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 seventy-two: King of the scorned in Sinnoh, part one
The reborn trainers had just made it back to their home region of Sinnoh after receiving some rather concerning news while they were fighting members of Team Scorn's sector over in the Kanto region. But Dawn and the others didn't allow themselves even a moment of rest after returning to Twinleaf Town, the effects of jetlag seemed to be unable to touch the reborn trainers, as they zoomed right on over to Oreburgh City.
They soon made a landing in Oreburgh City, where the gym leader Roark looks over both his gym and the local mine. Speaking of, it was Roark who greeted the reborn trainers outside of the local Pokémon Center, seeing the lot of them land on Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, and Dragonite before recalling their dragons and turning their full attention to him. It was Dawn who first spoke to the Oreburgh City gym leader.
"Has he become aware of who it was he had pushed out of the way of the incident that hurt him instead?" Dawn asked.
Roark gently shook his head in the negative. "No, Paul still has no idea that it was Maylene who he had saved, and at great expense to himself. Maylene, when she learned that, asked that it be kept that way, she doesn't want Paul knowing it's her."
"Maylene is STILL hung up against Paul?" Mina asked, "Even though he saved her life at the most likely expense of his own life?"
"Some people can be hurt more by certain things than one can expect, Mina," Dawn remarked. Dawn knew how Maylene, before Paul began his redemption arc (Kenny's term for it), was shaken to her core by Paul's... less than acceptable... reaction to losing to her on his first go at her when she was the Veilstone City gym leader here. Paul here had lost more than he did in the anime back in Dawn's previous life, and it got to him.
It still by no means excused Paul for siccing his Torterra on Maylene's first Lucario, beating it to the point it went into a coma, barely pulled through, and had to be permanently retired from battling following its recovery. The experience of Paul going berserk in the rematch scared Maylene to the point that, following her first Lucario's recovery, she stepped down as a gym leader. Silver lining, she ended up getting together with Roark who she's apparently always been in love with.
Sure, Paul realized the extent of his errors and sought to atone, to better himself both as a trainer and as a person. He has even done some notably heroic things since beginning his redemption arc; he helped bring in some minor Team Rocket members when that organization was brought down wholly and for good, and he had even pushed Clemont's little sister Bonnie out of the way of falling debris during a Team Scorn attack in Alola, getting hurt for the trouble.
Pushing someone out of the way and getting hurt for the trouble happened once more, but here in Sinnoh, and it's Maylene who Paul had saved. Only the injury that Paul had suffered was way worse, and it's got a very high chance of ending Paul's life. The reborn trainers, concerned for Paul who was trying to better himself, came back to Sinnoh to see him and, if necessary, see him off as he goes up to Valhalla, to stay by the side of he who Dawn had named her Arceus after.
"Where is Paul now?" Dawn asked.
"At the local hospital," Roark said, "Paul's older brother Reggie, as well as Maylene, are over there."
Hearing that Maylene is over at the local hospital caught the attention of the reborn trainers. "Why is Maylene over there?" Trip asked, "Doesn't she hate Paul?"
"Yes, but not enough to let Paul die without affording him at least some closure over him trying to redeem himself in her eyes," Roark explained, "Given that Paul still has no idea that the girl he saved is Maylene due to her appearance changing drastically since he last saw her, Maylene is going to pass herself off as 'one of Maylene's friends', and will tell Paul that Maylene heard what he did for her friend and will let go of her resentment."
"...So Maylene IS going to forgive Paul," Kenny said, "But she STILL doesn't want him knowing that her suffering from how his actions had affected her led her to become an obese nerd."
Nodding a bit, Roark said, "That's... one way to look at it, I suppose. Oh, there's also another thing, which is part of why you guys had to come back to Sinnoh."
"Team Scorn is responsible for the attack here in Oreburgh City," Trip said.
"There's that, yes," Roark agreed, "But it's not what I had in mind right now. Paul has a favor he wanted to ask of you guys in the... highly likely... event he doesn't survive. You can ask Reggie for more details at the hospital." Dawn and the other reborn trainers nodded in understanding before they made their way to the hospital with Roark. They owe it to Paul to carry out what is shaping up to be his final request.
