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 eighty-eight: Streaming Show
The Jelly-Filled Donut flew over Paldea's East Province Area Two, in the heart of which laid Levincia, location of the next Paldea gym for Dawn, Kenny, and Trip to challenge. There was also some new Pokémon to look for, but all that the reborn trainers could find was a Pokémon called Flamigo which Trip caught and named Lawn, because it looks like a lawn ornament. With that settled, Dawn led the other reborn trainers, plus Leona, Omiyo, Sho, and Rhyanna, into Levincia.
"So we just need to find where the gym is so that the boys and I can submit challenges to the gym leader," Dawn said as the group walked.
"Oh, I think Brassius said that the gym leader is that Iono girl who is an internet personality and a user of electric Pokémon," Kenny remarked, "He also said something about the Pokémon that Iono will Terastalize will be rather tricky."
As the group walked around, they stopped short when they saw two trainers, a guy and a girl, trade Pokémon at a trading machine that was set up out side. The guy got a Haunter in the trade and it immediately evolved into a Gengar. Pointing at the spectacle of trading, Kenny said, "Now that there feels like justice is being done."
Dawn nodded once in agreement, feeling like Kenny had made an excellent point, and was about to speak up. But before she could get one word out, she was cut off by a girl's voice calling out, "Your eyeballs are MINE- caught in my Electroweb! Whosawhatsit? 'Ello, 'ello, hola! Ciao and bonjour!"
"Alright, who's the person that's going into a seizure?" Sho asked, a dry and mildly unamused look on his face as he and the rest of the group looked around.
The same girl who called out merely chuckled in amusement. "You guys obviously don't subscribe to my streaming channel! That's my slogan that I say at the beginning of every video!" The group was then met up by Iono, who Dawn was able to identify because Geeta provided her a picture of what Iono looks like. Iono was followed by a brown haired boy and a blonde haired girl, both looking to be the same age as Iono; the boy carried a video camera and the girl carried a smartphone.
"The name's Iono," greeted Iono, "Streamer, online video creator, and influencer extraordinaire! Welcome to Levincia!" To Dawn's group, Iono said as she gestured to Dawn, "Anyway, I got it that your group was on its way here to Levincia, Sinnoh Champ! I figured that you guys would like it if the red carpet was rolled out for you!"
"Where is it?" Omiyo asked.
Turning to look at Omiyo, Iono said, "Huh?"
"The red carpet that you mentioned just now," Omiyo said, "You said it'd be rolled out for us, but I don't see any carpet of any color anywhere." Omiyo gave Iono a mildly pouty, mildly annoyed look. "You lied about the carpet."
"Omiyo," Rhyanna began, "Rolling out the red carpet is a phrase some people say to express wishing to give someone a warm welcome. Iono by saying she thought we'd like it if the red carpet was rolled out for us was her way of saying she wanted to personally give our group a warm welcome upon our arrival to Levincia."
Omiyo, turning to look at Rhyanna while looking like she just understood something, said, "...Oh." Iono was about to say something, but the girl with the smartphone told her that viewers found the bit that Omiyo just had to be hilarious, and some even made minor donations because of it. Iono, a look of mild(ly confused) intrigue on her face, decided not to say whatever it was that she was about to say.
"Anyway, I understand that you guys are aiming to challenge me at my gym," Iono said to the group.
"Just me, Kenny, and Trip," Dawn said, "When will be a good time to start?"
Iono looked like she was thinking about it for a moment before she said, "I can start as soon as you all are ready! Freddie can show you to where the gym office building is so you can head there and get directions to the battlefield I use to battle challengers!" The guy holding the video camera then raised a hand and identified himself as Freddie.
Clapping her hands together, Leona said, "Well alright! Just to warn you Iono, my friend Dawn here is as tough as they-"
"Actually," Iono interrupted, "That reminds me!" Turning to Freddie who was still recording everything for the stream, Iono said to the camera, "My loyal viewers, have I got a treat for you! I am going to be streaming all of my battles I'll be having with the members of the crew that the Sinnoh Champion had brought along! What's more is that the big girl herself will be the main event and saved as the last challenger!"
