equal group of Dragalge. "Oh yeah," Lana said, "Professor Kukui did say something about how Dragalge in this area tend to harass the local Clawitzers."
"But some of the Clawitzers, according to Kukui-sensei, swam here from outside of Alola waters for the mating season," Dawn said, "They may not be aware of the hostility that the Dragalges have for-"
Dawn was cut off when the fighting between the Dragalges and the Clawitzers began in full, seeing them fire attacks at one another. Some of the Clawitzers looked like they had seen this coming, but some of the others looked freaked out and clearly fought as if their lives depended on it. One stray water attack from a freaked out Clawitzer was sent off course by an attack from a Dragalge, and the water attack was flying in a straight line right for the shiny Clauncher who seeing the attack coming right for it, freaked out but was clearly too scared to move.
"Pancham!" Serena said as she sent her Pancham out to cover Clauncher, "Counter that water attack with Dark Pulse!" Pancham conjured and cast its Dark Pulse attack to counter the water attack that was flying right for the shiny Clauncher, saving it in the process. Seeing that the Dragalges were the perpetrators of this attack, the heroes had their Pokémon attack the Dragalges, sending them fleeing and saving the Clawitzers.
"...Okay, since we were kind of dragged into that whole mess just now," Dawn began, "I can see why we had to intervene on something in nature that usually ought to be left to itself and allowed to work itself out."
"Well I'm just glad that we saved Clauncher," Serena said, "It'd be terrible if-" Serena was cut off when she and the others heard the sound of a Pokémon evolving, making them all turn around and see that Serena's Pancham was evolving. After the form growing and shifting ended, the white glowing faded to reveal that Serena's Pancham had evolved into a Pangoro.
Seeing this, Kenny said in the driest of tones, "Lovely, there goes Serena using Pancham as her cutesy Pokémon. Now she'll have to use Zorua and risk busting her secret strategy that she used to win against Shauna in the recent contest."
Looking down at Clauncher who looked to be kneeling before Serena's now Pangoro like a commoner respecting a king, Dawn said, "...Maybe you can alter the script a bit so that Serena can use Clauncher instead."
"You think I should capture Clauncher, Dawn?" Serena asked.
"Well it WOULD bring your party up to the full count of six," Dawn pointed out, "And Clauncher, in addition to looking like it respects Pangoro for saving it, looks like it can easily be won over with food, so-" Dawn was interrupted when Clauncher perked up at the mention of food.
"...It's still hungry?" Mallow said, "Wow, that Clauncher's got quite the appetite for a Pokémon that hatched from an egg less than ten minutes ago."
Serena, smiling gently, approached Clauncher. "Hey Clauncher," Serena began, "Would you be interested in joining my team? I'll make sure you're kept fed and-" Serena never got to finish her offer to Clauncher before it eagerly accepted, having been won over by the promise of food. Serena then proceeded to use a Poké Ball to capture the shiny Clauncher. "Well alright!" Serena cheered, "I caught a Clauncher!"
"As well as your third shiny caught," Trip said, "Your luck with shinies is almost as good as Kenny's." With success having been found, the heroes decided to pack it in and report to Kukui what all they had observed. Kukui did note that Dragalges tend to show up when Clawitzers have their mating season along Poni Breaker Coast, and he expressed interest that the students found an egg that hatched into a Clauncher that Serena caught, as well as express surprise that Serena's Clauncher is a shiny. It would seem that things are looking up for the heroes and their classmates.
The next day after class, the reborn trainers were walking in the market area, which had just finished repairing all of the damage it suffered when the female Alolan classmates triggered Ayane. "Wow, the stalls and kiosks all seem to be fully back to form," Kenny remarked.
Dawn looked around, spotted a few more permanent structures that some folks were just at that moment finishing up repairing; by Dawn's estimates, all damage would be fully repaired by around this time tomorrow. "...The repairs wouldn't have been necessary at all had Lana, Mallow, and Lillit to an extent simply waited instead of being too gung-ho on 'avenging Serena's losses to Ayane', as they put it."
"At least mom and the others hurt in the attack are back to form now," Trip said, "Also it's good no one had died, and we at least still deprived Team Scorn of Reshiram." Turning to look at Dawn, Trip said, "Speaking of, please tell me that you addressed the issue of a timid nature special attacking Pokémon knowing the physical attacking move Slash."
Dawn nodded once in the affirmative. "Ruby actually forgot Slash when it learned Earth Power. It also forgot Dragonbreath in the process of learning Dragon Pulse. I am interested in keeping Extrasensory and especially Fusion Flare, however."
Trip let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness for that. I swear, Ayane messed up in thinking that relying on the raw power a legendary Pokémon comes with right off the bat was a good idea. I guess that's part of why our own legendary Pokémon tended to have an easy time against Reshiram when it was under Ayane's command, she did not know how to properly train Pokémon."