Especially since he's pretty much successfully completed his quest for redemption.
Over at the local hospital in Oreburgh City, the reborn trainers met Reggie, the older brother of Paul, in the main waiting room area. "Maylene, while using the name Sumomo, had already forgiven Paul for what he did," Reggie said, "We still need to respect Maylene's wish for Paul to not know that it's really Maylene herself who Paul had saved."
"We... can discuss Maylene still apparently having some degree of grudge against Paul at a later time," Mina said, "But for now we came here to ask about what Paul wants to ask of us."
"It... concerns his Nidoqueen, actually," Reggie began to explain.
Kenny had a curious look on his face. "Paul owns a Nidoqueen?"
"He got her as a Nidoran when he began trying to clean up his act when he was set straight by Ash back during their battle at Lake Acuity," Reggie clarified.
A look of realizing remembering appeared on Dawn's face. "Oh! The shiny Nidoran!"
Reggie nodded once in confirmation. "Yes, she's a Nidoqueen now. But that's besides the point. Paul had asked that, in the highly likely event that he doesn't make it, his Nidoqueen be turned over to Ash's custody."
"Paul wants to give Ash a shiny Nidoqueen in the event Paul himself kicks the bucket," Mina summed up.
"That's... basically the idea, yeah," Reggie remarked, the look on his face, the tone of his voice, hell even the current pattern of his talking, indicating he felt like a man defeated.
Reggie's defeated air he gave off did not escape Dawn's notice. "...You're worried about Paul."
"And why wouldn't I be?" Reggie asked, his tone slightly louder than what he was expecting, tears threatening to fall down the sides of his face, "He's my little brother, for crying out loud, and the most recent update on his condition that I received from the doctors is that Paul has a ninety-one point six percent chance of not living to see tomorrow morning!" Reggie suddenly realized that he was louder than he had expected. "...Sorry, didn't mean to get so loud."
Gently shaking his head, Trip replied, "No need to worry about stuff like that, Reggie. You might lose your brother. That's something that can't be dealt with easily."
Reggie looked to Trip, a look of understanding in his eyes. "...Yeah, I got it from Dawn's mom that you lost your biological mom. You can understand the sting of losing family." Dawn looked to her brother, realizing that Trip also spoke from experience he had in his previous life, when he was Piper and Dawn herself was Don. Only the reborn trainers themselves knew the truth, but Trip having lost his biological mom in this world helped give a cover story.
Folding her arms over her chest, Dawn said, "So Paul wants to pass his Nidoqueen on to Ash in the event Paul himself doesn't make it. Is there a specific reason why Paul wants to leave Nidoqueen in particular to Ash?"
"Paul... Paul said that he got Nidoqueen as a Nidoran as he wanted a Pokémon to raise that would be to him what Ash's Pikachu is to Ash," Reggie explained, "Paul thought that if he had a relationship with one of his Pokémon like that, if he had a friendship like that, it would help him become a much better person, help him become a trainer worthy of respect."
The reborn trainers looked surprised to hear why Paul got his Nidoqueen in the first place. "He... wanted a cute Pokémon companion?" Trip asked, "Because he wanted with a Pokémon to replicate the relationship between Ash and Ash's Pikachu?"
Kenny nodded once in understanding. "He wanted to model himself after Ash. A noble goal to be sure, as Ash himself is a noble trainer. I can respect where Paul was coming from." Looking right to Reggie, Kenny asked, "So where is Paul's Nidoqueen now?"
Reggie took a Pokéball out and expanded it, but didn't call out the Pokémon that was inside of it. "I got Paul's Nidoqueen right here."
"Where is Paul himself?" Dawn asked, "Can we go see him?"
Reggie, a sad and resigned look on his face, shrank the Pokéball that Paul's Nidoqueen was in back down and put it away. "The hospital has a policy against letting non-family in to see persons who are severely hurt. I doubt that even you Dawn, despite how you're the Champion of Sinnoh and the current Monarch of the World Coronation Series, could get in to see him."
