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-seven: Segin Struggles
Over in the Orange Islands, Ideku Badorigo was having his on-hand team of Pokémon rest after doing some general exercise. He was grateful that the town he lived in was a bit secluded, a bit out of the way. And among the residencies in said town, his own home was particularly secluded. It had afforded Ideku the secrecy that he's wanting. Ideku in truth being Pariah, the ultimate Boss of Team Scorn, was only one of the reasons he wanted said secrecy.
As Ideku was feeding his Pokémon, his girlfriend Ayane, in her current public persona disguise, was standing by watching. "I got it that Dawn Berlitz and her companions are in the area of one of the long abandoned Team Star bases in Paldea," Ayane said when Ideku walked over to talk to her.
"Oh?" Ideku replied.
Nodding once in the affirmative, Ayane went on, "I got it that she and her group were asked by the Top Champion of Paldea to help with clearing out what all Team Star had left behind after they had been purged on the Top Champion's authority."
"Admin Slime got me the full story," Ideku said, "A spoiled brat rich legacy child who attends Naranja Academy as a student is one of the school's most notorious bullies, but her wealth and connections allow her to constantly get away scot-free with her misdeeds. Team Star was formed by, and was made up of, many of the victims of the spoiled brat rich legacy child and said brat's fellow bullies at Naranja Academy. Team Star had been formed primarily as a means for bullying victims to rally the troops against their oppressors."
Ayane's gaze narrowed. "...And yet it had been Team Star who was purged. And by the authority of a legal power in the Paldea region."
"The ringleader of all of the bullying going on at Naranja Academy cried Lycanroc and painted herself and her cronies as the victims," Ideku said, "Not helping the REAL bullying victims is the fact that the wealthy elite had basically bought Paldea thus their word in the region is essentially law. It was not difficult, given the connections said bully has, to sic the governing power of the region on her victims solely because she didn't like that they tried fighting back."
"And after the organized group of bullying victims at Naranja Academy was beaten down by legal powers and broken up, things at Naranja Academy resumed," Ayane remarked, the hint of dryness in her tone making it clear she could see where this was going.
Ideku nodded once in confirmation. "The ringleader bully's party is the real power that runs Paldea, her parents and their likeminded fellows. If things there are left alone, then Paldea will eventually collapse in on itself, unable to function due to its cruel, self-centered, incompetent leadership."
"The plan will just speed up the process of Paldea being cast into oblivion," Ayane spoke up.
Ideku gave an affirmative nod. "Those who had suffered at the hands of the cruel people who had decided to make themselves Paldea's lords WILL bring said would-be lords to justice. It just won't be Team Star leading the charge is all."
Ayane gave a single nod herself. "Although some former Team Star members have joined Team Scorn since a spoiled brat tattled on them."
Smirking in amusement, Ideku said, "True. But those who were once in Team Star are FAR from the only persons in Paldea who had suffered due to the actions of Paldea's would-be lords."
Over in the Paldea region, The Jelly-Filled Donut was parked inside of a section of area fenced off to serve as a base of some kind. Most of the crew of The Jelly-Filled Donut, along with various other persons who had all been called in, were getting started on taking everything down. Geeta, the Top Champion of Paldea, was supervising everything.
"Hey Dawn," Trip said as he and the other reborn trainers, plus Rhyanna, Sho, Leona, and Omiyo, all went into a large set up shack of some kind, "Why did you have the adults stay behind on the flying ship?"
"To stand guard," Dawn replied, "For some odd reason, a few students of Naranja Academy are here to watch everyone take down this Team Star base. Every student in question, according to Geeta, is the child of various very wealthy and influential business persons here in Paldea. Anyway, all of the rich kids tried boarding The Jelly-Filled Donut the moment it landed and the drawbridge came out."
"I'm guessing you don't want them on your ship, boss," Sho remarked.
