Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter five: Traveling with others can be fun
Dawn was quite surprised to learn that Kenny, her friend from her previous life, had also isekai'd into this world as well. And he was reborn as Kenny the contest rival from the Sinnoh anime; that meant that he got to keep the same first name. Dawn sort of got to do that as well, given Dawn sounds like Don, but it required a different spelling. Also, Dawn changed genders upon reincarnation, which was a bother as prior to reincarnation, Dawn was an early twenties guy. Now she's a ten year old girl.
Something else about Kenny being reborn into this world was that it gave Dawn someone from her previous life that she could talk to. They could connect in a way that they couldn't do with anyone else in this world. As such, they got to talking as they went through Route 205, though they were careful not to let much slip out. "Ash won against Roark on the first try?" Kenny asked, "The anime had him win on the second try."
Dawn nodded in the affirmative. "You can ask Ash about it if you ever meet him. Just remember to not say anything that could reveal who you really are."
"Of course," Kenny replied, "I'm not stupid." Looking around, Kenny said, "So why are we here on Route 205 again?"
"We both caught new Pokémon recently, and we ought to train them up," Dawn said, "Especially since said Pokémon can help us respectively in the Eterna City gym." Looking around, Dawn went on, "Also, Buizel and west sea Shellos can be found here. I want to catch one of each."
Kenny smirked a bit. "You know, the girl you reborned as caught a Buizel in the anime, my dude. You're not eventually going to trade it to Ash for his Aipom, are you?"
Dawn gently shook her head. "No way. I'm not even sure if I'll catch that same Buizel." Giving Kenny a wry look, Dawn said, "Did you know Ash here caught the Buneary that anime!Dawn caught?"
"No friggin' way," Kenny replied, looking surprised, "Are you for real? How did Ash do it? Did he pimp his Pikachu out to Buneary to convince her to let him catch her?"
"I... actually have a similar theory," Dawn admitted, "But it doesn't involve the word 'pimp'." Gently shaking her head, Dawn said, "Anyway, we've gotten to a good enough spot. Let's set up camp here and get cracking on training our Pokémon."
Dawn and Kenny got right to work on training their Pokémon. They first began with a real battle that Dawn ended up winning, due mainly to having evolved Pokémon; she sent her Burmy Coupins out whenever Kenny sent a new Pokémon out, to ensure he got experience if things in this life worked as they did in the games. That must have been the case, given that Coupins seemed a lot more energetic when the battle was over; Dawn attributed that to him gaining a few levels.
Kenny's arguably strongest Pokémon right now was Cell, his shiny Scyther whose appearance Dawn and Kenny were attributing to anime logic, similar to how Kenny explained the appearance of his Poliwag Kermit. Cell ended up going down to Souji, due mainly to the massive type disadvantage and the fact Souji knows Rock Tomb. After the battle, Dawn and Kenny treated their Pokémon, and were preparing to let them rest for a bit before some sparring with one another.
As the Pokémon rested, Dawn looked over and saw that Kenny was playing a ukelele for his Pokémon. "...You can play the ukelele, Kenny?" Dawn asked, surprised.
"I plan on teaching Kermit to do so once he evolves thus gaining arms," Kenny explained.
"You're... going to teach Kermit... to play the ukelele."
"Well why not?"
Dawn gently shook her head as she went about her business. However, she stopped short when she and Kenny heard some Pokémon cry out in distress. Looking over in the direction of the cry, Dawn gestured for Chi-Chi to follow her as she went to investigate. Upon getting closer, Dawn was surprised to find a west sea Shellos inch out of the tall grass as fast as it could. After it got out, a Buizel came running out after the Shellos did.
Dawn and Kenny first thought that it was the same aggressive Buizel that anime!Dawn had caught, but it turned around and walked backwards on its hind feet while it had an Ice Punch attack ready, as if it were expecting something to come out. Dawn and Kenny also saw that this Buizel had one cream colored long oval mark on its back rather than two; that indicated it was a female Buizel, and the aggressive Buizel that anime!Dawn caught, and eventually traded to Ash, is male.