Dawn nodded once in understanding. "Fair enough. Does Ash know what happened yet? I mean, he might end up getting a Nidoqueen. Should he at least be made aware of why that is?"
"Ash as far as I'm aware isn't aware of Paul's new injury yet," Reggie replied, "I... I wanna wait on telling Ash until things get to the point that he sort of has to be told about what happened. There IS a fair chance that Paul can pull through, so I'm praying to any and every deity willing to listen that Paul be allowed to pull through."
The reborn trainers nodded in understanding. Some of them even owned several deities, with Dawn even having Arceus itself. And Dawn for her part couldn't blame Reggie for being so hopeful that his little brother would pull through here. Dawn had no idea about the rest of Paul's and Reggie's family here, so Reggie potentially losing Paul may be more devastating than it would be, although it would be a devastating loss regardless.
...
In the waiting room later that night, the reborn trainers all sat in chairs while Reggie paced around out of worry, unable to stay still when he knew full well that his younger brother was currently fighting for his life at the moment. Dawn, as she saw Reggie worry, had a sudden thought about how Paul's Pokémon would react to losing their trainer.
It wouldn't be the first time some Pokémon lost their trainer, what with the Pokémon that Ideku Badorigo had inherited from his older brother Katsuku having lost their original trainer. Dawn from what she's seen had noted that Ideku has done an excellent job at helping Katsuku's Pokémon heal from the loss of their original trainer, a healing that helped Ideku himself as well. But how would that deal work if presented to Paul's Pokémon?
Dawn hoped that she and the others wouldn't have to find out the answer, that Paul ultimately was going to pull through here. If he does, how will his life function from this point moving forward? Will he be able to eventually resume his journey, or will his injury that he got this time keep him at home permanently, putting an end to the physical aspect of his redemption arc? Either way would not be a very Paul-friendly answer, and Dawn and the others were about to find out the answer when they all saw the doctor come out to see them.
"So doctor," Reggie began, his tone and expression equal parts worried and hopeful, "How is he? How is my little brother doing?"
The doctor's face was a stoic, unbreaking mask of grim resolve as he regarded Reggie and the reborn trainers. "...He passed several minutes ago. I'm sorry for your loss."
Instantly Reggie fell to his knees, as if he were a puppet whose strings had been cut. He cried loud and uncontrollably as Kenny and Mina went to him. Dawn and Trip stood back however, the looks on their faces similarly grim as the doctor's. Paul was now dead. This was something that none of the reborn trainers would have ever expected, Dawn and Kenny especially so as they saw Paul during the very early parts of their journey, back when he was still a bona-fied jerk-waffle.
But now, after having realized his errors long ago and working hard to rectify them, Paul died, doing so in the effort of saving the life of someone who he had screwed with back when he was still kind of a jerk. He didn't even know he had saved the life of the girl whose life he had wrecked by being a VERY sore loser, due to the drastic changes in appearance said girl had undergone in the time since he lost his temper over losing a battle to her. That also reminded Dawn to ask Maylene about how she feels now that Paul's dead.
But there's the fact that Paul died in an attack on Oreburgh City that was carried out by Team Scorn, so in a way it's ultimately Team Scorn's fault that Reggie lost his little brother. Dawn also had just remembered to ask about why exactly Team Scorn carried out an attack in Oreburgh City in the first place. What was their endgame here? What were they after exactly? Questions for later, as for right now Dawn and Trip moved to help Kenny and Mina tend to Reggie.
The guy had just lost his younger brother, after all.
The following morning at the local Pokémon Center, the reborn trainers and Reggie were sitting in the lobby at a table, discussing things to be done in the wake of the loss of Paul. "Well, I just called Ash to let him know what happened," Reggie said as he walked over to the reborn trainers after he'd used the video phone, "Ash is in Hammerlocke over in the Galar region right now for a battle in the current season of the World Coronation Series, but he'll come to Sinnoh as soon as he's done."
The reborn trainers perked up at the news of where Ash was at. "He's in Hammerlocke?" Trip asked.