Arching a wry eyebrow, Leona scowled as she said, "Dawn should have battled first."
"I think this is like how back when Dawn, Trip, and I challenged the Galar gyms to earn the Galar gym badges," Kenny whispered to Leona, "All of the gym battles were televised, and Dawn always had to go last because she was the one viewers were most eager to see, so making people wait for Dawn helped to bring in and keep viewers. Iono is obviously running on a similar mindset."
Iono then ended the stream while telling her viewers to stay tuned, then when things were done she told the heroes that she had to get ready for battling either Kenny or Trip, whichever one between them would challenge her first. Then the one between the two boys who didn't go first would get to go second, then Dawn would go last.
Dawn figured having the boys go before her would give her a chance to scope out what Iono's party, as well as challenges to her gym, were like. The extra information wouldn't hurt. As such, the group went to the nearest Pokémon Center so the reborn trainers could do some party rotations, based on Iono being an electric Pokémon user.
When the preparations were all complete, they went back to the gym office building, found Freddie, and had him lead them over to the battlefield.
When the group arrived, they saw Iono talking to the girl with the smartphone. "So yeah, Sam," Iono said to the girl with the smartphone, "I'm still a little annoyed that the one girl who is with the Sinnoh Champ obviously had no idea what I was talking about, but if the viewers enjoy the little bits that she does, then I say let it continue!"
"Well it's nice to hear you're accommodating towards special needs persons," Dawn called out, making both Iono and the now identified Sam turn to face Dawn's group.
Looking mildly confused, Iono said, "Special needs?"
Pointing to Omiyo, Rhyanna said, "I think Dawn's talking about how Omiyo here has autism."
Sam, her eyes widening a bit, said, "That... would explain her not understanding the saying that we used earlier."
"Aww geez!" Iono said, clearly looking an even mix of apologetic and panicked, "I almost scolded a special needs person for not understanding a saying we were using! And on live stream too!"
"Just... don't make a big deal out of it," Omiyo said, looking a bit flustered.
Nodding once, Iono replied, "Got it! Far be it from me to make you uncomfortable on purpose." Turning to look at Dawn, Kenny, and Trip, Iono asked, "So who between the two boys with the Sinnoh Champion will I be battling first?"
Stepping forward, Kenny with a raised hand said, "I shall face you in battle, and it shall be a battle of persons who are big on the internet!"
Looking like she just realized something, Iono said, "Oh! Now I recognize you! You're Kenny Harris of Kenny Harris Studios! You're the brilliant mind behind all of those movies!" To Dawn and Trip, Iono went on, "And you guys were in his movies a lot!"
Nodding once, Dawn said, "Yeah, Kenny got into the film making industry, apparently."
"Oh Dawn, while you're here, I wanna ask," Iono began, "What sort of dieting and exercising do you do to go back and forth really quickly between being really fat and really thin?"
"None, Dawn uses a fat suit for all of her roles in Kenny Harris Studios movies where she plays a fat character," Mina said.
Iono, with a shocked look of stunned surprise on her face, said, "...Oh."
Kenny, after he pulled out a small pad and a pen, flipped the pad open and wrote something while saying, "And Iono joins the list."
Kenny then put his pad and pen away before walking to his place on the battlefield, with Iono going to hers. After both persons were in place, Sam proceeded to take a position on the side of the battlefield to serve as a referee. "Hey, is your friend going to be the referee for this battle?" Rhyanna asked, "Is she even allowed?"
"She's actually legally qualified to serve as a referee for official Paldea league gym battles," Freddie spoke up, "But only works as such for Iono, and only when the actual gym referee isn't available."