Dawn nodded once in the affirmative. "The Jelly-Filled Donut is basically our residency. Who is okay with people barging into their homes uninvited?"
Omiyo shuddered. "I don't like the idea of strangers barging into where we live without invitation. The very idea of someone invading my private personal space like that scares me."
The group reached the big tent thing that was set up. Sho and Rhyanna held the flaps aside to let the reborn trainers plus Leona and Omiyo walk in before heading in themselves. It was a bit dark inside, so Mina called her shiny Umbreon out and had it make the lines on its body glow, providing a source of illumination so everyone could see. To their surprise, there was a large modified hotrod inside of the large tent shed thing.
"Yeah, I'm keeping Launchpad away from that," Trip said dryly.
Sho took a quick look at the hotrod, even saw the hood was missing thus revealing there was no engine inside. "...I'm pretty sure this thing isn't operable due to lack of an engine."
"I'm still keeping Launchpad away from it," Trip said dryly.
As the group aside from Dawn, Leona, and Omiyo checked out the abandoned hotrod, Dawn with Leona and Omiyo following her looked around the area as a whole. As such, in a back corner it was Dawn who found a table with a chair by it. The table was a large folding table, not unlike what she remembered seeing set up in card shops back in her previous life. The chair was a metal folding chair, albeit one with a soft padded seat.
It was clear that the table and chair were meant to be a desk setup. Laying on the table were a personal journal, a pen, and a small circular metal symbol. Dawn picked the symbol up, examined it. It was comparable to the Paldean gym badges in terms of size. The symbols on the Paldean gym badges that Dawn had thus far represented the bug and grass types respectively, but the symbol on this badge represented the dark type.
Intrigued, Dawn pocketed the mysterious badge, right as Leona said, "Oh, umm, wow." Leona's tone made it clear to Dawn that she just observed something rather concerning. Turning to look, Dawn saw that Leona had picked up the journal and was reading some of it. "This journal gives a rather detailed first hand account citing that the rich legacy kids who attend Naranja Academy are the real troublemakers," Leona said, "Not Team Star."
"What?" Dawn remarked.
Leona handed the journal to Dawn, who proceeded to read the main entry on the page that the journal was open to when Leona handed it over. The journal owner, apparently a boy by the name of Giacomo, went on about how a Naranja Academy teacher he had a lot of respect for, a recently hired woman named Ichimichi, had been fired from her position despite how Giacomo felt that she had done nothing wrong, something a very good chunk of Naranja Academy's student population would agree with him on.
Giacomo in his journal there also went on to cite how Ichimichi's firing from Naranja Academy just so happened to occur the day after she had given an after school detention to one of the students who is one of the spoiled brat rich legacy kids that attends the school. Giacomo saw what said rich kid had done to earn the after school detention, blatantly insult a very overweight female student who looked inclined to academics ("A nerdy fat girl," Kenny surmised) to the point said girl cried. Giacomo had felt that Ichimichi's actions were wholly and completely justified.
After word of Ichimichi's firing came out and spread throughout the school, many of the good students were very much unamused with it, although Giacomo noticed how the rich student that Ichimichi had given the after school detention to was nothing but smiles. The spoiled brat had even laughed about it, right before said spoiled brat went right on back to bullying the overweight girl who was academically inclined. This incident, Giacomo in his journal said, made him disillusioned with how things at Naranja Academy were ran.
Shortly after the incident involving Ichimichi's firing from Naranja Academy, Giacomo was contacted by a mysterious person going by Cassiopeia, who said they were the top leader of a group called Team Star. Team Star, according to Cassiopeia, is a group of Naranja Academy students who are being drawn together so they could band together to fight back against the spoiled brat rich legacy students, who are not only all bullies, but are actually being allowed by the school to get away with their misdeeds scot-free.