Nodding once in the affirmative, Reggie explained, "Ash is fighting a battle against Raihan, a Galarian gym leader. If Ash wins, he'll take Raihan's place in the Masters Eight of the current season, and after the battle there will be no more chances for anyone to get into the Masters Eight as it'll be at the cutoff point."
A bit of a silver lining to the hell that has been going on right now, the reborn trainers were surprised to hear that Ash was close to breaking his way into the Masters Eight of the current season of the World Coronation Series. If he succeeded, then Ash will have cemented himself as one of the eight strongest trainers in the world. Given that it's Ash, the reborn trainers all thought him to be worthy of the honor of being so highly ranked a trainer.
"Wait," Dawn began, "What did Ash's friend Goh say about the matter?"
Reggie wore a curious look on his face, one that didn't escape the notice of the reborn trainers. "It was just Ash who I spoke to," Reggie said, "Although his Pikachu was there perched on his shoulder as per usual. However, Ash did mention someone named Goh, saying that he had to leave traveling with Ash in order to do some important work for Project Mew."
So Ash was now traveling solo as Goh left him to do secret work for Project Mew. Normally the reborn trainers would be suspicious of Goh leaving Ash like this, as it was WAY too soon, even more so because it's so close to Ash potentially scoring a major triumph. But then again, Goh WAS part of Project Mew, so obviously he had responsibilities that he had to tend to. But there was one bit here that had the reborn trainers suspicious anyway.
The fact that Project Mew is involved at all.
Before coming to Sinnoh, the reborn trainers had to deal with Project Mew being harassed in Kanto by Team Scorn's native sector over there. The leadership of Kanto's native sector of Team Scorn is very suspicious of Project Mew, similar to how Dawn and the others themselves are suspicious of Amaranth and his crew. If it weren't for what happened in Sinnoh, the reborn trainers would still be in Kanto, trying to sus out what was really going on.
Dawn was about to ask Reggie if he knew what Team Scorn was up to with their attack on Oreburgh City, but she was cut off before she was able to get a word out when Roark and Maylene came into the Pokémon Center quickly, both clearly looking panicked. Dawn saw the looks on their faces and knew right away that something was up. "What's the situation?" Dawn asked.
"Team Scorn is in the middle of trying to raid the mine here in Oreburgh City!" Maylene cried, panting hard to catch her breath, "Some trainers are over there trying to fight Team Scorn off, but those evil villain jerks have a lot of numbers on their side!"
"Why aren't you guys battling Team Scorn?" Kenny asked.
Gesturing to Maylene, Roark said, "I was getting Maylene here to safety as she's not exactly up for heavy fighting right now. I planned to rush back to help out with fighting off Team Scorn as soon as Maylene is safe!"
Mina took a quick look at Maylene that was somewhat judging and critical. Mina still having issues with Maylene not forgiving Paul wholesale aside, Maylene was still a trainer and thus Mina figured that Maylene should help out with fighting off Team Scorn. However, Mina figured that Maylene's physical condition may not be the best for being able to bring the fight to Team Scorn. Mina had to let Maylene sit this one out.
Pointing at Maylene, Mina said, "Fine, but we'll have to discuss a few things later after we give Team Scorn the whooping that they have coming." Maylene, figuring that Mina was going to chew her out for not helping with fighting off Team Scorn, merely rolled her eyes in dry annoyance before Roark led the reborn trainers out of the Pokémon Center to head on over to the mine, where Team Scorn was up to their latest discount dastardly deed-doing.
Over at the Oreburgh Mine, the reborn trainers and Roark saw a whole lot of Team Scorn members all over the outside area leading into the mine. "And the mine just opened back up after the rubble from the accident a while ago was cleared out and things have been set up to make working in the mine safe again," Roark said, scoffing bitterly as he and the others saw the Team Scorn members fighting who all came to confront them.
"Oh yeah, the cave-in a while ago where Maylene's first Lucario was killed," Kenny said, remembering how Maylene's first Lucario, who was beaten into a coma by Paul's Torterra during Paul's second go for the Cobble Badge here, ended up being among those killed at the mine when Byron, who is the father of Roark, got carried away with mining out a fossil at the mine. A dozen Pokémon and eight humans were killed in that accident.