Nodding once, Iono said, "My gym's official referee was a guy named Takuya, but he resigned from his position shortly after his fiance was killed in an accident in Mesagoza. It's very sad what all had happened there. I have no idea what became of Takuya, but Miss Geeta told me to not worry about it and she'll inform me when a new official gym referee is available. Until then, I'm paying Sam a bonus to the work she does for me to help keep my streaming channel going because she's serving double duty as referee as well."
Dawn and the others were surprised to hear that Iono's previous official gym referee, apparently a guy named Takuya, resigned from his position following the accidental death of his fiance over in Mesagoza. Dawn hoped that things would get better for Takuya, but that had to be put to the side for now as the battle between Kenny and Iono was about to get underway.
"This battle is an official challenge to the Levincia gym between the gym leader Iono and the challenger Kenny Harris," Sam called out, "Each trainer may use up to four Pokémon, one at a time, and the last trainer with any Pokémon still able to battle by the time the battle ends will be declared the winner! Additionally, only the challenger can substitute Pokémon at any time! Now then!" Sam threw a hand into the air as she called out, "Begin!"
"Go, Wattrel!" Iono said as she sent out a Wattrel.
"Okay, Elay!" Kenny said as he sent out his shiny Kantonian Sandslash, "Let's make it cringe!" As the battle started, Dawn took note of how Freddie was filming everything right before Sam made the pre-battle announcements.
"Ooooooh!" Iono said, "You're starting off with an incredibly rare shiny Pokémon! That's bound to make some heads turn!" Gesturing forward, Iono said, "Wattrel, use Pluck!"
"Elay, use Rapid Spin!" Kenny called out.
Wattrel flew in at the Legendary Elay, aiming to pluck at it. But the named shiny Kantonian Sandslash, wise in the workings of de wae, struck Wattrel away while spinning really fast, sending the little electric bird away and making it hit the ground and skid for a bit before it came to a stop. When it stopped, it was clear to everyone that Wattrel had been defeated.
"Wattrel is unable to battle," Sam announced, "The winner is Sandslash!"
Iono recalled her fainted Wattrel before tossing up another Pokéball and calling out, "Go, Bellibolt!" Iono's next Pokémon was a Bellibolt. Pointing forward, Iono said, "Bellibolt, use Water Gun!"
"Elay, use Earthquake!" Kenny commanded.
Elay proceeded to trigger a massive quake that shook the battlefield with seismic waves, with said waves slamming into Bellibolt as it tried to use Water Gun. Unfortunately for Bellibolt, the damage was too much and it ended up going down in battle. "Bellibolt is unable to battle," Sam announced, "The winner is Sandslash!"
Iono recalled her fainted Bellibolt as Dawn's group who watched at the side of the battlefield cheered. Iono tossed up another Pokéball while calling out, "Go, Luxio!" After her third Pokémon, Luxio, came out to battle, Iono said, "Luxio, use Bite!"
"Elay, use Earthquake!" Kenny ordered.
The same song and dance that was done with Bellibolt was repeated with Luxio, and it achieved the same result but with Luxio going down in battle instead of a Bellibolt. "Luxio is unable to battle," Sam called out, "The winner is Sandslash!"
Iono recalled her fainted Luxio before tossing up the Pokéball that held her fourth and final Pokémon. "Go, Mismagius!" Kenny, as well as the watching group, were a bit surprised by what Iono went out as her final Pokémon. But Dawn after she and the others saw Iono Terastalize Mismagius into electric tera type saw what she was getting at; Mismagius has the Levitate ability, and that combined with being pure electric type which electric tera type made Mismagius to be meant that Mismagius had no weakness.
Kenny obviously saw this, so he swapped Elay out while saying, "Elay, return! Okay, Moista Fista, let's make it cringe!" After the swap out, Kenny had his named Ursaluna out in battle.
Iono, when she saw Moista Fista, looked confused. "That is a Pokémon I have never seen before."