Giacomo, intrigued by the offer that Cassiopeia was making, combined with how disillusioned he had become with Naranja Academy due to the corruption being allowed to run it (Ichimichi's firing according to Giacomo was actually the straw that broke the Camerupt's back) despite the fact that Giacomo was actually regarded as one of the school's best students, accepted and ended up as a member of Team Star, even eventually getting bumped up to the position of Boss of the Segin base, where Giacomo remained.
Dawn eventually read the last entry in the journal, which went over a rumor Giacomo heard about one of the spoiled brat rich legacy students pulling strings to sic pretty much every authority in the Paldea region that she could rally on Team Star to bring them down, as Team Star's presence was actually preventing the bullies of Naranja Academy from acting as they wished. Giacomo dismissed the rumor as nothing more than that; he even felt it was fake and that the rich kids were trying to psyche Team Star out into yielding.
Closing the journal, Dawn remarked to her group, "Well now. This is a rather detailed first hand account of what all student life at Naranja Academy is like." Dawn, feeling like it may be relevant, decided to keep Giacomo's journal.
"I had a sinking feeling that those rich kids couldn't be trusted," Leona said, her tone and expression making it clear she not only was suspicious but felt that her being suspicious had just been proven to be justified.
"That journal's very existence can cast doubt on Team Star being the guilty party here," Omiyo said, "Imagine if enough of such evidence is compiled and presented in a way that the damage it can do just can't be undone. The rich kids acting like the own the place will be roasted in the news."
"As would Naranja Academy," Dawn remarked, "That being said, no-one say anything about the journal that we got here." Folding her arms over her chest, Dawn went on, "I say that it may be worth looking into to try and gather enough evidence to get the right eyes turned to the darker goings on of Naranja Academy."
Omiyo, looking like she was looking at something, pointed to under the folding table and said, "Look, there's a big bag under the table." Everyone else turned to look, and sure enough there was a rather big drawstring sack under the folding table. Kenny who was called over went over to pull it out from under the folding table but was surprised by how much it weighed. It wasn't super heavy, he could still manage it, he just wasn't expecting the sack to weigh as much as it did.
It also felt to Kenny like whatever filled the sack was metallic, and Dawn was the first to note that there were sounds of shifting loose change coming from the sack. Opening it, the group saw loads of small golden coins. Checking the badge that was found laying on the folding table, Dawn saw it that the coins, whatever they were, were NOT used as the base for crafting more badges like the one Dawn took from the folding table.
"Oh," Rhyanna said as she saw one of the coins after she and the others came over, "Those look like the coins in the chest that one new Pokémon of Dawn's lives in."
"You mean her Gimmighoul?" Mina asked.
Nodding once, Rhyanna went on, "I think those coins may be related to the Gimmighoul species. I say that we take the sack of coins back with us."
Dawn was getting a feeling that Rhyanna had the right idea. "Alright, let's take what all we found here back to The Jelly-Filled Donut, stow it away, and then get back to helping with taking everything at this Team Star base down. Regardless of emerging evidence lending credence to the idea that some of their actions may have some valid reasoning behind them, Team Star was still a threat that had to be dealt with and cleaned up."
The others all nodded in agreement and, with Kenny taking the big sack of Gimmighoul Coins and Sho taking both the folding table and folding chair (both were still in relatively good condition and could be used by the crew) after folding them up, the group left the big tent thing, with Mina having her Umbreon stop glowing before she recalled it.
Dawn and her party went back to The Jelly-Filled Donut, but upon getting close enough they saw Mitch, with his shiny Dedenne Den sitting on his right shoulder, standing on the ground in front of the drawbridge which was still out and the end on the ground to let people board the flying ship. Heath stood at the top of the drawbridge to further block it off. A group of three Naranja Academy students, all of them giving off the air of being wealthy spoiled brats, were standing right in front of Mitch, looking to try to get on.
"I am sorry, but Mitch had been given orders by Champion Dawn to not let any persons that were not given permission to do so to board the ship," Mitch said to the students.
"We do have permission, actually," said the student leading the trio, a girl with long wavy blonde hair and light cocoa skin.
