Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai

Chapter four: Slather that honey

Due to putting effort into it an relying a lot on her bike which Pikachu didn't fry with a Thunderbolt, Dawn made it to Floaroma Town quickly, but by the time she got there it was rather late, so she checked in at the local Pokémon Center. While there, she had her Pokémon checked by the local Nurse Joy, who confirmed that they had no issues and simply needed to rest for the night, a plan that Dawn intended to use for herself as well.

Dawn relaxed a bit, watching something on the wall mounted TV in the main area of the Center while Chi-Chi, Cyrus, Akiza, Jack, Luna, and Souji all relaxed and ate before they all went to sleep for the night. As she saw all of her Pokémon eat, Dawn contemplated a bit on Souji, her newest Pokémon. A Cranidos revived from a Skull Fossil gifted to Dawn out of gratitude, Souji was going to be a powerful ally to Dawn in the new life she found herself isekai'd into.

But as a pure rock type, Souji wouldn't be much help for the next few gyms. As Dawn recalled from both the games and anime in her previous life, the three gym leaders immediately after Roark were Gardenia, Maylene, and Crasher Wake; grass, fighting, and water respectively. The soonest that Dawn felt safe using Souji in her quest to earn the gym badges of Sinnoh would be against Fantina, which wouldn't be until gym number five. And by then Dawn felt some of her Pokémon should be fully evolved.

Speaking of gyms, Dawn knew that the next one was in Eterna City. The gym leader, Gardenia, uses grass types and is one of the reasons why Souji was going to have to wait to make his debut in Dawn's quest to earn the gym badges of Sinnoh. However, Dawn had Chi-Chi and Cyrus; those two would go a long way to helping Dawn earn her second badge. Depending on how things went, Dawn may use either Akiza or Jack as her third Pokémon.

But she'd think about that stuff later, as for now she and her Pokémon had to rest for the night.

The next morning, after getting ready for the day, Dawn left the Pokémon Center and made her way out to look for the entrance to Floaroma Meadow, as that's where the honey tree was located. As she walked, she heard a girl's voice call out, "Oi, aren't you Dee-Dee?"

"Someone recognizes me by that embarrassing nickname that anime!Dawn has," Dawn thought as she stopped short. Turning to face the direction the call came from, Dawn saw two girls who she didn't recognize come walking up to her. "...Can I help you?" Dawn asked dryly, shooting a wry look at the two girls.

The two girls, one brunette and the other blonde with light cocoa skin, were a bit surprised by Dawn's response. "...Wow, it looks like Dee-Dee's got some nerves now," remarked the blonde girl, whose voice was the one who had called out to Dawn just now, "I guess that's why you think that you can just waltz right over to the special event that Professor Rowan is running over in Floaroma Meadow right now."

"...I was on my way to Floaroma Meadow either way," Dawn explained, "I had no idea until just now that Professor Rowan was there."

"He's running a special event for young trainers our age," the brunette girl explained, sounding like she thought herself better than Dawn, "Where he'll teach us about how the honey trees work."

Dawn smirked a bit. "...Those trees are why I was planning on heading to Floaroma Meadow either way. I heard they can be used to attract wild Pokémon somehow."

Instantly, the blonde girl became annoyed with Dawn. "Oh, you are NOT going to get a female Combee before me, Dee-Dee!"

"Maybe Dee-Dee here thinks she can nab a Munchlax," the brunette girl scoffed, "I heard those are the rarest Pokémon that can be attracted by honey trees."

Dawn's smirk disappeared and was replaced by a confused scowl. "...What is with you two? First off, I'm not even-"

"Ah, some more young trainers here for the special event Professor Rowan is running," an older male voice called out, cutting Dawn off and making her and the two girls from the kindergarten class they were all in (not that this Dawn remembers them) turn to see a male lab worker come on over to them. "If you girls will follow me, I can take you straight to Floaroma Meadow," said the lab worker. Seeing that they'd get a quick guide to their destination, Dawn and the girls all followed the male lab worker right to Floaroma Meadow.

At the meadow, Dawn was met up by a number of other trainers in her age group who all recognized her from kindergarten. Not, of course, did Dawn recognize any of them. "Hey, maybe she thinks she can enter the Pokémon Contest that's going to happen here in Floaroma Town," a girl with reddish-orange in twin pigtails laughed, getting a few others to laugh at Dawn as well.