Putting that aside, Kenny said, "We need to look for the person in Team Scorn here wearing a unique outfit. That will be the Team Scorn Officer leading this attack he-"
"Oh, he's the miner guy I saw flee with that pink-haired girl earlier," a male voice spoke out, cutting Kenny off and making him and the others turn to look and see a male Team Scorn grunt pointing at them. The grunt, surprisingly enough, was an older man, with Dawn figuring him to be at least in his early sixties. He was also rather thin, fair skinned, and he was missing the beret that was part of the Team Scorn grunt uniform due to his large black afro. The grunt did wear a pair of small black circular lensed glasses, though.
Standing next to this grunt was a male uniquely dressed Team Scorn member, but saying he was 'dressed' was a bit generous of a description. He was tall, fair skinned, broad of shoulder and had a strong upper body but clearly didn't like leg day. He had a slicked up 'do of some shade of blue, and his outfit was just a yellow Alolan shirt worn open to reveal his well toned upper body, with the shirt having dark blue heater shields with yellow Team Scorn 'S's on them, and the man also wore a pair of dark blue speedos. That was it for his outfit.
"Oh yeah, that's Roark," the barely dressed Team Scorn member said to the afroed grunt next to him, "He's the local gym leader here in Oreburgh City. We're going to need to talk to him."
Pointing at the uniquely 'dressed' Team Scorn member and the grunt next to him, Kenny said, "Who are you jokers?"
Gesturing to himself, the uniquely 'dressed' Team Scorn member said, "The name's Kazuki, and I'm the Fourth Captain of Team Scorn's Straw-hat Sector. We're the sector setting up here in Sinnoh. Oh, the man standing next to me with the afro is my Captain's Assistant, Cho."
Dawn scoffed bitterly. "Yeah right," Dawn scowled, "Like hell you'll be allowed to remain working here in the Sinnoh region."
"Young lady, it's best that Team Scorn is allowed to carry out its work," the now identified Cho said to Dawn, "But we can discuss that business later. For now, my Captain here and I need to get to work on the task that my Captain got from Admin Pirate."
"Yeah, we need to collect some bomb remains that were reportedly found among the rubble at the mine here," remarked the now identified Kazuki, "We can't have our role in the cave-in a while ago get out, now can we?"
Roark's eyes widened a bit out of shocked surprise, as well as carrying a hint of realization. "...Team Scorn caused that cave-in. It was no natural accident."
"Erk," Kazuki said, realizing that he had said too much, "Great, I said to much. Now we're going to have to shut you all up to keep the beans from being spilled any further."
Looking around at all of the Team Scorn grunts fighting the other men and trainers at the outside of the mine, Dawn said, "Kenny, can you back up Roark in fighting off the Captain and his Assistant? I'm going to lead Trip and Mina in helping to fight off the minions here."
"Taking down Officers of Team Scorn is my specialty," Kenny replied, an amused looking smirk on his face, as he and Roark took to facing off against Kazuki and Cho while Dawn led Trip and Mina in helping to fight off the grunts in the area. Taking out a Pokéball, Kenny said to the Scorn leadership outside of Oreburgh Mine, "This is where your discount dastardly deed-doing comes to an end here! Okay, Hoodini! Let's make it cringe!"
"Go, Rampardos!" Roark said as he sent out his Rampardos as Kenny sent out his named Noctowl.
"Go, Magnezone!" Kazuki said as he sent out a Magnezone.
"Go, Dusclops!" Cho said as he sent out a Dusclops, "Use Shadow Punch on Rampardos!"
"Magnezone, use Flash Cannon on Rampardos!" Kazuki called out.
Kenny scoffed bitterly. "Ganging up on an innocent married man, ehh? Your evil truly knows no bounds! Hoodini, use Shadow Ball on Dusclops!"
"Rampardos, use Earthquake!" Roark called out.
