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

Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai

Chapter sixteen: Phantom Menaces

After having been back in Hearthome City for a few days, Dawn and Kenny were both ready to take on the Hearthome City gym in their bids for the Relic Badge. They would have to go one at a time, and it was settled that Dawn would get to go first. As the two reborn trainers proceeded to head on over to the Hearthome City gym, they heard the familiar voice of Ash call out, "Hey Dawn! Kenny!" The two of them then turned to see Ash and Brock come running up towards them.

"Ah, Ash " Dawn greeted, "How have you been since we last saw you?"

Looking a bit concerned, Ash said, "Well my Turtwig had evolved into Grotle since I last saw you guys, but he's been having some difficulty in adjusting to not being as nimble as before. At one point, Paul's Torterra came up on its own and looked like it wanted to give Grotle some pointers, but I kindly asked it to leave."

Dawn looked a bit surprised by that. "...You turned down help for your Grotle from-"

"Given what that Torterra did under Paul's command," Brock interrupted, both his expression and tone serious, "You can see why Ash wouldn't want his Pokémon to associate with it."

Ash nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. I've tried putting in work with my own Pokémon, hoping the faster ones can work with Grotle to improve his speed and mobility." With a mildly surprised look on his face, Ash went on, "In the process of working with Grotle in order to improve his speed, Buizel evolved." To showcase this, Ash tossed up a pokéball to call out a Floatzel.

Dawn and Kenny were surprised by this revelation, as in the anime from their previous life, Ash's Buizel never evolved. The extra training Ash did to help Grotle must have pushed Buizel to the point he needed in his growth to evolve. "Has Floatzel been having any trouble since evolving?" Dawn asked, still a little surprised that Ash had evolved his Buizel.

Gently shaking his head, Ash replied, "On the contrary. Floatzel has improved in both speed and power, and he's the first to have mastered the technique I came up with to counter how Fantina's Pokémon like to spam Hypnosis." Recalling his Floatzel, Ash said, "I just came here because I'm finally ready to try to challenge the gym so I can earn my fifth Sinnoh gym badge."

"Umm, we got here first," Kenny said, "And Dawn was going to take a crack at it before me."

Ash nodded in understanding. "Well can we at least watch?"

"I have no problem," Dawn replied, "The more the merrier, I always say." Looking at Ash in concern, Dawn said, "Do you plan to use your Grotle against Fantina?"

Gently shaking his head, Ash replied, "No, I still want to help him overcome his lack of mobility first before I try using him in anything serious."

Gesturing to himself, Kenny said, "Well if you turned down an offer for advice from Paul's Torterra, then would you mind it if Roshi tried helping out with your Grotle?"

Ash looked a bit intrigued by Kenny's offer. "...So long as your Torterra isn't a brutal attack monster like Paul's, then sure."

"No need to worry, my good man," Kenny said, "Roshi is far and away from being like that."

A short while later, everyone was in the Hearthome City gym, with the boys in the bleachers to watch the battle, and Dawn and Fantina standing on the battlefield ready to battle. "I heard that you and one other trainer took in the two abandoned Eevees that I found and left with Bebe," Fantina said, "I hope that you've given them good homes."

Dawn nodded in response. "Oh yeah. Kenny and I have taken good care of them."

Fantina smiled, nodded once to Dawn. "Truly there ought to be more trainers like you! I feel that our battle will be a magnificent show with such noble hearts taking part!" Fantina then walked to her spot to stand at on the battlefield, while Dawn went to her own. The two trainers turned to face one another, ready to face off.

"This official Hearthome City gym battle will be between Fantina, the leader of the Hearthome City gym, and the challenger, Dawn Berlitz of Twinleaf Town!" the referee announced, "Each trainer may use three Pokémon each, and the battle is over when all of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Additionally, only the challenger may substitute Pokémon out at any time during the battle! Now then, let this battle... BEGIN!"

"Mismagius, I choose you!" Fantina called out as she sent in her Mismagius.

"Alright, Boss!" Dawn called out as she sent out her Honchkrow, "Let's get goin'!"