The two reborn trainers saw the Buizel turn her head to look at the Shellos and cried at it in a way suggesting she was telling it to stay back; Dawn and Kenny could tell that Buizel and Shellos were both running from something and that Buizel was taking care of the fighting. The grass in front of Buizel rustled a bit, drawing everyone's attention back to it. To the surprise of Dawn and Kenny, an Elekid came out of the grass, pointing its fist at Buizel and Shellos while crying out challengingly.
"An Elekid here on Route 205?" Kenny whispered to Dawn, "Is this anime logic again?"
Dawn shook her head. "No, Kenny. Elekid can be found on Route 205 in the original games, but they required the dual slot method with a copy of Fire Red." Looking over to the battle between wild Pokémon, the Elekid rushed in with Quick Attack, hitting the Buizel. Buizel retaliated with her Ice Punch, striking Elekid and even freezing it up partly. But small streams of electricity arced on Buizel, indicating she triggered Elekid's Static ability.
"Wow, both Pokémon managed to do status ailments to each other," Kenny commented, "Hey Dawn, what do you make of-"
"Go pokéball!" Dawn called out as she threw a pokéball at the wild Elekid. The Elekid, helpless due to being frozen, went into the pokéball before it fell to the ground and shook for a bit. The pokéball then made a ping sound, showing that Dawn caught the Elekid. She then scanned the pokéball that held her new Elekid with her pokédex after she had picked the pokéball up. "Female, has a jolly nature," Dawn remarked. Looking at the pokéball that held her new Elekid, Dawn said, "I'm naming you Otohime."
The Buizel and Shellos, looking relieved that the Elekid was no longer a threat, turned to look at Dawn in amazement. The Buizel then cried out in pain a bit before slumping over onto the ground, alarming the reborn trainers and Shellos. Dawn and Kenny then took Buizel back to their camp sight, with Dawn also picking up and carrying Shellos.
...
At the camp, Dawn tended to Otohime and the Buizel. While caring for the injured water type Pokémon, Dawn took the opportunity to catch her, successfully capturing the female Buizel who she named Lynn. Dawn also was able to capture the west sea Shellos that's friends with Lynn; it was male and had a timid nature. Dawn ended up naming him Shadow.
"Otohime could come in handy when I take on Crasher Wake eventually," Dawn commented, "But of course I'm going to want to evolve her first."
"She could also help out against that aggressive Buizel if we get dragged into that adventure," Kenny pointed out, "We just send out Roshi and Otohime, and they can pile drive that aggressive Buizel into submission." Looking to Dawn, Kenny said, "So the Pokémon that you've been catching have a lot of similarities to ones you raised in the games in our previous world, huh?"
"Some even have their hidden abilities," Dawn said, "And those didn't exist until gen five. Who knows what else might have crossed over in that case? The affection mechanic? Fairy types?"
Shrugging, Kenny said, "Well either way, we still got some training to do. Especially you, since you got three new Pokémon you need to get caught up to the others." Dawn nodded in agreement and, once her new Pokémon were treated and she explained to them they were all team mates now, got right to work on Lynn, Shadow, and Otohime.
By late that evening, Dawn felt she had made decent progress getting her new catches caught up to the rest of her rotation. Dawn always favored making sure her Pokémon were all around the same level, rather than overlevel one and rely solely on it while using the other Pokémon in her party as cannon fodder to buy time for her to revive and heal her one good Pokémon if it faints. Kenny said that those kind of people are the worse, then immediately admitted to having done that once in the games in his previous life, but it was only during one gym battle because his starter had fainted.
Dawn felt her new catches weren't exactly caught up, but they were close to it, and figured that they'll get the rest of the way tomorrow. Something else that made Dawn happy was that, while she was training her new catches, she saw Coupins evolve into Mothim. Happy to have another solid option to use in her inevitable battle with Gardenia to earn that badge, Dawn took a look at Coupins to see what his info was like now by scanning his pokéball with her pokédex.
"...Again, a reminder of how I did things in the games in our previous life," Dawn said as she put away Coupins's pokéball.
Looking over, Dawn saw that Kenny was setting up a curry pot over the fire to cook curry. "Now we're going to see if stuff all the way in gen eight will take action here!" Kenny said, "I hope you and your Pokémon are hungry Dawn, because I was able to make a mean curry in our previous life!"