"Moista Fista here is my Ursaluna," Kenny explained, "It's an evolved Ursaring fro-"
"Oh, it evolves from Ursaring!" Iono interrupted, looking confident that she had everything figured out, "That means it's a normal type! I got this!" Pointing forward, Iono called out, "Mismagius, use Charge Beam!"
Rolling his eyes, Kenny said, "Moista Fista, use Fire Punch." Kenny wasn't even going to bother with Terastalizing Moista Fista, he just had the named Ursaluna charge right in. To the surprise of Iono, the Charge Beam did nothing as it hit Moista Fista, who got in close to Mismagius and struck it down with Fire Punch, striking with such force that it was knocked out of both its Terastalization and the battle.
Raising a hand as the defeated Mismagius laid on the battlefield, Sam called out, "Mismagius is unable to battle! The winner is Ursaluna! Victory of this battle goes to the challenger, Kenny Harris!"
"Huh..." Iono said, clearly stunned, "...Wuh... buhwha..."
After recalling Moista Fista, Kenny as he walked up to Iono said, "The Ursaluna species is dual normal ground type. I tried to explain that to you, but you cut me off before I could."
"Wait, normal ground type?" Iono said, brought back to reality and looking a bit annoyed by what she was just told, "That's-"
"Iono, you're still live on stream," Freddie called out.
Stopping short, Iono said, "...Alright." Iono straightened herself out and then fished out an Electric Badge for Kenny. Iono then said that her Pokémon needed to be rested and healed before she can take the challenge from Trip. The heroes agreed, and after the stream was ended, Iono let out a very tired breath, practically collapsing onto her knees.
"Woowee, big streams always take a lot out of me I swear," Iono said, sounding tired with a hint of dazed-like tone.
...
It turned out that Iono was going to complain that Ursaluna being dual normal ground type meant that her Mismagius was incapable of damaging it with attacks, its only attacking moves being Charge Beam and Hex; an electric and ghost type attack respectively. Kenny countered that by saying having Mismagius Terastalize into an electric type while retaining its Levitate ability was just as if not even more unfair as that meant Iono had a Pokémon with no weakness.
As Iono's Pokémon were being rested, the heroes were surprised when Omiyo said she wanted to ask Iono something. When informed of how the girl that had amused some of her viewers while live on stream was wanting to ask her something, Iono decided to humor her. As such, Iono as well as the rest of Dawn's group there were surprised by the question that Omiyo had ended up posing to Iono, especially given how serious Omiyo was when she asked.
"Where did you get your Bellibolt from?" Omiyo asked, "I wanna know so I can go there and find one to catch for myself." It turned out that Omiyo wanted her own Bellibolt, and when asked Omiyo said it was because she found Bellibolt to be really cute, how it looked like a happy Pokémon that looked all jiggly and squishy and huggable and friend-shaped. That was how Omiyo described it, those are the actual words she said when describing Bellibolt.
"Trip has one now," Omiyo said, "And Dawn told me this one Team Scorn Captain she and Mina had battled at the Team Star base we were at recently has one, and now I see Iono has one. I want to get a Bellibolt of my own now."
Grinning in amusement, Iono said, "I can't blame you! Bellibolts really are adorably squishy and stuff!" Iono then explained that she caught her Bellibolt as a Tadbulb in the area directly south of Levincia, then evolved it with a Thunder Stone. Omiyo nodded once in understanding before she made an immediate move to go straight to where Iono told her to find a Tadbulb, only to be stopped by Dawn who said someone ought to accompany Omiyo.
The duo of Dawn and Sho ended up accompanying Omiyo in her search for a Tadbulb directly south of Levincia. It didn't take too long for the search to pay off, Dawn estimated it took ten minutes tops, until their group found a Tadbulb near some water. However, Dawn noted that the Tadbulb that Omiyo had found and subsequently caught turned out to be a shiny, as it sparkled when Omiyo had called it out in front of everyone when she, Dawn, and Sho got back to Levincia.