"And who is it that gave you permission?" Mitch asked.
Gesturing to herself, the girl said, "I gave myself permission. Now stand aside you bald oaf, my friends here and I want to check out the flying ship!"
Mitch, an eyebrow arched, said, "Mitch feels that you giving yourself permission to board does not count."
"You're right about that, Mitch," Dawn called out, making everyone turn to face Dawn. Looking at the three Naranja Academy students, Dawn said with an unamused expression, "It still baffles me that you three, who are essentially civilians, are allowed to come onto what was the base of a dangerous group to watch everything being taken down. If I were the one calling the shots there, I'd of told you three no. This is serious work, NOT a show."
Gesturing to herself, the girl said, "Hey, those Team Star clowns were dangerous delinquent bullies who terrorized all of the rest of the student body of Naranja Academy. Can you blame my friends and I for wanting to laugh as all of Team Star's work is dismantled?"
Considering what Dawn, Leona, and Omiyo learned from Giacomo's Journal (Dawn planned to tell the rest of the crew the details later), Dawn was seriously doubting the girl student's claims that Team Star were the bad guys. "You three move to the side and let my group pass," Dawn said, "We found some stuff we're taking for ourselves."
"What did you find?" asked one of the girl student's followers, a fair skinned boy who had blonde crew cut hair also the boy was notably chubby.
"A folding table, a folding chair, and a sack of Gimmighoul Coins," Dawn said, "We could use the extra table and chair, and the Gimmighoul Coins are needed due to work that Kenny, Trip, and I are doing on behalf of Jacq." Dawn was telling the truth, although she did omit the journal left behind by Giacomo, as well as the Dark Badge.
The girl student's other follower, a pale fair skinned boy with a black bowl cut and he was also something of a bean pole, was about to speak up. But before he could get a word out, he was cut off when Geeta's voice cut in, "Is there any trouble, Champion Dawn?" Everyone turned to see that the Top Champion of Paldea was walking on over to where everyone was gathered.
Gesturing to the Naranja Academy students, Dawn said, "These three are trying to board my flying ship without my consent, even harassing one of my crew members into letting them pass. They're also keeping me and some of my crew mates from boarding."
"You three, get back over to the rest area that's been set up," Geeta said to the trio of Naranja Academy students, her tone and expression brokering no quarter, "You three are risking putting the Paldea region into an inter-regional incident against Sinnoh by harassing Champion Dawn and the crew of her flying ship."
It appeared to Dawn that it took Geeta being firm to get the rich kids to fall in line. Perhaps because Geeta is one of the sources of power the wealthy elite in Paldea draw from to throw their weight around to get their way. Upsetting Geeta would cause trouble for the rich kids. The rich kids, giving off an air of being shamed and scolded, turned around and went to an outdoor stall that was set up to be a rest area; there were snacks over there.
Turning to look at Dawn, Geeta with a troubled and regretful look said, "I am very sorry about that, Champion Dawn. I'm actually rather surprised that the children of the wealthy elite here in Paldea would act like that, especially since their parents who contribute to various ventures here in Paldea including Naranja Academy are shining examples of good citizenry here in Paldea."
Dawn was very much tempted to show Geeta the journal she found, but decided that it would be better to first wait and gather more evidence. "Any student can be a surprise, ma'am." Dawn and her crew mates who were there with her then boarded The Jelly-Filled Donut, Mitch and Heath letting them pass as they're part of the crew with Dawn herself actually being the boss.
...
Dawn stored Giacomo's Journal on the bookshelf in her personal room on board of The Jelly-Filled Donut. She also put the Dark Badge (that's what she's calling it for now) in a keepsake box the size of the average bento box that was sitting on the corner of her desk. The sack full of Gimmighoul Coins was placed in the cargo hold; Dawn figures that they're connected to her named Gimmighoul Money Bin, but before even checking that Dawn first wants to count out how many of those coins are in the sack.