Folding her arms over her chest, Dawn pointed out, "Technically, the affection mechanic debuted in gen six. The use of camping and making curry to feed Pokémon to raise affection debuted in gen eight."
Rolling his eyes, Kenny said, "Geez, Dawn. Clean the sand out of your now existing vagina, why don't you."
Dawn sputtered a bit before ultimately conceding the point to Kenny, who laughed over having finally netted some manner of win over Dawn. Regardless, the two of them and their Pokémon all enjoyed eating curry and camping out. They ended up camping out for the night, with Dawn telling her Pokémon to behave themselves. Otohime and Lynn got the idea, as did Shadow who due to his smaller size got to cuddle up against Dawn and sleep there. Thusy, Dawn and Kenny camped out over night for the first time in their new life here in the world of Pokémon.
The next day, Dawn and Kenny had breakfast with their Pokémon before doing some more training. By the time they finished, Dawn felt that her new catches had caught up to the rest of her rotation. Figuring that they ought to get on the road, Dawn and Kenny took off. As they made their way, they soon spotted an Aipom swinging through the trees. "Hey, is that the Aipom that the one kid who was at the honey tree event that Professor Rowan ran caught?" Kenny asked.
Looking at the Aipom as it swung through the trees, Dawn gently shook her head. "The Aipom caught by that kid is male, and that's a female Aipom. I can tell by the hairs on her head."
"Let's follow it and see where it goes!" Kenny said, running right after the Aipom. Dawn had a sinking feeling that something might go wrong, so she ran after Kenny.
...
Ash and Brock followed the former's Aipom as she led them to a large tree that honey had been slathered on. There were various Pokémon with Ash's Aipom licking the honey off of the tree. "So this is what got Aipom's attention," Ash remarked as he looked at the tree. As he and Brock looked on, they heard some cries from nearby, so they turned to look and spotted some Burmy on the ground, struggling to put their plant cloaks back on.
As the Burmy did so, Ash and Brock heard a girl's voice said, "Excellent! Some Burmy were drawn to the tree!" The two of them then saw Cheryl step out from some bushes with a Chansey. Brock, upon spotting Cheryl, went into flirt mode, but his Croagunk got him to stop. With nothing in her way, Cheryl went over to where the Burmy were. "Alright Chansey," Cheryl said with some determination in her tone, "Let's see if your Attract will work on-"
"Cell! Get back here!"
Cheryl was cut off when she heard a random male voice call out like that. Suddenly, a differently colored Scyther rushed in and right over to the honey slathered on the tree, frightening the other Pokémon away with Aipom scurrying right over to Ash. The two Burmy, both rattled by the Scyther rushing in, also scurried away; by the time that Cheryl turned back to see them, the both of them had gotten away.
As Cell the shiny Scyther licked the honey off the side of the tree, Ash, Brock, and an upset Cheryl turned to see Kenny come running onto the scene, with Dawn following him. "Dawn?" Ash said in surprise, then added while pointing to Kenny, "Hey, do you know this guy whose Scyther scared off the wild Pokémon that were attracted by that honey that's on the tree?"
"Everyone, this is my friend Kenny," Dawn said as she caught her breath, glad she doesn't have asthma here unlike how she did in her previous life, "I've known him since kindergarten."
"And that reckless glutton for honey is my Scyther Cell," Kenny added while gesturing to where Cell had just gotten down from licking honey off of the tree, "I'm sorry that he scared off all of the wild Pokémon on that tree."
Pouting, Cheryl scolded, "He also scared off the wild Burmy that came over. Now I have to try again to see if I can hopefully attract one that's male."
Kenny looked surprised at that. "You want a male Burmy? Huh, well ain't that weird." Jerking a thumb at Dawn, Kenny said, "Dawn here caught a male Burmy a few days ago, but she already got it to evolve into a Mothim." To show the point, Dawn called out Coupins, who fluttered in the air next to Dawn at shoulder level.
"Oh! You already have a Mothim!" Cheryl said, "Then that saves a lot of time!" To Dawn, Cheryl said, "There's a favor I'd like to ask of you."