Dawn, who due to the ways reincarnation and isekai worked was way more mature than these brats, was more confused than anything. "...What are you talking about? I'm not going to do contests. I'm aiming to enter the Pokémon League." To the surprise of the kids, Dawn pulled out her badge case and showed that she had earned her first badge so far, the Coal Badge.

As Dawn put her badge case away, a male voice called out, "Hey Dawn, why ain't you traveling with Ash and Brock?" That caught Dawn's attention, as someone here apparently not only knew of Ash and Brock despite how they ostensibly shouldn't, but also that Dawn should be traveling with them despite how they ostensibly shouldn't know that. Looking over, Dawn saw the source of the voice who had called out to her, who apparently knew things that they shouldn't.

To Dawn's surprise, she saw Kenny walk over. Dawn remembered from her previous life that Kenny appeared in the anime as a childhood friend anime!Dawn knew in kindergarten, and was also a contest rival to her. "Oh, it's Kenny," one of the boys whispered, "From what I heard, he started acting different the day he started on his journey."

Looking right at Kenny, Dawn had a hint of suspicion in her expression. "...How do you even know who those guys are? Have you ever met them before?"

Dawn could tell right away that Kenny got the idea. "Oh, uhh, I heard that you were traveling with guys named Ash and Brock, so I just assumed." Kenny looked a bit flustered, as if he had realized he had just been caught on something. Dawn decided to store that little nugget away for later.

As the young trainers were gathered, Dawn heard the familiar voice of Professor Rowan call out, "Okay, kids! I'm going to need your attention now!" Everyone then turned around to see Professor Rowan, who was accompanied by a few lab workers, was standing there. "Thank you all for coming," Rowan said, "Now, I bet you all are excited to get started on seeing how the honey trees work."

At Rowan's cue, a female lab worker stepped forward. "The concept is quite simple, when you get right down to it," the female lab worker explained, "Take some honey, slather it on the side of the tree, and wait for it to attract a wild Pokémon. The Pokémon that can be attracted in this manner vary. It's usually mostly bug Pokémon like Combee or Wurmple, but you also have a chance of getting an Aipom or Cherubi, or a rarer bug Pokémon like Heracross. Some people even reported that they got Munchlax to show up!"

Rowan nodded in confirmation. "That's what leads into today's activity. There are a number of honey trees here in Floaroma Meadow. We'll assign one to each of you, provide you with some honey, and you'll use the honey on your assigned trees to try to lure in wild Pokémon." Dawn remembered, from the games in her previous life, that there was only one honey tree in Floaroma Meadow. She simply attributed what Rowan said about multiple honey trees there to anime logic.

Either way, Dawn hoped to attract a very specific Pokémon with the honey tree assigned to her.

Later, after all of the young trainers had been assigned honey trees that they slathered honey to, the blonde girl said, "So how long will this take?"

"Normally, the honey trees take a while," the female lab worker said, "But since so many trees here all at once are slathered with honey, I suspect that the combined scent of so much honey will work a lot quicker to lure in some wild Pokémon."

Turning to look at the blonde girl, the boy who whispered about Kenny earlier said, "Hey, what Pokémon are you hoping to get? I'm thinking that an Aipom would be cool."

"I'm hoping that I get a Combee that's female," the blonde girl said, "Because female Combee evolve into Vespiquen, which I aim to get." With a self assured look on her face, the blonde girl went on, "A regal and feminine Pokémon like Vespiquen is bound to help me in contests. And either way she'll fit right on in with the rest of my Pokémon." To help make her point, the blonde girl then called out her two Pokémon that she had, a Buneary and a Happiny.

"I actually would like to attract a Cherubi," the brunette girl said as she raised a hand, "I mean, the gym leader in Eterna City, Gardenia, owns a Cherubi. And Gardenia is, like, super cool."

Turning to look at Kenny, the boy from earlier said, "What about you, Kenny? What are you hoping to get with your honey tree?"

Shrugging, Kenny said, "Anything that would help me build and perfect my cringe posse."

"Perfect your..." Dawn said, unsure what to make of Kenny especially since he was acting oddly familiar to her, "...Cringe posse."