Later that evening, after Trip had his battle with Iono and won thus earning the Electric Badge, Omiyo showed her shiny Tadbulb to Iono. "Ooh! You got a shiny Tadbulb!" Iono said in amazement, "That's so lucky! Do you know how rare shiny Pokémon are?" At Iono's request, Sam used her smartphone to pull up a picture of what shiny Bellibolt looks like, and it was mostly bright yellow. Omiyo remarked that shiny Bellibolt looked like a really big lemon drop candy.
Iono, chuckling in amusement, agreed. Dawn offered Omiyo a Thunder Stone when she was ready to evolve her Tadbulb, which she accepted and evolved Tadbulb into Bellibolt right away. When Sho said she should have waited to evolve Tadbulb until after it was trained a bit and learned some decent moves first, Omiyo countered that by saying that she wasn't a trainer who regularly got into battles at a competitive level, she only kept Pokémon as companions and friends.
Due to the time, Dawn and her group retired to The Jelly-Filled Donut for the evening but returned to Levincia the following morning. There, Dawn had her gym battle against Iono and won, earning the Electric Badge in the process. Dawn used her named Rampardos Souji to sweep Iono's entire team, knocking all of them out with super effective attacks. Iono's combo of Electric Tera Mismagius with Levitate was foiled by Dawn's named Rampardos having Mold Breaker and using Earthquake.
With Dawn, Kenny, and Trip now all sitting at three Paldea gym badges each, their next destination for challenging the gyms of Paldea would be Cascarrafa, where the gym leader Kofu waited. Dawn had it that Kofu is one of the culinary masters who Rimu's late older sister Allison wanted to meet, so she planned to ask him if he remembered Rimu seeking him out. Dawn also had it that Kofu is a user of water type Pokémon, so she, Trip, and Kenny had to keep that in mind.
When Iono got it that Dawn and her crew would be heading to Cascarrafa next in their quest to earn the gym badges of Paldea, she told them that Kofu is a well respected figure in the Cascarrafa community, as well as an outstanding chef who has published at least one cookbook as far as she was aware. Dawn explained that she and the others knew already about Kofu being a chef, and that was part of the reason why they were going to seek him out.
Iono instantly sensed that there was a juicy secret behind Dawn and her crew already knowing about Kofu being a chef and that being behind the reason they were going to seek him out. But Iono when she asked for details was politely told that it was a private, personal matter involving a friend and that the topic was rather sensitive, so it can't be disclosed. Iono could tell that it wouldn't be good of her to push, so she respectfully let the matter be.
As Iono's and Dawn's respective Pokémon were resting after Dawn's victory against Iono, the internet personality while accompanied by Freddie walked up to Dawn and the crew that was with her. Iono even made it a point to point out that this talk she wanted to have was going to be off camera. "You're not going to try to push for details about why Kofu being a chef is behind part of the reason we're gonna look for him in Cascarrafa, are you?" Mina asked.
Gently shaking her head, Iono replied, "No, I can tell when something's too sensitive to try and dig at. I was actually planning to ask you about... well, a few things actually."
Dawn's interest was piqued. "Go on."
"Well first off," Iono began, "Some of the people who watch my streams are for some reason or another now under the impression that I'm going to be having a role in a future Kenny Harris Studios movie. How do I tell them that won't be likely?"
Kenny was about to speak up, but Mina stopped him short. "Actually, it may be a good idea to have Iono here play at least a bit role," Mina said, "She is, after all, a popular internet personality. It may do some good for bringing in traffic to the Kenny Harris Studios website and fan site."
Turning to look at Iono, Kenny remarked, "...There's currently no film in production at Kenny Harris Studios right now. But if I can get contact info from you, I can let you know when the next film will go into production. I can't promise that you'll get a big leading role, but you can be fit in."
Nodding once, Iono said, "That's fair. I'd also like it if I can do some interviews of the usual cast members for the movies you make, put those interviews into future streams. I particularly want to interview that Paul guy who played the leading role in Paul's Privates. That's my favorite Kenny Harris Studios movie, and that character is my favorite character in that movie!"