The named Noctowl conjured and cast a Shadow Ball that blasted right into Dusclops and pushed it back. Dusclops's bulk allowed it to take the hit without going down, but it still hurt and being pushed back kept it from attacking Rampardos. Speaking of, Rampardos was able to get off its Earthquake attack, shaking the entire battlefield with seismic waves that struck both Magnezone and Dusclops but left the flying type Noctowl alone.
Being flying type saved Hoodini from getting hurt, but both the weakened Dusclops and the times four weak to ground Magnezone were both knocked out by that one Earthquake. Kazuki and Cho both had to recall their respectively fainted Pokémon. "Feh," Kazuki scoffed, "You're a very stubborn gym leader, Roark. Just like that steel-obsessed moron who was digging at the mine here when the Team Scorn bomb went off to trigger the cave-in."
"You mean my father Byron," Roark said, his tone and his expression firm and unamused towards Team Scorn.
"He's also the only roadblock, but a serious one Team Scorn can't get around otherwise, to us being able to do some necessary work over on Iron Island," Kazuki went on, "So when me and the others in the Straw-hat Sector heard he escaped the cave-in, our initial efforts were rendered moot."
Roark's eyes widened considerably out of shock. "The... the cave-in was a hit by Team Scorn in an attempt to kill my father?"
"And what sort of foul shenanigans does Team Scorn wanna get up to over on Iron Island?" Kenny demanded as Hoodini hooted angrily at Kazuki and Cho.
"That's for Team Scorn to know and for you guys to not get involved with!" Kazuki said as he sent out another Pokémon, "Go, Metang!"
"Go, Kricketune!" Cho called out as he sent out a Kricketune while Kazuki sent out a Metang, "Use X-Scissor on Rampardos!"
"Megang, use Metal Claw on Rampardos!" Kazuki said.
"Rampardos, use Earthquake!" Roark ordered.
"Hoodini, use Air Slash on Kricketune!" Kenny commanded.
The named Noctowl whipped up a slashing blade of wind that flew into and struck Kricketune, knocking it out before it even got close to Rampardos. As for Rampardos itself, its Earthquake was enough to knock out Metang before it could strike with a super effective Metal Claw. Kazuki and Cho both had to recall their respective fainted Pokémon as Kenny and Roark working together had won another round.
Kazuki, for his part, scoffed bitterly again. "Damn it, Cho and I are both wiped. I guess this means that word of Team Scorn wanting to do some work over on Iron Island, and how Byron the gym leader stands in the way of said work, is going to get out. Things are going to be getting a hell of a lot tougher for Team Scorn for our job at Iron Island."
"Speaking of, you're going to tell us what the job is," Kenny demanded.
"As well as why Team Scorn would resort to trying to carry out a hit on my father to keep him from interfering with said work!" Roark barked, very much unamused to have heard that Team Scorn had tried to more or less assassinate Byron.
Kazuki was about to tell the heroes off for thinking they could make him spill the beans, but a female grunt came running up to him and Cho. "Captain Kazuki," the female grunt began, "Almost all of us have been wiped! We were able to spirit the bomb remains away, though! I think now would be a good time for us to bail!"
"Yeah, we need to bail," Kazuki agreed, "Although the heroes found out about why we needed to spirit away those bomb remains anyway, so it's essentially a moot point by now." Kazuki sent out the word for all present members of Team Scorn to use smoke grenades to mask their escape. After they used their smoke grenades, Team Scorn took the opportunity to flee. They were all gone by the time the smoke had settled.
Looking around, Kenny and Roark spotted Dawn, Trip, and Mina walking over to them. "So how did beating the Captain and his Assistant go?" Mina asked.
"Well we whumped them eight ways to Sunday, no doubting that," Kenny began, "But while Roark and I fought Kazuki and Cho, we... learned some new info about the cave-in that happened at the mine here."
Dawn's eyes narrowed out of suspicion. "...I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Team Scorn was somehow involved with the cave-in."
Roark nodded once in the affirmative. "Hoo boy, were they ever. We're going to need to sit down somewhere to discuss what all we got during the battle." With things settled at the mine, the reborn trainers and Roark made their way to the local Pokémon Center to go over what Kenny and Roark learned while battling Kazuki and Cho.