With everything put away, Dawn proceeded to leave her room. However, not one second after closing the door behind her, Dawn was met up by Leona, Omiyo, and Mina. All three of the girls were very clearly panicked. Dawn knew right away that something must have just happened. "What's the situation?" Dawn asked.
"A bunch of Team Scorn members just swarmed into the Team Star base!" Leona exclaimed, "Everyone outside is fighting back, but the sheer numbers that Team Scorn came in with means that it's going to be a very tough fight regardless!"
"Where's everyone else in the crew?" Dawn asked.
"Kenny, Trip, Sho, and Rhyanna are already off the ship and helping to fight off Team Scorn," Omiyo said, "All other members of the crew are still aboard."
"Let's go," Dawn said, leading the girls to go confront Team Scorn.
...
Dawn and the girls reached the drawbridge and were preparing to get off of The Jelly-Filled Donut, but halfway down the drawbridge they were met up by Geeta who was leading the three Naranja Academy students that were spoiled brat rich legacy kids. "Champion Dawn," Geeta said, her tone clearly panicked, "Team Scorn had overwhelmed one of the sides of this Team Star base and is flooding in! One of their members spotted these children and tried to target them!"
"I'm guessing you're going to ask me to let them hide on my ship to keep them out of harm's way," Dawn reasoned.
"The same Team Scorn member who is after these kids said that her group's main mission involves a custom hotrod car left in this Team Star base," Geeta said, "I think that we can protect the kids here by hiding them and trying to keep Team Scorn's focus on their stated primary objective. Given that the respective parents of these kids are important contributors for various interests here in Paldea, we can't let them come to any harm."
"Yet another reason why if I was calling the shots there I'd of given the students wanting to watch the Team Star base being dismantled a hard no," Dawn said. Seeing that there was no other choice in the matter, Dawn had to consent to letting the rich kids board The Jelly-Filled Donut, but she first told them that they would be kept in the cockpit area the entire time and that if a crew member told them to do something then they'd have to do it.
The rich kids, clearly understanding that this was an emergency situation, obeyed. Dawn then had Leona and Omiyo lead the rich kids to the cockpit area on the flying ship before leaving with Mina and Geeta to help fight off Team Scorn. The three lady trainers were confronted by a trio of Team Scorn grunts, two girls and a boy, who all called out Murkrows.
As Dawn, Mina, and Geeta prepared to call out Pokémon to fight back, an adult woman's voice called out, "Yeah, we got some rather powerful opposition here! We're gonna have to keep the three of them busy so they can't regroup with the other enemy elites!"
Dawn, Mina, and Geeta turned to see a uniquely dressed Team Scorn member; it was a fair skinned woman of a slender yet healthy build, and she had long light pastel purple hair kept in a ponytail, and she wore a dark blue long sleeved dress suit with a yellow dress shirt underneath, dress pants matching the dress suit, yellow socks (though they weren't visible), and shiny dark blue dress shoes. This woman's outfit wouldn't be out of place as an outfit a school teacher at a respectable school would wear.
...Save for the fact that a Team Scorn insignia patch, yellow heater shield shape with a dark blue Team Scorn 'S', was on the dress suit over the woman's left breast. Speaking of, the woman was noted by Dawn to have a rather big bust, especially in proportion to how slender she is. Standing next to the big chested Team Scorn woman was a female Team Scorn grunt who was tall, had fair skin that was very lightly tanned, and long dark hair.
"Given your unique outfit," Dawn began as she addressed the big chested Team Scorn woman, "You must be the Team Scorn officer leading this assault on the Team Star base here."
Nodding once in the affirmative, the big chested Team Scorn woman said, "Yeah, I am the officer leading this assault. The name's Ichimichi, Fourth Captain of Team Scorn's Mask Sector. The young lady with me is Eri, my Captain's Assistant."