Dawn nodded once in the affirmative, and she was about to say something. However, she was cut off when she and the boys heard an Eevee cry out in a freaked out tone. Looking over, Dawn, Kenny, and Trip spotted a wild Eevee with fur covering its eyes running away from the bratty Alolan Persian. Dawn recognized the wild Eevee from the anime in her previous life; it's the Eevee that was eventually named Sandy and it was caught by Lana. Seeing the currently wild Eevee fleeing from the bratty Alolan Persian spurred Dawn and the boys to act.
...
The Eevee was crying out in a scared, freaked out tone as it was being chased by the bratty Alolan Persian. It was so scared of Persian and focused on running away that it failed to notice the dark blue blur with a flash of red rush past it towards the Persian. Eevee only stopped when it heard the Persian cry out in surprise and pain, and as such it stopped and turned around to see what was going on. To Eevee's surprise, the Persian was punched in the left eye by a male Meowstic wearing a red cape.
As the bratty Alolan Persian reeled back, an Arcanine that was far larger and more majestic looking than normal came running up and jumped down on the Persian, and then an Electivire came up and slugged the Persian hard on the side of the head. As Eevee watched these Pokémon gang up on and beat up the Persian, it was surprised when it got scooped up by a human. Looking up, the Eevee saw that it had been picked up by Dawn, not that it knew who Dawn was at the moment.
"Okay boys," Dawn called out at the Pokémon, "I think that the Persian there has had enough." As the Pokémon backed off from the now thuroughly beaten Persian, Kenny and Trip came walking up. "We need to report that Persian to Officer Jenny again," Dawn said, "It just won't stop harassing other Pokémon."
Turning to look at the Eevee that Dawn held, Kenny said, "Then what shall we do with this little one who looks like it needs a haircut?"
Looking down at the Eevee in her arms, Dawn said, "...I have an idea."
...
In the anime in the previous life of the reborn trainers, it's Lana who catches that Eevee. However, Dawn in her previous life felt that Ash should have caught the Eevee instead, especially as many others felt that same way at the time. Although she was planning to bring Eevee to Lana if Ash for some odd reason declined, Dawn was still wanting to bring the Eevee to Ash first, partly because she felt that Ash should have gotten an Eevee. Dawn in her previous life died in mid-December 2021, and as far as Dawn knew, Ash in the anime in her previous life never caught an Eevee; she was hoping to rectify that.
After telling Kenny and Trip and they both agreed, they brought the Eevee to Ash and told him how they saved it from the bratty Alolan Persian, and that they think that Ash himself would be the best qualified out of all of their classmates to catch and take care of Eevee. "Wow, you guys think that I can be trusted with taking care of this Eevee?" Ash asked, sounding amazed that Dawn and the boys trusted him so much when they met him at Kukui's house.
Dawn nodded once in the affirmative. "Yes. We know full well that when it comes to taking care of Pokémon and making them feel like they're with friends, you're a top name in the field."
Ash nodded once in thanks and, after the trainers got Eevee to agree, Ash proceeded to catch Eevee, using a standard Poké Ball to do so. After he had caught Eevee, Ash said to the reborn trainers, "Well the first thing I wanna do with Eevee is get the fur covering its eyes trimmed. I bet that Professor Kukui or Professor Burnet will be able to help me with tha-"
"Ash!"
Ash was cut off when he and the reborn trainers heard Serena call out in something of a panicked tone. They all turned to see Serena standing there about a dozen feet from the steps leading up to Kukui's house. "Serena?" Ash said, "What is it?"
"Mallow said that there's a group of Team Scorn members fighting an equal sized group of Team Skull members on the beach near the market square!" Serena said, "The people nearby are worried it might get out of control, especially as rebuilding efforts had finally just been completed!"
"Team Scorn and Team Skull are having a gang war against one another again?" Kenny said, "We need to go take care of that ASAP!" Everyone then proceeded to run for the beach near the market square, hoping to stem off anything too bad.
...
Ash, Serena, and the reborn trainers got to the beach near the market square and, sure enough, saw a group of Team Scorn grunts battling an equal sized group of Team Skull grunts (in terms of head count on each side, at least). "Okay, I know both groups are technically bad," Trip said, "But Team Skull is nowhere near as bad as Team Scorn, and they've proven that they can be friendly, so I say we help Team Skull drive off Team Scorn."
Ash nodded in agreement as he led the others in charging in to back up Team Skull. However, they stopped short when they heard the familiar voice of Ideku call out, "Use Sludge Wave on Team Scorn's Pokémon!" From out of nowhere, a large wave of poison sludge washed over the Pokémon being used by Team Scorn, hitting all of them and even knocking out most of them. Granted, two Alolan Rattatas being used by Team Skull were also knocked out, and an Alolan Raticate was hit as well but was able to endure, but Team Scorn came out much worse for ware.