Fantina looked a bit concerned by the Pokémon that Dawn had sent out, but she wasn't going to give up. "Mismagius," Fantina began, "Use Magical Leaf!"

"Boss, use Night Slash!" Dawn ordered. Mismagius conjured glowing leaves that it cast at Boss, who simply tanked the unavoidable attack before slashing at Mismagius, making a black shadowy slash line through the air that trailed after Boss as he slashed at Mismagius. The ghost Pokémon cried out greatly in pain as it was thrown to the ground hard by the force of taking a super effective Night Slash that clearly had scored a critical hit.

When the dust settled, everyone saw that Mismagius had been knocked out. "Mismagius is unable to battle!" the referee declared, "The winner is Honchkrow!"

Fantina, though a little concerned about facing a dark type Pokémon, still smiled as she recalled her defeated Mismagius. "I have to say, young lady," Fantina remarked, "You sure know how to make use of type advantage." Holding up another pokéball, Fantina went on, "But this is where it becomes a turn around in my favor! Gengar, I choose you!"

"Boss that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon out. Tossing up a Safari Ball, Dawn went on, "Alright, Scorpion! Let's get goin'!" Honchkrow came out and Drapion came in. Pointing at Fantina's Gengar, Dawn said, "Scorpion, use Night Slash!"

"Gengar, use Hypnosis!" Fantina ordered. Since Gengar had to stay still to cast Hypnosis, Scorpion was able to strike it with Night Slash, hitting it hard but not knocking it out; Gengar was able to force through by the skin of its teeth. Gengar then cast Hypnosis right at Scorpion, scoring a direct hit and making the named Drapion fall asleep. Fantina, seeing she was able to put one of Dawn's dark Pokémon to sleep, breathed easy. "...Now that your Drapion is asleep," Fantina began, "I can be-"

Fantina stopped short when Scorpion suddenly perked right back up into being awake, crying out in mild annoyance over having been put to sleep. "But how?!" Fantina exclaimed, "That Hypnosis was a direct hit! How is Drapion awake already?!"

"Scorpion ate the Chesto Berry I had given him as a held item," Dawn said, "It woke him up." Pointing right ahead, Dawn said, "Scorpion, use Night Slash again!"

"Gengar, try dodging and use Hypnosis again!" Fantina ordered. Gengar tried avoiding the named Drapion's second attack, but its injury from the first Night Slash, plus trying to use Hypnosis while moving around, made it very difficult for Gengar. As for Scorpion, he simply rushed right up to Gengar and slashed at him while leaving a black shadowy trail on the air, hitting Gengar directly and making it slam into the ground, clearly knocked out.

Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Gengar is unable to battle! The winner is Drapion!"

Fantina recalled her defeated Gengar, a bit concerned by the multiple dark Pokémon that this challenger came at her with. "I have to say, you got me in a pickle," Fantina remarked to Dawn, "And I much rather that pickles be in me, as they are a delicious food. I'm rather partial to Dill pickles."

"...I prefer Bread and Butter pickles," Dawn replied, glad that Fantina was talking about literal pickles.

Nodding once in understanding, Fantina said, "Yes, pickles are a delicious food. But we aren't here to talk about our favorite pickle flavors." Holding up the pokéball that contained her final Pokémon, Fantina said, "We're here to battle! Drifblim, I choose you!"

"Scorpion that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon out, "Alright, Souji! Let's get goin'!" Dawn recalled her named Drapion and sent out her named Rampardos. Dawn recalled, back when she was first working with Souji when he was a Cranidos, that it wouldn't be safe to use him in her quest to earn the Sinnoh gym badges at the time because she got him right after beating Roark and before she faced Gardenia, Maylene, and Crasher Wake in that order.

But now she had at least some valid reasoning to use a pure rock type Pokémon in a gym battle, as Fantina uses ghost Pokémon; furthermore, Fantina's final Pokémon is Drifblim, who is part flying type, thus giving Souji an advantage. Pointing forward, Dawn said, "Souji, use Rock Tomb!"