Later over tea, Cheryl explained herself to Dawn, Ash, Brock, and Kenny, telling them who she was and that she was a treasure hunter after the Enchanted Honey in the Amber Castle, said to be located deep within Eterna Forest. Cheryl further explained that she was hoping to catch a male Burmy and evolve it into Mothim, because they have an excellent sense of smell and she hoped to take advantage of that to have a Mothim lead her to the Amber Castle with the Enchanted Honey.
Chuckling in embarrassment, Kenny sheepishly said, "But I accidentally scuttled that plan because I couldn't get Cell to chill a cycle, huh?"
Sighing, Cheryl said, "I can't blame your Scyther for being drawn to the honey. It's really sweet. Also, I'm amazed you were able to find and catch a shiny Scyther."
"Hey Cheryl," Ash began, "You said you were going to ask Dawn for a favor, right?"
Nodding in the affirmative, Cheryl said, "Yes. I was going to ask if she and her Mothim could help me find the Amber Castle where I can get the Enchanted Honey, said to be sweeter than any other honey out there."
Hearing that, Cell perked right up, as did Coupins as both were eating lunch with Cheryl's trio of Wormadam. Seeing this, Kenny said with an amused smirk on his face, "Well it looks like you got Cell's attention, Cheryl." Turning to look at her, Kenny said, "Would it be alright if I came along as well provided that Dawn agrees to help you?"
"Yeah, I'd like to help as well if that's okay," Ash said, with Brock who was clearly in a flirty mood also offering to help.
Cheryl smiled warmly at all of the support. "I'd love that, but it ultimately falls on Dawn since we need her Mothim to help locate the Amber Castle."
Dawn, with a small smile, shrugged and said, "Ehh, why not? I've been meaning to head into the Eterna Forest anyway." The group all cheered, but suddenly they got cut off when they heard the bug Pokémon all cry out; looking over, they saw Cell and Coupins scramble out of the way as a large pink mechanical hand grabbed the trio of Wormadam and pulled them away.
"Drat, we failed to get the Mothim!" Jessie scowled as the heroes looked up and saw her and the rest of the Team Rocket trio in their hot air balloon, "And that shiny Scyther would have been an excellent prize for the boss, too!"
"Oh I know you bastards didn't just declare that you tried to kidnap Cell!" Kenny snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Team Rocket.
"Hey, watch that language!" James scolded.
Giving Team Rocket a confused look, Kenny said, "You guys are literally career criminal thieves in the process of trying to steal people's Pokémon here. What right do you have to scold me because I forgot to keep an eye on my tongue out of anger?"
"You know, he's got a point harsh language aside," Brock said to Team Rocket, "You guys aren't models of good behavior yourselves, so who are you to expect others to behave?"
"It's the principle of the matter, twerp," Jessie replied, "He still said a curse word!"
Shrugging, Cheryl said, "Yeah, but it's far from the worst curse word out there. Also, he said it out of anger because you not only had just tried to steal his Scyther but also admit it, so some indulgence ought to be allowed here. Also, please let my Wormadam go!"
"Tell you what," Jessie said in a smug manner, "We'll let the Wormadam go if-"
"Coupins, use Psychic to crush the burner in that hot air balloon," Dawn said dryly. Coupins's eyes glowed brightly with psychic energy as the same kind of energy surrounded the burner that was keeping the balloon inflated before crushing it, destroying it and making the balloon fall.
"Cell, use Fury Cutter to cut the arm holding those Wormadam!" Kenny ordered, with Cell rushing in to sever the mechanical arm and save the Wormadam.
After the Wormadam all landed safely, the Team Rocket balloon crashed landed on the ground. As Team Rocket struggled to get back up, Ash called out, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"
"Piiiiikaaaaachuuuuu!"
The electric attack flew right at Team Rocket, zapping them and making things blow up around them, sending them flying into the horizon as a result as they cried out, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" They disappeared with a twinkle in the sky.
As the heroes saw Team Rocket disappear, Kenny dusted his hands off. "That'll teach them for trying to kidnap anyone from my cringe posse."