Dawn, Kenny, Trip, and Mina all looked an even mix of regretful and unsure. Instantly sensing that something was off, Iono asked, "What's wrong? Is interviewing Paul not possible?"
"Paul... actually died a short while ago," Dawn said, drawing a shocked and mildly upset look out of Iono, "He was killed in a Team Scorn attack on Oreburgh City, Sinnoh, when he shoved a girl out of the way of some manner of danger that hit him instead. He died saving that girl from taking that terrible hit."
Looking sad, Iono said, "Aww, I really liked Paul in the Kenny Harris Studios movies. I also got it he played Paulgeta in Poké Sphere P, he was my favorite character in that movie." Looking up from the ground back to Dawn's group, Iono asked, "Can I at least interview that Katsuku guy who played one of the detectives in the Inheritance by death movie? He's my favorite character in that movie."
"Katsuku... is also dead," Trip said, drawing more of a shocked look out of Iono as well as some surprised shock from Freddie, "Yeah, he was shot in the chest by a Team Scorn member during the attack on the first Manalo Conference in the Alola region.
"Oh my goodness!" Iono exclaimed, "Why are all of the actors playing the good characters being killed?! Is the guy who played A pimp named Kenny in Cinder-Chloe still alive? He's my favorite character from that movie!"
Holding up a hand, Kenny said, "I'm the one who played A pimp named Kenny in that movie."
"Ooh, I gotta do an interview with you for a future stream!" Iono said, perking up a bit but not much.
Holding his hands up at shoulder level with the palms facing forward in a hold your horses kind of gesture, Kenny said, "We can discuss that at a time when production for the next Kenny Harris Studios movie is in progress. Additionally, it'd be nice if you refrained from going on about how Paul and Katsuku had been killed. It'd be respectful towards their families if you left the matter be."
Nodding a few times in agreement, Iono said, "That's fair. Far be it from me to knowingly trample on the wishes of grieving families." Gesturing to the heroes, Iono went on, "And since Team Scorn was brought up, that brings me to my second point."
"Team Scorn relates to your second point?" Dawn asked, a bit apprehensive on where this might end up heading to.
"Would it be alright if we do a stream where I interview you guys about your experiences fighting Team Scorn?" Iono asked, "Especially with some points from how you're fighting members of Team Scorn here in the Paldea region."
"Our work against Team Scorn here in Paldea is actually off limits," Dawn began to explain, "Given the one time we've fought Team Scorn here in Paldea relates to official work we're doing in tandem with Paldea's Top Champion." Dawn also didn't want to reveal how she suspects said work might be connected to what she suspects is the (very) poorly handled purging of Team Star.
Iono looked surprised by that. "La Primera says that work is top secret?"
"La Primera?" Kenny repeated in a confused manner.
Nodding once, Iono said, "That's one of the names that Geeta is known by."
"La Primera sounds like a name that the person who has it thinks themselves to be the cream of the crop," Kenny said, sounding to be just a shade judgmental.
Shrugging, Iono went on, "I actually kinda sorta feel the same. I mean, Geeta only the highest ranked Champion, and being the highest ranked Champion in Paldea doesn't equal to being the strongest Champion in Paldea. Nemona is stronger than Geeta, and Rimu is stronger than Nemona." Arching a wry eyebrow at the heroes, Iono said, "You guys didn't hear this from me, but the there's consensus among the gym leaders of Paldea, as well as some of Paldea's elite four, that Geeta had messed up real bad in handling the Team Star situation."
Dawn was wanting to tell Iono just how accurate said statement was, given that she had seen visible proof that the (very) poor handling of dealing with Team Star had seen at least one member of the group of what were nothing more than mere school delinquents join Team Scorn, becoming a full fledged criminal in the process.