"Drifblim, use Hypnosis!" Fantina called out. Drifblim rushed in, placed its tassels on the sides of Souji's head, and unleashed Hypnosis at point blank range, making Souji fall asleep. As Fantina looked assured, to her surprise Souji woke right back up, then unleashed Rock Tomb on Drifblim at point blank range, pushing it back away. "But how?" Fantina asked, looking worried, "Another Chesto Berry, perhaps?"

"Actually, it's a Lum Berry this time," Dawn explained. Pointing forward, Dawn said, "Souji, use Rock Tomb again!"

"Drifblim, get out of the way and use Hypnosis again!" Fantina called out quickly. Drifblim tried to move out of the way of the oncoming Rock Tomb from Dawn's named Rampardos, but it couldn't get out of the way in time, especially since it tried to conjure Hypnosis while it was trying to move out of the way, meaning its focus was on multiple things at once. As such, it got hit hard by the second Rock Tomb, throwing it down to the ground where it laid, clearly out of it.

Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Drifblim is unable to battle! The winner is Rampardos!" Gesturing to Dawn, the referee declared, "Victory of this battle goes to the challenger, Dawn Berlitz!"

While Dawn breathed a sigh of relief that she was able to get through the battle against Fantina just fine, Souji let loose a shouting cry of victory. Fantina, knowing she had lost, still smiled as she recalled her fainted Drifblim. Walking up to Dawn, Fantina said, "Truly, you have performed well in our battle today. I'm still a bit curious as to how Drifblim couldn't get out of the way in time to avoid that second Rock Tomb."

"Rock Tomb lowers the speed of the Pokémon hit by it," Dawn explained. Fantina nodded in understanding of the explanation, before she handed to Dawn her rightfully earned Relic Badge. Fantina said that she'd be ready for the next challenger later that evening, after her Pokémon all had have a chance to be treated. Given that Dawn and Kenny had arrived before Ash, Kenny would get the next turn. Ash was fine with that, as he still wanted to perfect his counter against Hypnosis so that he can deal with Fantina's Pokémon.

Later that evening after Fantina's Pokémon were all back up to snuff, everyone went back to the Hearthome City gym to watch Kenny's try against Fantina to earn the Relic Badge. As Kenny had said a while ago, two of his three Pokémon that he had chosen to use for his challenge to Fantina's gym were Goofy and Shallot. However, the third Pokémon that Kenny had decided to use against Fantina took everyone else at the gym, Fantina especially so, by surprise.

Kenny's first Pokémon, which he sent out against Fantina's first Pokémon Mismagius, was his Machamp Zarbon. Fantina had no idea what to make of her opponent coming at her with a fighting type Pokémon while she herself used ghost Pokémon which were immune to fighting attacks. However, Fantina got her answer when Zarbon struck Mismagius with Knock Off, hitting it with a super effective attack that sent Mismagius reeling before it could use Psywave.

Kenny then had Zarbon follow up with Stone Edge, which struck Mismagius and knocked it out. Fantina followed up by sending in her Gengar, who was able to outspeed Zarbon and put him to sleep with Hypnosis. A Chesto Berry he held woke Zarbon back up right away, then he struck Gengar with a Knock Off, dealing great damage to Gengar but not taking it out of the battle quite yet. With her Gengar still in it, Fantina called for another Hypnosis.

Kenny countered this by recalling Zarbon, causing the Hypnosis to flounder, and sent Shallot in, who made quick work of Gengar with a Shadow Ball. Fantina then sent out her Drifblim, who tried using Hypnosis on Shallot. It worked, but Shallot's held Lum Berry woke him back up, then he used Ice Beam to not only strike Drifblim and deal great damage to it, but also the Ice Beam scored a freeze on the ghost flying Pokémon.

With Drifblim helpless, Kenny ordered Shallot to keep attacking the frozen Drifblim, hitting it with two Shadow Balls in a row before Drifblim had taken enough damage to go down, netting Kenny the win and his fifth Sinnoh gym badge. He never even had to use Goofy, which disappointed him a little bit, but he was still overall happy that he won against Fantina. With all of her Pokémon all out of it, Fantina said that they'll have to be rested for the night at the Pokémon Center, before she has her battle with Ash in the morning.