Dawn's eyes widened out of shocked surprise. "Ichimichi... the same one who used to work as a teacher at Naranja Academy, I assume?"
The now identified Ichimichi looked surprised. "...Yeah, that would be me. Or at least it was me up until a spoiled brat got me fired from my position solely because I had given them an after school detention for blatantly picking on another student."
"There is no way such behavior would ever occur at Naranja Academy," Geeta said firmly, "Obviously you had jumped the gun and drew a preposterous conclusion as to what had really been going on."
Glaring right at Geeta, Ichimichi scowled, "Are you REALLY that naive, Chairwoman Geeta? Are you REALLY that oblivious? Given that all of the REAL trouble-making students over at Naranja Academy are the children of Paldea's wealthy elite who finance essentially everything in the region, it wouldn't come as a surprise to me that you've been bought off and are knowingly and willingly turning a blind eye to the misdeeds of the children of your personal ATMs."
"How dare you!" Geeta snapped, "I would NEVER let anyone 'buy me off' like whay you're trying to suggest!"
"Considering the fact that you, as Chairwoman of the school board, had Ms. Ichimichi fired when a student complained about her," the now identified Eri spoke up, "Without even properly investigating the situation, and that said complaining student just so happened to be the child of the wealthy businessman who financed a new addition to one of the Pokémon Gyms here in Paldea, it paints a rather bleak picture of where your cares and loyalties really lay."
"Big talk coming from a girl who was expelled from Naranja Academy due in part to her affiliation with the now defunct Team Star," Geeta spat bitterly, practically snarling it.
Pointing at Eri, Mina said, "She's a Team Star member?"
Nodding once in the affirmative, Geeta said, "Aye. She was one of the five leading members of Team Star, helping to lead her fellows in an organized campaign of bullying the other students at Naranja Academy, all of said victims being innocent students."
"HA!" Eri laughed, "Team Star never bullied anyone! We stood up for ourselves! And none of the students that we stood up to were innocent! The students we confronted were the REAL bullies! It seems that the allure of money can affect how well someone hears and sees something!"
"I keep telling you, I would NEVER let anyone 'buy me off' like what you're accusing me of," Geeta scowled. The three Team Scorn grunts in front of Dawn, Mina, and Geeta closed in to confront them. "Champion Dawn, friend of Champion Dawn," Geeta said, "Can I ask you to confront that pair of slanderous liars for me? I can handle the minions here."
Dawn wasn't sure if Ichimichi and Eri were, as Geeta had put it, slanderous liars, given uncovered evidence from earlier. Dawn also wasn't sure of how much innocence Geeta really had; was she truly oblivious to what the spoiled brat rich legacy kids attending Naranja Academy were up to, or is she actually knowingly compliant in letting bullies get away scot free with their misdeeds at school because their respective parents are very wealthy and had paid things off?
Either way, now wasn't the time to contemplate that at there was a Team Scorn attack going on right now. Dawn and Mina let Geeta handle the Scorn grunts while they moved around the scene to confront Ichimichi and Eri. "Regardless of your reasons, what you are doing now is wrong," Dawn said, "So we're going to stop you!"
"I'd like to see you try, young lady!" Ichimichi said while tossing up a Pokéball, "Go, Espathra!"
"Go, Toxicroak!" Eri said as she sent out a Toxicroak.
"Go, Espeon!" Mina said as she sent out her shiny Espeon.
"Alright, Kirara!" Dawn said as she sent out her named Inciniroar, "Let's get goin'!" Pointing forward, Dawn called out, "Kirara, use Darkest Lariat on Espathra!"
"Espeon, use Psychic on Toxicroak!" Mina ordered.
"Toxicroak, use Poison Jab on Inciniroar!" Eri commanded.
"Espathra, use Shadow Ball on Espeon!" Ichimichi called out.