But given the twin factors of Dawn having a lack of sufficient tangible proof that Geeta had messed up really bad in properly handling the Team Star situation, and the work in clearing the Team Star bases being official work done in tandem with Paldean authorities, Dawn had to keep her mouth shut on the matter. For now at least. Nodding once to Iono, Dawn said, "That's a rather bold theory for you guys to draw."
Iono nodded in agreement before she said, "Anyway, I gotta go get ready for a stream where I advertise a product made by a sponsor. The life of a girl such as myself is a busy one." Iono then turned around and walked off, with Freddie turning around to follow her to remind her that she has to pick her Pokémon up from the Pokémon Center after their treatment is done.
After Iono and Freddie were gone, Kenny said, "Wow, even a lot of Geeta's underlings in the Paldean Pokémon League are suspicious of Geeta's handling of the Team Star situation. If only some of them knew the exact extent of just how badly Geeta had messed up."
"Even we don't know the exact extent, given that we've only cleared one base so far," Dawn replied, "Although I get the feeling that we'll gather more evidence showing that the situation hadn't been properly handled." Dawn's group nodded in understanding before they all made their way back into the local Pokémon Center to wait until Dawn's Pokémon finished treatment before heading on back to The Jelly-Filled Donut.
Later back at The Jelly-Filled Donut, Dawn was checking things out in the cargo hold with Mina, Leona, Omiyo, and Rhyanna. "Ah, here it is," Dawn said as she found the large sack of Gimmighoul Coins that was recovered at the first Team Star base that she and the others had helped to clear away, "The big ol' sack of Gimmighoul Coins."
"Omiyo here actually counted all of the coins out and confirmed there's nine-hundred and ninety-nine Gimmighoul Coins in that sack," Rhyanna remarked, drawing an affirmative nod out of Omiyo.
Dawn took out one of the Pokéballs that held one of her one hand Pokémon and tossed it up, calling out her named Gimmighoul Money Bin in the process. "Well since I have Money Bin here on hand," Dawn began, "We can try to figure out how the Gimmighoul Coins work with-"
"Ghoul!" Money Bin cried out in excited happiness as it saw the large sack of Gimmighoul Coins. It seemed to be able to tell that it was full of Gimmighoul Coins despite being closed up and not see through. Money Bin then inched itself forward as quickly as possible towards the sack and, upon getting right up next to it, reached out and touched the sack.
To the surprise of the girls, this triggered Money Bin to evolve, its form glowing a bright, brilliant white as its form shifted and grew as the sack seemed to deplete. When the growing and shifting was done and the sack was rendered wholly empty, Money Bin had finished evolving into what Dawn was able to, thanks to Jacq's notes, identify as a Ghouldengo.
"...Well, that also works to explain the connection between Gimmighoul and the coins named after its species," Mina remarked dryly.
Nodding once in agreement, Dawn said, "Yeah, I suppose it does." The named Ghouldengo was then seen dancing as if it were at a dance club, gesturing to the girls to join it in partying. "Money Bin as a Ghouldengo seems friendly enough," Dawn remarked.
Rhyanna was about to speak up, but was cut off when John came down into the cargo hold. "Ah, there you girls are," John said. Spotting Money Bin, John pointed at it and asked, "What Pokémon is that supposed to be?"
"It's Dawn's Ghouldengo," Omiyo said, "It evolved from Gimmighoul."
Nodding once in understanding, John said, "Alright, fair enough. Anyway, Geeta is calling Dawn to discuss tackling the dismantling of the next Team Star base." Dawn, her interest piqued, called back Money Bin before she and the girls left the cargo hold with John to go see what Geeta wanted in regards to the second Team Star base to be taken down.
...
The reborn trainers all went into the meeting room, where the large monitor screen, for a second time so far, showed Geeta talking to them live in a video phone call as everyone sat at the meeting table in the room. "What's the stitch, Zordon?" Kenny asked as he and the others looked up at the face of Paldea's Top Champion.
"I got it that you Kenny, as well as Dawn and Trip, had successfully earned badges from Iono's gym in Levincia," Geeta began, "Is that true?"