Nodding to confirm, Kenny took up the three pokéballs that held all of the Pokémon he had and tossed them up, calling out a Turtwig, a Poliwag, and a Machop. "These guys here will help me find the perfect cringe with which to sustain my life force," Kenny said. Pointing out Turtwig, Poliwag, and Machop in that order, Kenny said, "Their names are Roshi, Kermit, and Zarbon."

"...Don't tell me that HE isekai'd as well," Dawn thought as pieces began falling into place in her mind. Looking to Kenny, Dawn remarked, "Well, I see I'm not the only one who nicknames their-"

"Hey, one of the trees attracted a Pokémon already!" the female lab worker called out, rushing over to the young trainers, "It's the one assigned to Dawn!"

Everyone perked up at that, Dawn especially. The young trainers then ran over where Dawn's assigned honey tree was rustling a bit. "Hey, I bet that whatever Pokémon it is," the blonde girl began in a smug and amused tone, "It'll attack Dee-Dee." This got some laughs out of some of the other young trainers.

"Oh be nice," the female lab worker mildly scolded the blonde girl as Dawn got closer to her assigned honey tree.

Looking up at her assigned honey tree, Dawn called out, "Hello? Is there a Pokémon in there?" After a few seconds, a plant cloak Burmy popped out, surprising Dawn.

Looking down at Dawn from where it was hanging, the Burmy said, "Burmy?" before jumping down and landing on the ground before it started going up to Dawn.

As the young trainers watched, the blonde girl scoffed bitterly. "It's only a Burmy," said the blonde girl, "What's so special about that?"

Ignoring the blonde girl, Dawn watched as the Burmy approached her. "So do I battle and catch it?" Dawn said as she took out a spare pokéball. Seeing this, the Burmy jumped up and rammed itself into the pokéball, going inside of it before the pokéball fell from Dawn's hand and to the ground, where it shook for a bit before making a ping sound, indicating capture. "Or... that works too," Dawn remarked, surprised that she caught the Burmy.

Since she needed to make room in her party, Dawn decided to send Jack back to Rowan's lab. Dawn then checked Burmy's pokéball by scanning it with her pokédex. To Dawn's delight, the Burmy was male. Furthermore, he had a timid nature and, to Dawn's surprise, the Overcoat ability. "There's hidden abilities popping up again," Dawn thought as she looked at the pokéball that held her newly caught Burmy. "...I'm going to name you Coupins."

"That's an interesting name," Kenny remarked, "But then again I-"

Kenny was cut off when he heard some rustling from another honey tree, as did everyone else. They all went over and saw it was the honey tree assigned to Kenny himself. "Come on, cringe posse member!" Kenny said, "Give me a good-" Kenny was cut off again when a Munchlax fell out of his assigned honey tree.

"Kenny got a Munchlax!" the brunette girl called out, "Talk about luck!"

Kenny pulled out a pair of sunglasses that looked oddly familiar to Dawn, put said sunglasses on, and said while holding a hand to his chin, "Ah ha ha." Seeing the sunglasses, the Munchlax jumped up, took them from Kenny, then put them on before folding its arms over its chest. Then, without any explanation, the blonde girl's Buneary and Happiny went over to the wild Munchlax and went about snuggling up next to it, seemingly being attracted to it.

Chuckling a bit, Kenny said, "Well it seems to me that Munchlax is quite a hit with the ladies."

"Yes, just battle and catch the wild Munchlax already," the blonde girl said in a mildly annoyed tone, "I don't want my Pokémon flirting with it."

Kenny got to work right away, sending in Zarbon to fight the Munchlax. "Okay, Zarbon," Kenny said, "We're going to battle and catch this Munchlax. I hope you're ready to give it a hard pounding."

"MAAAAAACHHHHOOOOOOOP!" Zarbon cried out, its tone sounding to Dawn like aroused, sensual pleasure. Dawn then gently face palmed, having all but confirmed some suspicions that she had concerning Kenny.

Pointing at the Munchlax, Kenny said, "Alright, Zarbon! Use Karate Chop!" The named Machop rushed in and gave the wild Munchlax a good chop on its side. Pushed back, Munchlax jumped forward to ram into Zarbon with tackle. "Hit it with another Karate Chop, Zarbon!" Kenny called out. Zarbon rushed back in and gave the wild Munchlax another good chop to its side, pushing it back again and making it hold its hand to its side as it panted with exhaustion.