Ash, Serena, and the reborn trainers then saw Ideku rush in, clearly intending to take down the Team Scorn members, but what surprised the heroes was what Ideku was rushing in with; a Nihilego, which was an Ultra Beast. Since when did Ideku have an Ultra Beast? What was he even doing with it? How did he even get it? As much as the reborn trainers were wanting answers, they knew that taking care of the problem here took priority, and at the very least Ideku's Nihilego was as friendly of an Ultra Beast as Trip's Celesteela, Kenny's Xurkitree, and the two Poipoles with one being Ash's and the other being Dawn's.
There were a few of Team Scorn's Pokémon that weren't defeated, but Ideku had his Nihilego begin picking them off one by one, using a mix of Power Gem, Psychic, and Thunderbolt. Dawn, Serena, and the boys all joined in, and soon Team Scorn at the beach was defeated. Seeing that they were outgunned, some of the Team Scorn grunts used smoke grenades to create a lot of smoke which they used as a cover to escape. The smoke eventually faded and revealed all of Team Scorn had been able to escape, but no harm was done.
As Team Skull recalled their Pokémon, Ideku called out to them, "Wait, let me take a look at the Pokémon you guys have that mine had accidentally hit. Maybe I can treat their injuries." Seeing Ideku kneel down as he got out some medicinal items and a few berries made the Team Skull grunts relax.
It was as Ideku was treating the fainted Alolan Rattatas that he heard Dawn call out, "So you have a Nihilego now, Ideku." The roaming trainer from Johto turned to look up and see that Dawn had come up with Kenny, Trip, Ash, and Serena. Dawn folded her arms over her chest as she said, "With all due respect to you, you've got a bit of explaining that you need to do."
"Can it at least wait until after I get the Pokémon belonging to Team Skull I had hit accidentally treated?" Ideku asked, gesturing to show that some of Team Skull's Pokémon still needed to be treated for their injuries when they got swamped by Nihilego's Sludge Wave that was aimed at Team Scorn's Pokémon. The heroes nodded in agreement before they allowed Ideku to finish up. But after that, Dawn sent a call to Aether Foundation.
"So Ideku was the one who attacked and raided a Team Scorn warehouse where goods stolen from Aether Foundation were being kept," Wicke said as she, Lusamine, and Burnet met with the heroes, their classmates, and Ideku who had his Nihilego out.
Gesturing to Ideku, Burnet said, "And you also were the one who drove off Faba and Team Scorn from Wela Volcano Park where an Ultra Wormhole was opened up with a copy of the machine I have to open up Ultra Wormholes to send caught Ultra Beasts back home." Looking to Nihilego who looked to be cowering behind Ideku like a kid sister seeking to be protected by a big brother, Burnet went on, "And this Nihilego is the Ultra Beast that was summoned into our world by the efforts of Faba and all of his Team Scorn buds."
Ideku nodded once in the affirmative. "I had no idea that business that Dawn, Ash, and the others handle in their Ultra Guardian duties was going down at Wela Volcano Park. All I heard was that Team Scorn was over there, so I went over there to confront the minions of that liar to had been tricking me for so long."
Dawn could tell that Ideku was hurting over how 'Ochaco' had really been Ayane. "...Well we did see signs that you successfully drove off Team Scorn and stopped them from summoning in any more Ultra Beasts."
"You also wrecked the machine that Faba had," Burnet said, "It would have been nice if you could have not done that." Relenting, Burnet said, "But the damage can be fixed, and I bet that you were trying to just deal with Team Scorn as quickly and efficiently as possible."
Lusamine looked to the Nihilego, saw it reach for and gently grab a hold of one of Ideku's hands and hold onto it for safety. "...This Nihilego seems tamed, much the same as the Ultra Beasts that wanted to stay with Trip, Kenny, Dawn, and Ash. I figure that this one here doesn't want to be sent back to its home world and would like to stay with you instead." Ideku was about to speak up, but Nihilego nudged into him and made some manner of cooing noise that sounded like a young child whining in a tired, upset tone to indicate it didn't wanna be kept from its parent.
Looking to Nihilego, Ideku then looked to Lusamine and said, "I understand that this is business that I'm not privy to, but it's clear Nihilego wishes to stay with me. I bet it's because of how I saved it from being bullied by Team Scorn and took care of it ever since I caught it. I will respect your wishes ultimately if it's required, but if it is possible I believe we ought to respect the wishes of Nihilego here."