A short while later at the local Pokémon Center, the reborn trainers, as well as Roark, discussed what Kenny and Roark learned while battling Kazuki and Cho. The heroes were also joined by both Reggie who was at the Pokémon Center to use their video phone, and Maylene who had waddled her considerable self over to Roark as quickly as possible to throw her arms around him in a hug, relieved to see he was alright.
But the info Kenny and Roark shared put a bit of a dampener on the overall mood. "So... so the cave-in at Oreburgh Mine a while ago," Maylene began, a troubled look on her face, "Where eight humans and twelve Pokémon, one of..." Maylene stopped short, had to steady herself as she recalled a very painful memory for her. "...One of which was my first Lucario..." Maylene went on, "...It wasn't some random natural accident."
Roark gently shook his head in the negative. "No, no it wasn't. It was triggered by a bomb planted in the mine by Team Scorn in a bid on their part to assassinate my father while making things seem like a natural disaster so they wouldn't get blamed. Bomb remains were taken from the mine while the others and I fought off the Team Scorn attack."
"But given that we found out about their actions at the mine anyway," Kenny went on, "I think it's safe to say that keeping folks from finding out about their foul shenanigans is a moot point now."
"Wait a minute," Reggie began, "Team Scorn wants to kill Byron? Why?"
"According to what Kenny and Roark learned," Dawn began, "Byron is an otherwise unavoidable and insurmountable obstacle getting in the way of Team Scorn doing some work they want to take care of over on Iron Island. Obviously, they came to the conclusion that killing off Byron will allow them to go on ahead with their scheme over on Iron Island."
Reggie looked confused. "Wait, what does Team Scorn want to do over on Iron Island?"
Shrugging, Trip replied, "No clue. The most we can figure is that they wanna try to scoop up some of the native Pokémon over there, or maybe do some mining work."
Roark held a hand to his chin, wore a look of contemplation on his face. "...I did hear it from dad, sometime before the recent cave-in at Oreburgh Mine, that an ultra-rich vein of precious metal had been discovered over on Iron Island. Reportedly, small precious gems of various types are also found there in and around the vein of precious metal."
Mina scoffed bitterly, as if she wasn't surprised in the least by what she had just heard. "So it's just another case of Team Scorn wanting to line their pockets. Great."
"Well a large multi-region criminal organization is going to be needing funding in order to operate," Kenny pointed out, "They do need to make sure that they can cover costs."
Turning to look at Reggie, Dawn asked, "Oh, I've been meaning to ask this Reggie. While we were planning on including you in our discussion here anyway, we didn't expect you to already be here at the local Pokémon Center. What were you doing?"
"I was calling Ash," Reggie explained, "I wanted to see how he was doing." A sad but still mildly amused small smirk appeared on Reggie's face. "I did get a bit of good news from Ash, that being how he had won his battle in the World Coronation Series against Raihan. Ash is now part of the Masters Eight."
The reborn trainers all gave a cheer for Ash's success; Ash Ketchum was now officially ranked as one of the eight strongest trainers in the world. If there is one person most deserving of so lofty a position, it's Ash. "I also got it that Ash got into the Masters Eight just in time to avoid the cutoff point," Reggie said, "Ash won the last possible Entrance Battle in the current season, meaning that no-one can battle their way into the Masters Eight for the rest of the season."
"So there will be no more battles below the Masters Eight," Kenny reasoned.
Gently shaking his head, Reggie said, "Actually, there will be some hyped up battles in the Ultra Class to pad things out on TV until the Masters Eight tournament is ready to kick off." Looking to both Kenny and Trip, Reggie said, "Also, I had checked after my call with Ash, one such hyped up Ultra Class battle will be between the two of you."
"Kenny and Trip are slated to battle one another?" Dawn asked, a hint of worry in both her tone and expression. The LAST time that Kenny and Trip battled against one another was during the Manalo Conference back in Alola. Both boys used nothing but big name legendary Pokémon, and the battle was so fierce that Dawn feared it might have ended up wrecking the stadium beyond use.