Seeing that as his cue, Kenny took out a spare pokéball and threw it at the Munchlax as he called out, "Go pokéball!" The pokéball flew into Munchlax, took it inside, and then fell to the ground before it shook for a bit. The pokéball made a ping sound after a few tense moments, indicating that Kenny had caught the Munchlax. "Sweetness!" Kenny cheered as he went over to pick up the pokéball that held his new Munchlax. After scanning the pokéball with his pokédex, Kenny said, "Hmm, well he's a dude, so I'll be naming him Slick."

Dawn looked suspicious of Kenny again as he put away the pokéball that held Slick the Munchlax. With that excitement done for now, the other young trainers went back to waiting to see if any of their assigned honey trees will end up attracting some wild Pokémon. As for Dawn, she felt that she would eventually have to have a private conversation with Kenny really soon, because she wanted to confront him with a few things that were on her mind.

Later, as the other young trainers were still waiting, Dawn set up an area where she could bring out her Pokémon so they could relax. She also wanted for them to eat something, as well as to get Coupins used to being a team member. After Dawn called Coupins out first, she heard the blonde girl call out to her, "Don't go getting a swelled head, Dee-Dee, just because you're the first whose honey tree attracted a Pokémon." Dawn turned to see the blonde girl and the brunette girl walk on over to her. Gesturing to where Coupins sat, the blonde girl went on, "It's just a dumb Burmy."

"...Not only is Burmy the Pokémon that I was hoping for," Dawn began to reply, "But Coupins here is also male, again what I was hoping for."

"You were hoping for a male Burmy?" the brunette said, "Why?"

"She says she wants a female Combee because it evolves into Vespiquen," Dawn said while gesturing to the blonde girl, "Well my reason is similar, wanting to catch a specific Pokémon with a specific gender because of what that Pokémon with that gender evolves into." Gesturing to Coupins, Dawn went on, "Male Burmy evolves into-"

"AHHHHHHHHHH! RUN AWAY!"

Dawn stopped short when she and the other girls heard the boy who Dawn heard whisper about Kenny earlier cry out in alarm and fear. Recalling all of her Pokémon, Dawn ran towards what she thought was danger. As she ran, Dawn was met up by Kenny. "So Dawn, about earlier how I thought you were traveling with those Ash and Brock guys I heard about," Kenny said, "It's actually the funniest story if you got the time."

"We'll have time after whatever is making people cry out in panic is dealt with," Dawn said, "But I am going to be wanting to talk to you." The two of them continued to run towards the danger, with Dawn worried about what it could be. She was hoping that it wouldn't be Team Galactic; she recalled from the games in her previous life how there was a Team Galactic encounter here in Floaroma Meadow over the honey trees. It would make sense, and Dawn felt she could handle some Galactic grunts, but just because she could didn't mean she wanted to.

...

What Dawn and Kenny, followed by the blonde and brunette girls, came across was not Galactic. They came across a scene where some wild Pokémon that could be attracted by the honey trees were all laying beaten up at the bases of some of the trees. Looking over, Dawn saw that the trees respectively assigned to the blonde girl and the brunette girl had attracted a Combee and a Cherubi, just as those girls wanted respectively; the Combee even had a red dot right on the forehead of the bottom face, indicating that it's female which made the Combee exactly what the blonde girl said she wanted.

"Well girls, your assigned trees got you the Pokémon you both wanted," Dawn said, "But I don't think that it's exactly safe to-" Dawn was cut off when a green blur rushed in and kicked the knocked out wild female Combee away, making her cry out in pain and prompting the blonde girl to rush after her to save her. After the green blur kicked the Combee away, it stood still to check out the honey tree. As it was standing still, Dawn and the others were able to see that it was, of all things, a Scyther.

"What's a wild Scyther doing here?!" the brunette girl exclaimed out of fright. Dawn looked carefully at the Scyther, formulating a plan of action to deal with it. While examining it, Dawn saw that its abdomen looked relatively short, indicating that it's male. There was also something else about the Scyther that caught Dawn's attention; the green on its body was a slightly darker shade, and the sections on Scyther that are normally cream were reddish here.