"We've respected the wishes of the Celesteela, Xurkitree, and two Poipoles that wanted to stay here," Lusamine said, "And they don't cause trouble unlike the wild and razzed-up Ultra Beasts. Essentially, the Ultra Beasts that chose to stay here are as tame and friendly as normal Pokémon. If Nihilego here will behave much the same, then I fail to see why we would have to send it back to its home world."
The Nihilego that Ideku caught hopped up and down in joy as it made likewise cooing noises, before floating over to Lusamine to hug her out of thanks like an affectionate child. Lusamine, due to past experience, was at first freaked out by a Nihilego approaching her, but soon calmed down as Nihilego hugged her when she realized Nihilego was just wanting to hug her. After Nihilego let go of Lusamine and floated back over to Ideku, Lusamine said, "Err, umm, yes. Anyway, as Nihilego will be staying with you, are you interested in naming it?"
Turning to look at Nihilego, Ideku looked at it for a moment before saying, "...Yes. I believe that the best name for Nihilego here is Anego." Ideku was asked if he had anything left from what he stole from the Team Scorn warehouse he attacked and raided, and Ideku said he still had multiples of the model of Poké Ball he had used to catch Angeo; he figured that, as the Beast Balls were in a crate labeled 'goods from Aether Foundation', then taking what was in that crate from Team Scorn will prevent them from trying to screw Aether Foundation over.
According to Ideku, the crate only contained a drawstring pouch containing the Beast Balls, plus the Ultra Wormhole machine that was later used at Wela Volcano Park. Ideku couldn't carry the machine away and he had no idea how it worked so he left it be as he didn't wanna take any chances with it, but he did take the Beast Balls, the rest of which he handed over to Lusamine at her request. According to Burnet, wrecking the Ultra Wromhole machine would have done nothing but prevent its use, but as Faba's now working with Team Scorn, wrecking the machine would have been redundant as he could have fixed it.
"Why didn't he try salvaging the machine after Ideku wrecked it at Wela Volcano Park?" Mallow asked.
"Faba and his Team Scorn friends were being stared down by Ideku's Zekrom at least," Dawn explained, "That wouldn't exactly give them time to safely get the remains of the Ultra Wormhole machine."
"Well either way, we can fix the machine as we recovered it," Lusamine said, "And thanks to Ideku, everything that Team Scorn stole from Aether Foundation has been recovered. I'll have to up security, but for now we owe a debt of thanks to Ideku." The heroes and their classmates all cheered in thanks to Ideku, and even Lillie who was scared by the malevolent Nihilego from the past was willing to hold a hand out to Anego. The named Nihilego, truly a wholly benevolent member of its species, had instead decided to hug Lillie like it had Lusamine. Lillie, although freaked at first, calmed down within moments as she remembered that Anego is a good Nihilego.
END, CHAPTER TWO-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the second Alola Contest being redone to re-award a Tiki Necklace, and here Serena wins because she faced Shauna in the last round, and Shauna used her Gothita who here only knew damaging psychic attacks, and Serena had sent out her Zorua who was disguised as Braixen via Illusion. After Serena's second Alola Contest victory, the heroes go to Poni Breaker Coast for a field trip to observe Clawitzers coming there for mating season. There at Poni Breaker Coast the heroes come upon an egg one of the Clawitzers there to breed must have put on shore, as the egg hatched into a shiny Clauncher that Serena ended up catching. Serena's Pancham evolves into Pangoro in the process as Serena has a dark type Pokémon in her on hand team, requiring Kenny to adjust plans for a future movie.
After that, the roaming wild Eevee shows up and is saved by the reborn trainers who, despite knowing that Lana caught it in the anime in their previous life, brings the Eevee to Ash first instead because Ash should have gotten an Eevee damn it! After Ash catches the Eevee, he and the reborn trainers are alerted by Serena of some Team Scorn versus Team Skull fighting going on, so they rush over to back Team Skull who have proven to be a significantly lesser evil. They're surprised when Ideku shows up packing a Nihilego which he uses to help defeat Team Scorn, and after meeting with Lusamine it's decided that the Nihilego can stay with Ideku as it clearly wants to. Anyway, the next chapter will see the next Kenny Harris Studios movie, so until then take care.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Wyrmscale (Poipole), Lincoln (male Latios), Tambourine (female Kommo-o; Totem), Leni (female Lucario), Tsukune (Palkia)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Badeeyaa (Xurkitree), Delerious (male Mimikyu; Totem), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny), Black (Giratina; Origin Forme)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Myde (male Emploeon), Deelia (Dialga), Space Kitta (Celesteela), Alfred (male Marowak; Alolan; Totem), Foruze (male Electivire), Mr. Popo (male Magmortar)
Ash's Pokémon: (on hand) Pikachu (male), Greninja (male), Torracat (male), Dartrix (male), Lycanroc (male; Dusk), Poipole (gender unknown)