Nodding once, Dawn replied, "It is. We were just about to try contacting you to ask about if things for tackling the clearing of the next Team Star base is ready." Giving a knowing look, Dawn asked, "I take it things there are ready?"
"They are ready, yes," Geeta replied, "But it is too late in the day to try handling that business now. We'll tackle it first thing tomorrow morning. I'll send the coordinates of the abandoned base to you now so you know where to go."
A map of Paldea then appeared on screen, with one bit of area located fairly close to Levincia was glowing red. "The red glowing area is where the second Team Star base can be found," Geeta's voice said, "Think you guys can find your way there?"
"...It looks to be a hop, skip, and jump from where we're at right now," Dawn said, "What time in the morning should we swing by?"
"The portion that I will be leading will be there by eight in the morning sharp," Geeta replied, "I will be bringing some extra trainers along, in addition to a group similar to what was at the previous base clean up, in case Team Scorn tries attacking while we're there."
Nodding once, Dawn replied, "That's fair." There was a precedent established, given what all had happened last time.
After the coordinates were noted, the map of Paldea disappeared and Geeta showed back up. "It is my hope that we can clear away not only Team Star's influence here in Paldea, but also that of Team Scorn," Geeta said, her tone and expression brokering no quarter, "The influence of both groups have got to be removed in full."
"Hey yo," Mina began, "I need to ask-" Mina was cut off when Geeta suddenly ended the call, clearly expecting the heroes to just follow along with what she was asking once again. "...Well you can just munch my butt, Geeta," Mina said in a casual tone under her breath, ticked off to have seen Geeta bail on answering questions a second time.
Dawn, getting up from the meeting table, said, "Well guys, let's inform the crew that we got a big day ahead of us tomorrow. We're gonna need our strength for it, so I say we retire for the evening as soon as we can." The other reborn trainers all nodded in agreement before they all got up from the meeting table to go inform the rest of the crew that the clearing of the second Team Star base was going to be taken care of first thing tomorrow morning.
The reborn trainers were now more suspicious of the Team Star situation. They saw tangible proof that Team Scorn was trying to scoop up what was left behind by the busting of Team Star, given a known Team Star member was now in Team Scorn, and Team Scorn had attacked one Team Star base so far.
Dawn figured that more evidence needed to be gathered first, but she also had a gut feeling that the Team Star mess could have been made significantly easier to deal with, if not done away with entirely, if those who were handling things had bothered to look into things properly and do right by the real victims.
END, CHAPTER TWO-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-EIGHT
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the reborn trainers and the rest of their crew get to Levincia where, after Omiyo accuses Iono of being a liar, the streamer has battles with Kenny, Trip, and Dawn in that order. The three reborn trainers successfully earn badges from Iono's gym, and there was even talks about a bit of a colab between Iono's streaming and Kenny Harris Studios.
After that, the crew of The Jelly-Filled Donut is contacted by Geeta, who informs them that things are ready to check out the second Team Star base for purposes of clearing it away. Geeta also says that she's bringing additional help in case Team Scorn tries something like they did last time. There will be more progress in the Team Star shenanigans next time, but until then take care.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Tsukune (Palkia), Benimaru (male Crocalor), Money Bin (Ghouldengo), Souji (male Rampardos), Argent (male Arcanine; alpha; Hisuian)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Elay (male Sandslash; Kantonian; shiny), Moista Fista (male Ursaluna), Black (Giratina; Origin Forme), Panther (female Floragato), King Julian (male Shroodle)
Trip's Pokémon: (on hand) Myde (male Empoleon), Mr. Popo (male Magmortar), Alfred (male Marowak; Alolan; Totem), Deelia (Dialga), Launchpad (male Quaxly), Mike (male Pawmo)
Mina's Pokémon: (on hand) Scar (male Eevee; scared over one eye), Dragonite (male), Gardevoir (male), Umbreon (male; shiny), Espeon (male; shiny), Flareon (male; shiny)