...

The following morning at the Hearthome City gym, everyone gathered to watch Ash have his go at Fantina. Ash had the same party he used in the anime in Dawn's and Kenny's previous life, although his Chimchar and Buizel were evolved, being Monferno and Floatzel now. That extra power let Ash get through the first portion of the battle against Fantina just fine, playing out more or less the same as it did in the anime in the previous life of the two reborn trainers.

When Fantina sent out Drifblim, however, that's where things changed. Ash had Pikachu go in and, using a mix of the Countershield technique and a Lum Berry he had Pikachu hold to wake him up when he got hit by Drifblim's Hypnosis (Dawn supplied Ash with a Lum Berry and two Chesto Berries so he could add those to his strategy against Fantina), Pikachu not only landed a solid hit on Drifblim with Thunderbolt, but the Thunderbolt also managed to inflict paralysis on Drifblim.

Drifblim tried fighting through the paralysis to use Ominous Wind, but it failed to fight on through, which made it safe for Ash to call back Pikachu and send Floatzel back in. Floatzel was able to rush in and use Bite, doing super effective damage while also making Drifblim flinch, which gave him the freedom to whip out the Countershield technique to slam right into Drifblim, hitting it very hard and taking Drifblim out, netting Ash the win.

As Ash received the Relic Badge from Fantina, Dawn thought about how the battle Ash had here against Fantina went; Ash won on his first try against Fantina, same as he did in the anime in her and Kenny's previous life. But whereas Ash only had one Pokémon left in the anime by the time he had won, here Ash won without any of his Pokémon going down. The extra power that comes with Monferno and Floatzel, combined with how Ash was given berry held items to supplement his odds of winning, really made a world of difference.

...

With Dawn, Kenny, and Ash all having earned their fifth Sinnoh gym badges each, they were ready to head on over to Canalave City, where the sixth gym was located. Ash and Brock decided to take a blimp to head on over, but Dawn and Kenny decided to go on foot, citing how they would do their own training along the way. Ash nodded in understanding, and then wished the two reborn trainers luck, as well as wishing he'll meet up with them again in Canalave City.

The two groups parted ways once more, leaving Dawn and Kenny be as the made their way to Canalave City on their own. Dawn and Kenny had no idea what laid ahead of them exactly, but they were ready and willing to face whatever challenge may come their way. With springs in their steps, the two of them made their way towards Canalave City, where they would work to earn their sixth Sinnoh gym badges each.

Within a few days of traveling on foot, Dawn and Kenny made their way to Canalave City. Upon arrival, they inquired about the blimp service and asked if two guys named Ash and Brock had come through yet. To their surprise, the people working the blimp service said that, due to an incident, the blimp service has been down for the past week, and that having gone from Hearthome City to Canalave City on foot was the right choice.

Figuring that they'd wait until Ash and Brock arrive in Canalave City, Dawn and Kenny decided to go train over on Iron Island. As the two of them walked past a group of girls talking near an open air market, one of the girls spotted the reborn trainers. "Excuse me," the girl said, "But you two look like you're on your way over to take the boat to Iron Island."

Dawn and Kenny turned to face the girls. "...We are, yes," Dawn said, "Why do you ask?"

The girl who got their attention stepped forward. She looked to be about Dawn and Kenny's age, with brown hair in a bob cut, and she wore a long sleeved pastel yellow blouse, a pink skirt that reached her ankles, light brown leather sandals, and she wore square framed glasses. "My name is Otama," the girl said, "And I was wondering if you could do me a favor over on Iron Island."

"What's the favor?" Dawn asked.

Otama held up a wrapped bento lunch and said, "My dad Izashi is one of the workers who does mining work over on Iron Island. He hasn't come back since he left yesterday afternoon. I got it he and his co-workers are often too busy to leave Iron Island to come back to the mainland for a bit, but I still can't help but worry. Could you see how he's doing while also bringing him this lunch?"

Taking the lunch from Otama, Dawn said, "Just tell me what your dad looks like so I know who he is."