Espeon, due to its speed, was able to strike first, blasting Toxicroak with a psychic energy blast that knocked the dual poison fighting type Toxicroak out in one hit. As for Kirara, her Darkest Lariat had struck Espathra true as it tried to conjure a Shadow Ball to cast at Espeon. As a result, both of the Pokémon being used by Team Scorn were knocked out before either were able to land a decisive hit on the Pokémon commanded by the heroes.
Ichimichi and Eri were forced to call back their respective defeated Pokémon, before sending out their next Pokémon; a Dachsbun from Ichimichi and a Passimian from Eri. Dawn, due to raising her named Dachsbun Ranga, was aware of its Well-Baked Body ability, and knew that Kirara, being an Inciniroar, was a bad matchup, so she called the named Incinoroar back. "Alright, Argent," Dawn said as she sent her named alpha Hisuian Arcanine out, "Let's get goin'!"
Gesturing forward, Ichimichi said, "Dachsbun, use Play Rough on Espeon!"
"Passimian, use Double Edge on Arcanine!" Eri ordered.
"Espeon, use Psychic on Passimian!" Mina commanded.
"Argent, use Iron Head on Dachsbun!" Dawn called out.
Again, due to her working with a Dachsbun of her own, Dawn knew that Dachsbun is a fairy type Pokémon with an ability that protects it from fire. Although Arcanine as a fire type would be a not so wise choice due to the aforementioned protection from fire that Dachsbun has, Argent has multiple non-fire type attacks that allow it to damage Dachsbun. Most notably is how Argent knows how to use Iron Head which, as a steel type move, is super effective against the pure fairy Dachsbun.
As such, Ichimichi's Dachsbun went down to the one Iron Head from the named alpha Hisuian Arcanine. Similarly, Eri's Passimian went down to Mina's shiny Espeon. Ichimichi and Eri were both forced to recall their respective defeated Pokémon for a second time before they both sent out their respective third Pokémon; a Bellibolt from Ichimichi and an Annihilape from Eri.
"Argent, use Flare Blitz on Bellibolt!" Dawn ordered.
"Espeon, use Psychic on Annihilape!" Mina commanded.
"Annihilape, use Rage Fist on Espeon!" Eri called out.
"Bellibolt, use Parabolic Charge on Arcanine!" Ichimichi said.
Espeon, being the quickest, blasted Annihilape with a blast of psychic energy, taking it out before it was able to strike. And the harsh flames cloaking Argent as it charged at Ichimichi's Bellibolt gave it a sort of protective cloak that kept the Parabolic Charge at bay, allowing Argent to close the gap and ram violently into Bellibolt, knocking it out. Thanks to Argent's Rock Head ability, it took none of the usual recoil damage from using Flare Blitz.
Ichimichi and Eri were forced to recall fainted Pokémon for a third time each. "Damn it, I'm out of Pokémon that can fight," Ichimichi scowled.
"Same here, teach," Eri said, annoyed resignation clear in her tone and expression. Ichimichi then gave the call for all Team Scorn members to bail, prompting all of them to cease hostilities and use smoke grenades to mask their escape. Although all of Team Scorn who came to the Team Star base were able to escape, they failed to do anything meaningful with the custom hotrod car that had been left behind.
Team Scorn also failed to get to the spoiled brat rich legacy kids that were granted refuge on The Jelly-Filled Donut. With both the primary objective that they came in with, as well as the secondary objective that they picked up upon entering, having been foiled, Team Scorn walked away from the encounter here as the notable loser. However, Dawn had a sinking feeling that this encounter with Team Scorn at the Team Star base had more to it than what met the eye.
Although the Team Scorn attack was over, the rich kids on The Jelly-Filled Donut insisted on staying and checking the flying ship out, with the girl saying she and her group were already aboard so Dawn might as well let her and her group tour around. Dawn immediately had Mitch, Heath, and Sho forcefully remove the rich kids from The Jelly-Filled Donut. Geeta when informed of the whole story gave the rich kids a verbal reprimand, shaming them into compliance.