"...Sure, let's go with that," Dawn said. Turning to Cheryl, Dawn said, "So what's next on the-"
"Mothim?" Coupins called out, sounding curious and catching the attention of the humans. They all turned and saw Coupins sniffing the air a bit, before turning to face Dawn and crying out in excited joy while gesturing in some direction.
Cheryl had a look of excited realization on her face. "He must have picked up on the scent of the Enchanted Honey! We ought to have him lead us right there!"
Nodding in understanding, Dawn turned to Coupins and said, "Coupins, we're going to need you to lead us in the direction that the smell you've picked up is coming from."
"Mothim! Mothim Moth-Mothim!" Coupins cheered before turning around and flying in the direction of the scent he had picked up. The humans followed right after him, with Cheryl excited that she's going to (potentially) find the Amber Castle with the Enchanted Honey.
Later, the group made their way further into Eterna Forest. While there, they decided to take a break for the evening. As everyone rested and had dinner aside from Dawn who said she was going to see if there were any Pokémon in Eterna Forest that could help with finding the Amber Castle, Ash and Brock were impressed by what Pokémon Dawn and Kenny both had respectively. "Cheryl has a point," Brock said to Kenny, "The fact that you found and caught a shiny Scyther is pretty amazing."
"Yeah, Roshi helped a lot in me capturing Cell," Kenny said, "But then again he struck Cell very hard in a place I should have told him not to strike." The humans looked over to where all of Kenny's Pokémon had gathered; his Turtwig, Machop, Poliwag, Munchlax still wearing the shades, and the shiny Scyther.
Looking around, Ash said, "Hey, when is Dawn getting back? It's starting to get rather late."
Shrugging, Kenny said, "Oh, let Dawn wander around a bit. She knows better than to stray too far from camp here." True enough, Dawn came wandering back in about a minute later.
"Woo! That was a good use of my time," Dawn said before sitting down at the camp table the other humans were sitting at.
Arching a wry eyebrow, Kenny said, "Did you find anything that could further lead us to the Amber Castle?"
Dawn gave a gentle shake of her head. "...No. But I did come across some new Pokémon that I wanted to catch, so I did."
"You've caught a lot of Pokémon over such a short period of time," Kenny remarked with an amused smirk on his face, "You'll give Go-GAHHHHH!" Kenny was cut off when Dawn stomped on his foot with her right foot underneath the table. Seeing the dry look on Dawn's face, Kenny realized he had almost given out info that Ash shouldn't have yet. "...Getter types a run for their money," Kenny said, "You'll give go-getter types a run for their money."
Ash, although a bit confused, relaxed and smiled a bit. "I'd say that Dawn is a go-getter type of person herself. Going after the gym challenge and catching a lot of Pokémon." The group relaxed for the rest of the evening, and after eating promptly went to sleep for the night.
The next morning, the heroes woke up and got some breakfast. While there, they saw a Gloom wander out into the clearing. Following that, a woman who Dawn and Kenny knew was Gardenia, the Eterna City gym leader, stepped into the clearing as well. She was about to talk, but Kenny stopped her short and said, "Hey, aren't you Gardenia?"
Dawn, turning to look at Kenny, said with a hint of knowing in her tone the others didn't pick up on, "How do you know that, Kenny?"
Once more, Kenny realized he let something slip, so he had to play dumb. "Oh, some folks in Floaroma Town told me about some crazy skilled grass Pokémon trainer named Gardenia, and even showed me a picture. They said she does a lot of work in Eterna City."
Gardenia relaxed a bit. "I didn't know I was famous even all the way over in Floaroma Town," she said with a smirk, "But yeah, Gardenia's the name, and grass Pokémon are my- Ahhhh! There's two Turtwig!" Gardenia then promptly dashed over to where Ash's Turtwig and Kenny's Turtwig Roshi were both sitting, and collected the both of them into a hug. Not that any of the humans aside from Kenny noticed it, but Roshi clearly liked being held against Gardenia's chest like that.
"Well I must say that you're certainly a very lo-" Brock began as he tried flirting with Gardenia, but he was stopped short by his Croagunk who jabbed him then dragged him away from trying to flirt with the grass type Pokémon user.