As the pieces fell into place for Dawn, the Scyther rushed to the tree that the Cherubi was laying in front of, kicking the Cherubi away in the process. Luckily for the brunette girl who wanted it, Cherubi was kicked right towards her, and she caught the Cherubi like a soccer goalie catching a soccer ball. The wild Scyther looked at the tree for a moment before crying out in annoyance and anger as it turned to face Dawn and the others. When it did, Dawn saw that her suspicions were confirmed.

"That's a shiny Scyther!" Dawn exclaimed, "We need to-"

Dawn stopped short when Kenny held his arm out in front of her. "...I got this one, my dude." Throwing up a pokéball, Kenny said, "Okay, Roshi! Let's make it cringe!" The named Turtwig came out to face the shiny Scyther. Pointing right at the shiny Scyther, Kenny said, "Roshi, use Tackle!"

Roshi ran forward towards the shiny Scyther, who looked confused by the Turtwig challenging him. Then upon getting close enough, Roshi jumped up and rammed himself into the shiny Scyther as hard as possible and as high as he could reach. To the pained shock of the shiny Scyther, Roshi had up and rammed himself right into the abdomen. After Roshi fell away and got back a bit, Scyther held his blade arms in front of and over his abdomen as he stumbled around while crying out in pain.

"...I did not order Roshi to Tackle that Scyther specifically in his shmeat," Kenny said, "That was all Roshi's doing."

"That's... one way to score a critical hit, I suppose," Dawn remarked dryly, unsure what exactly to make of what had just happened.

The shiny Scyther then fell to his knees and over onto his left side so his back was to the young trainers. As Scyther writhed in pain, Kenny took out a spare pokéball and threw it at the Scyther with a call of, "Go pokéball!" The pokéball flew at the shiny Scyther, took it inside, then fell to the ground before it shook for a few tense moments. After that, the pokéball made a ping sound, indicating capture. "Sweetness! I caught a shiny Scyther!" Kenny cheered.

As Kenny retrieved the pokéball that held his shiny Scyther, the female lab worker and Rowan came running over. "What happened here?" Rowan asked. At that prompting, Dawn and Kenny began to explain everything, up to Kenny having just caught the shiny Scyther which was causing trouble by the honey trees. "Hmm..." Rowan said as he considered the situation, "...My guess is that it couldn't find food in its usual habitat, so it came here."

"You're an incredibly lucky boy, Kenny," the female lab worker remarked, "A Munchlax on the honey trees, and a shiny Scyther! Oh!" The female lab worker pulled out a laptop, fiddled around with it, then turned it around, showing a bright green Scizor on the screen. "This is what your Scyther will look like when you evolve it into Scizor, if you were planning to evolve it that is."

"...It's a tall green bug person," Dawn said, having a sinking feeling what Kenny might end up choosing as the Scyther's nickname, "And since the one Kenny caught is male, it will be a tall green bug man to be specif-"

"I shall name him Cell!" Kenny declared, "It's the perfect name for him!" Looking at the pokéball that held Cell, Kenny said, "Cell will be one of the cornerstones of my cringe posse. Oh!" Turning to look at Rowan and the female lab worker, Kenny asked, "Could I get an ice pack for Cell? Roshi tackled him in the shmeat before I caught him."

That late afternoon, the young trainers were wrapping up their time at the special event that Rowan was running. By that time, Dawn had thanked Rowan for letting her join in on the honey tree event. "You caught a male Burmy if I am not mistaken," Rowan remarked, "Those evolve into Mothim, while the female Burmy evolve into Wormadam."

Dawn nodded in the affirmative. "I actually was really hoping to catch a male Burmy, because I really want a Mothim. They're pretty cute if you ask me, Professor."

Rowan gave a good natured laugh. "Are they now? Well either way, I hope you take good care of him." Dawn once more thanked Rowan for his time before she took off. As she left Floaroma Meadow and stepped into Floaroma Town, Dawn thought about how she was going to get Coupins to the same approximate level of training as all of her other Pokémon; she felt that by the time she reached that goal, Coupins will have evolved into Mothim.

As a dual bug flying type, Mothim would be a boon to use in the battle against Gardenia so that Dawn could earn her second badge. If she could get Coupins to evolve before Eterna City, then she would have the perfect lineup of Pokémon to use at the Eterna City gym. As she was walking, Dawn stopped short when she spotted Kenny with all of his Pokémon out. From the looks of it, he was feeding them and introducing Slick and Cell to the others.