Dawn, as she observed Geeta shaming the rich kids, calculated that there was a ninety-one point six percent chance that Geeta honestly had no idea of what REALLY was supposedly going on. But at this point there wasn't enough evidence to present to Geeta to convince her what was supposedly going on. Perhaps more evidence will be uncovered as time goes on, or Dawn could get a hold of one of the students who suffered under the bullying of the spoiled brat rich legacy kids.
It was late afternoon, and Dawn while looking around the Team Star base saw that by this point most of it had been taken down. Dawn observed this as she stood on the deck of The Jelly-Filled Donut. As Dawn stood on the deck, she was approached by the reborn trainers, as well as Heath and Omiyo. "At this point, there's nothing left for us to do here," Dawn spoke up as she turned to face some of her ship's crew.
"So where do we go next?" Kenny asked.
"According to Geeta," Dawn said, "There is another abandoned Team Star base near Levincia, and under normal circumstances the efforts would move over there and continue the work to take down all of the Team Star bases."
Trip gave an unamused scowl. "But then the Team Scorn attack happened here, while efforts were present to clean up the area of the taint that was left behind by Team Star."
Dawn gave a single affirmative nod. "Mina and I also saw it that a former member of Team Star had joined Team Scorn. My worst fears about how the bulk of taking down Team Star had been handled had just been made a reality. Putting that aside, Geeta is suspicious that a Team Scorn attack may happen at the next Team Star base that efforts are sent over to clear away. Geeta said it'll take a bit of time for things to get ready."
"How much time would you say, boss?" Heath asked.
"When Geeta asked how the journey to challenge and beat the gyms of Paldea were going for me, Kenny, and Trip," Dawn began, "I told her that Levincia was our next destination as it had a gym. Geeta seemed happy enough that our next destination was close to the next Team Star base that is going to be cleared away. When I gave her an estimate on how soon I can expect Kenny, Trip, and I to finish earning badges in Levincia, Geeta said that we ought to be done just in time for her to have finished making sufficient preparations to clear the next Team Star base while assuming that Team Scorn will attack it during clean up efforts."
Clapping his hands together, Kenny said, "Well then! I say we set sail for Levincia!" Dawn gave a single nod in agreement before she had Heath go and lay a course for Levincia. Once that was all taken care of, The Jelly-Filled Donut took up into the air and flew off for their next destination, all the while the crew aboard wondered what else Team Scorn had in store for the Paldea region.
Dawn was also aiming to find and gather more evidence on the true activities of the spoiled brat rich legacy kids who had made Naranja Academy their personal stomping grounds. Dawn already had Giacomo's Journal, but that alone wouldn't be enough. She would need more evidence, as well as hopefully some first hand account testimony from the (real) bullying victims at the school, but she was confident that she'll find what she needs.
She only hopes that by the time she has what she needs for that business, it won't be too late to prevent the worst of what may be brought down otherwise.
END, CHAPTER TWO-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SEVEN
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the first of the bases left behind in the wake of the busting of Team Star being cleared away. However, part way through the efforts, the people working there are attacked when a horde of Team Scorn members swarms on in, led by a Naranja Academy teacher who was fired for giving one of the spoiled brat rich legacy kids a detention. Dawn also sees proof that members of Team Star ended up joining Team Scorn when the former team was busted.
Dawn is developing a sinking feeling that the efforts to deal with Team Star were poorly informed and mishandled, resulting in more damage being caused than what was assumed to have been fixed. But Dawn wants to gather more evidence first before she can come forward. But that will have to wait until later, as the next chapter will see the crew head on over to Levincia so that Dawn, Kenny, and Trip can get their next gym badges. Until then, take care.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Tsukune (Palkia), Argent (male Arcanine; alpha; Hisuian), Benimaru (male Crocalor), Souka (female Tinkatink), Kirara (female Inciniroar)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Goofy (male Houndoom), Hoodini (male Noctowl), 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)