After Brock was dragged off to the side, Gardenia turned to look back at Ash and Kenny. "Anyway, I don't suppose either of you would be interested in battling me, would you? The gym leader over in Eterna City uses grass Pokémon, so it'll be good practice."
"Yo!" Kenny spoke up, quickly raising a hand into the air, "I'll take you on!" Dawn wasn't sure what Kenny was up to, especially since this was where, in the anime in her and Kenny's previous life, Ash had an unofficial battle with Gardenia and lost. Looking over to Ash, Dawn saw that he looked a bit disappointed that Kenny beat him to the punch on challenging Gardenia, but he ultimately respected that Kenny got it first.
The others all stood by and watched as Kenny had an unofficial battle with Gardenia. The grass Pokémon user said the battle will be two-on-two, which Kenny agreed to. Gardenia started off by sending out her Cherubi. "Okay, Slick!" Kenny said as he sent his Munchlax in, "Let's make it cringe!" After Slick, still wearing Kenny's shades, came out, Kenny pointed ahead and said, "Use Tackle!"
Slick rushed in and rammed right into Cherubi, scoring an easy hit. "Now use Lick!" Kenny called out.
"Cherubi, get out of the way!" Gardenia called out. The Cherubi barely jumped out of the way in time, then Gardenia suddenly recalled it. "...Not bad at all," Gardenia commented, "Your Munchlax is doing okay. I would have liked to see how your Turtwig does, though..."
"Well Slick and Cell are the newest members of my cringe posse, so they need more time to shine," Kenny replied.
Gardenia nodded in understanding before sending out her other Pokémon for the battle, which was her own Turtwig. Kenny recalled Slick before tossing up another pokéball and saying, "Okay, Cell! Let's make it cringe!" Cell came out into battle, sparkling a bit as he came out of his pokéball.
"A shiny Scyther?" Gardenia said, "Wow, talk about luck."
Kenny nodded in acknowledgement. "Use Fury Cutter, Cell!" Rushing in, Cell swiped at Gardenia's Turtwig, who got a grazing hit which made it hiss in pain.
"Turtwig, use Leech Seed!" Gardenia called out.
"Cell, get out of the way!" Kenny ordered. Cell saw the Leech Seed coming and promptly jumped to the side, avoiding the attack. "Now hit 'em with another Fury Cutter!" Kenny declared.
Rushing in again, Cell struck Gardenia's Turtwig with another Fury Cutter, which landed more solidly and sent Turtwig flying back into a tree, before it fell to the ground defeated. Gardenia recalled her fainted Turtwig before turning to look at Kenny. "Smart move," Gardenia said with a bemused smirk, "Using a strong bug Pokémon against my grass Pokémon." Gardenia then conceded the match to Kenny, knowing full well that Cell's repeated use of Fury Cutter was going to lead to Kenny winning either way.
...
Later as the humans sat around a camp fire, Cheryl explained to Gardenia what they were up to with trying to find the Enchanted Honey. "Oh, I can help with that," Gardenia said, "I know a place where Combee congregate to form the Combee wall. Combee are connected to the honey, so I bet that they can help out."
The rest of the group cheered, glad to have one more person helping out with the search for the Amber Castle and its Enchanted Honey. "It's getting fairly late," Cheryl remarked, "So we ought to rest here for the night and try for those Combee tomorrow morning."
"Yeah, I need to let Cherubi and especially Turtwig rest," Gardenia remarked. To Kenny, Gardenia said, "You really did a number. I bet the gym leader over in Eterna City will be hard pressed to beat you, Kenny."
Shrugging, Kenny said, "Oh, I dabble." The rest of the group all laughed, and proceeded to relax for the rest of the evening and night, deciding to go after the Combee wall the next morning. Dawn and Kenny had no idea what laid ahead of them, but they were going to face it together with the others here.
END, CHAPTER FIVE
Author's notes;
The story is currently adapting the part where Cheryl temporarily joins the group because they agreed to help her find the Enchanted Honey. However, due to Dawn and Kenny having isekai'd and that they do things differently than the people they were respectively reborn as, the events of the Enchanted Honey arc will go differently. Anyway, the next chapter will see things continue, so keep your eyes peeled for that.