"...I do need to have a conversation with him," Dawn muttered quietly to herself as she made a slight turn to go right on over to Kenny. Upon getting close enough, Dawn called out, "Hey, Kenny."

Hearing someone call out to him, Kenny turned around to look and saw Dawn come walking on over to him. "Oh, hey Dawn," Kenny greeted, "What did you-"

Dawn held up a hand, cutting Kenny off. Dawn had her suspicions, but she wanted to be sure. "Does the name Kenny Alverson mean anything to you?" Dawn asked, her tone and expression knowing.

Seeing Kenny's eyes widen a bit in surprise confirmed for Dawn that she had struck gold. "How... I mean to say what-"

Once more, Dawn held a hand up to cut Kenny off. "...Now what about the name Don Barret?" Dawn was taking a gamble here, offering her name from her previous life. "Would that name ring any bells for you?"

"Oh yeah, I remember Don," Kenny said, "He was the coo-" Kenny suddenly stopped short when he looked like he realized something. "Uhh, I mean to say that I remember that Don is a cool name for a cool dude to-"

"Kenny." Dawn got him to stop short once more. She walked up him, whispered into his ear. "Your way of acting, the clear homage to the DAU you got going. I'm surprised that you isekai'd here as well. You even got reborn as someone with the same first name that you had in your previous life." Looking down at herself, Dawn said, "As for me, I got reborn as someone of the opposite gender."

The pieces fell into place in Kenny's head. "...Don?" Kenny said, looking surprised beyond belief, "Don, is that really you, my main man?"

Dawn nodded in the affirmative. "I overheard someone mention you acting differently the day you woke up to begin your journey as a Pokémon trainer. That, combined with your mannerisms and the naming scheme you clearly have for your Pokémon, made it pretty clear."

Kenny threw his arms around Dawn and drew her into a hug. "Holy shit, dude," Kenny said, "There's actually someone in this world that I know!" Letting go of Dawn, Kenny said, "So what do we do?"

"Well first off, some ground rules," Dawn began, "One, no letting anyone else in on how we were isekai'd here. That has to be our secret. Second, you really ought to try to watch your language around here. Your overall behavior as well. I don't think I have to tell you why that is."

"Well no duh," Kenny replied, "We can't let others know who we really are. Oh, are you doing contests like Dawn did in the anime?"

Dawn gently shook her head in the negative. "Nope, I'm challenging the gyms. Even got my first badge so far." Kenny revealed that he was also skipping contests in favor of challenging the gyms, and that he came to Floaroma Town after earning the Coal Badge from a surprisingly depressed looking Roark.

"Wait a minute, surprisingly depressed?" Dawn asked, sounding mildly worried, "What do you mean surprisingly depressed? What the hell happened?"

Shrugging, Kenny said, "He said something about how a challenger swept his team so harsh, that his Rampardos was still at the time I challenged Roark being treated for a leg injury sustained, hence why he only used Geodude and Onix against me. That limited me to two of my Pokémon, but Roshi and Kermit still did well."

Dawn had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that the trainer who harshly swept Roark's team was Paul, who must have had a burning desire to avenge his loss to Roark on his first go at the Oreburgh City gym. She'd have to ask Ash and Brock, who she knew had seen Paul's rematch with Roark, for details later. For now, Dawn wanted to rest for the night, given that it'd be late soon. Kenny asked if he could travel with her for at least a bit, given that they both had Gardenia's gym in their sights and the fact they had both isekai'd into this world.

Dawn, figuring that she could use the company, as well as how she and Kenny can both help one another train their Pokémon, agreed. Thus two friends, reunited in another world, had found their way to one another. It was going to make her life in this new world just a little bit more tolerable for Dawn, she bet. At least she'd have someone to talk to.

END, CHAPTER FOUR

Author's notes;

This one was a mostly original chapter, hardly adapting anything from the anime. It also introduced Kenny, another person who isekai'd into the world, having been reborn as Kenny the contest rival. However, similar to Dawn here, Kenny here is also skipping contests in favor of gym battles, having earned his first badge so far as well as drop some hints of info to come. Anyway, take care.