And now Kenny and Trip were slated to battle one another again, only this time it's in a hyped up Ultra Class battle in the current season of the World Coronation Series, both boys have caught more legendary Pokémon between their last clash and their upcoming one, and given how the people who are running the World Coronation Series actually favor trainers using legendary and mythical Pokémon if they have them, Kenny and Trip will most likely be urged to go all out.
Dawn had every reason to believe that whatever stadium the upcoming Ultra Class battle between Kenny and Trip will not survive the battle.
"Oh, Dawn," Reggie began, "When I told Ash that you and your group here are in Sinnoh, Ash said that it's good because he wants to ask you about something he heard about."
"Ash wants to ask Dawn about something?" Trip asked, "Well when Ash gets here to Sinnoh, most likely with his friend Goh in tow, we can-"
"Actually, Ash is traveling alone for now," Reggie said, "He said his friend Goh had to part ways with him to do some urgent work for Project Mew." Once more, Project Mew came up, and Dawn was now even more suspicious, especially as Goh apparently had to leave traveling with Ash in order to do 'urgent work' for them. Dawn was planning to ask Ash more about it when they met up.
But that could wait until later. Looking to the others, Dawn said, "While we wait for Ash to meet us here in Sinnoh, I say we go to Canalave City."
Roark could tell what Dawn was up to. "You plan to try and help protect my father."
"We also wanna get to the bottom of why he's being targeted," Dawn said, "The theory concerning the precious metal vein found over on Iron Island is valid, but Team Scorn has been known to reject cash making opportunities in favor of less profitable aims before. They truly are an eccentric lot."
The others all nodded in agreement with Dawn, and after settling things the reborn trainers prepped to head out to Canalave City. Paul had ultimately lost his life due to a Team Scorn attack, the cave-in at Oreburgh Mine was revealed to be a Team Scorn scheme, and Team Scorn was fought off when they came to clean up their mess. The heroes also learned that Byron is in danger.
It would seem that Team Scorn is far from done in Sinnoh.
END, CHAPTER TWO-HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO
Author's notes;
This chapter sees Paul ultimately losing his life due to injuries sustained in a Team Scorn attack in Oreburgh City, although in the effort Paul successfully saved the life of a girl he failed to recognize was Maylene, who does grant him some forgiveness for what he did to her before he passed. Also, Ash is coming to Sinnoh as Paul had asked, in the event he died, that his shiny Nidoqueen be given to Ash.
But there's the fact that Team Scorn is involved, and the heroes find out that the cave-in at Oreburgh Mine, with said cave-in being where Maylene's first Lucario died, was NOT a naturally occurring disaster but rather a man-made act carried out via bomb by Team Scorn in a bid to kill Roark's dad Byron, so as to remove him as an obstacle so they can do some work over on Iron Island. Things had just gotten more complicated.
There's also the reborn trainers learning that Ash made it into the Masters Eight, the cutoff point has just been passed meaning no more Entrance Battles in the current season of the World Coronation Series, there will still be some hyped up Ultra Class battles, and one such hyped up Ultra Class battle will see Kenny and Trip duke it out, much to Dawn's worry. The next chapter will see Dawn and the others head off to see Roark's dad Byron, but until then take care.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Tsukune (Palkia), Odin (Arceus), Argent (male Arcanine; alpha; Hisuian), Germany (male Garchomp), Leni (female Lucario)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Cell (male Siczor; shiny), Godzilla (male Tyranitar), Jibanyan (male Skitty; shiny), Hoodini (male Noctowl), Black (Giratina; Origin Forme)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Myde (male Emploeon), Deelia (Dialga), Natalya (female Copperajah), Akibot 966 (Golurk), Alfred (male Marowak; Alolan; totem), Mr. Popo (male Magmortar)
Mina's Pokémon: (on hand) Scar (male Eevee; scared over one eye), Dragonite (male), Gardevoir (male), Espeon (male; shiny), Jolteon (male; shiny), Flareon (male; shiny)