Nodding once in thanks, Otama said, "My dad Izashi is a little over six feet tall, very strong and broad of shoulder like a bodybuilder. He's got a messy mop of dark greenish hair, and he has some freckles on his face."

"Alright, got it," Dawn replied, also getting the girl's address so she and Kenny can return to her and tell her what was going on. As she and Kenny continued to make their way to the boat to go to Iron Island, Dawn remarked, "Well it looks like we got ourselves a quest, Kenny."

"Check up on a dad at a mine while also bringing him a lunch," Kenny surmised, "I half suspect that some wild Pokémon may cause trouble."

"Well it's a good thing we rotated our respective parties to prepare to train for taking on the Canalave City gym," Dawn pointed out as she and Kenny continued heading for the boats.

One boat ride later, and Dawn and Kenny found themselves on Iron Island. Kenny inhaled through his nose before saying, "Ah, can you just smell all of the potential training we can do here?"

"We ought to try finding this Izashi fellow before anything else," Dawn replied before she and Kenny went about heading further into the island. As the two reborn trainers walked, Dawn said, "So who do you have lined up to face the Canalave City gym, Kenny? Keep in mind that the gym leader Byron uses steel type Pokémon."

Listing things off of his fingers, Kenny said, "Well I was thinking Zarbon, Roshi, and Goofy. I think some of Byron's Pokémon have partial typings making them weak to water, so I may be tempted to use Kermit instead. Oh! Elay can also make his debut in my Sinnoh badge quest!" Turning to look at Dawn, Kenny asked, "How about you, my main man?"

"Chi-Chi is a solid choice," Dawn began, "As is Germany. I may also consider using Shadow and Lynn to deal with Pokémon with partial typings making them weak to water." Kenny nodded in agreement with Dawn, but both of them stopped short when they heard some men cry out in panic. The two reborn trainers rushed to look over the edge to look down in a large crater, and saw that a number of workers were being chased by some wild Pokémon living on Iron Island.

Upon further looking, Dawn saw that one of the workers, being shouldered by a co-worker of his due to clearly having a sprained ankle, matched the description that Otama gave for her dad Izashi. Dawn, with Kenny rushing in after her, went right on in to save the workers, calling out Germany as Kenny called out Kermit. The two reborn trainers cut off the stampede of wild Pokémon, and then sent their Pokémon in for the attack.

...

After some battling, Dawn and Kenny were able to deal with the wild Pokémon stampede that was chasing the workers, either by knocking them out outright or sending them running. After the danger had passed, Dawn and Kenny turned to face all of the workers, with Kenny asking for an explanation. "Yeah, I had accidentally woken all of them up with my digging," admitted the worker who was carrying Izashi on his shoulders, "My bad."

"Well at least fighting off those wild Pokémon helped Kenny and I get in some training," Dawn said. Turning to look at Izashi, Dawn said, "So you're Izashi, right?"

"You know me?" Izashi replied, looking mildly surprised.

"Kenny and I ran into your daughter Otama on our way to the boat we took to get here to train," Dawn explained, then handed over the wrapped bento as she went on, "Otama asked us to get this lunch to you while also asking us to check up on you to see how you're doing."

Gesturing to Izashi, a third worker said, "Well due to that sprain in his ankle Izashi got due to Maverick's recklessness, he'll need to head back home to the mainland and miss work for at least a week by my estimation. We'll run it by our boss first, but I'm sure he'll agree as he prioritizes the safety and well-being of us guys. That being said." Turning to look at Maverick, the third worker said, "Man, you are in for a world of trouble when the boss hears that you caused that incident with all of those wild Pokémon chasing us."

Sighing in a defeated tone, Maverick said, "I know."

Back on the mainland in Canalave City, Dawn and Kenny helped the hurt Izashi home, where he was received by his daughter Otama and wife Moinko; Moinko looked like an adult Otama, but she was very 'well fed'; Dawn's estimation she did in her mind upon seeing Moinko placed the plump woman at the 243kg mark. "Oh my goodness, thank you kids so much for saving my husband and getting him back here to Canalave City!" Moinko said as she and her family had Dawn and Kenny over as visitors.

"It would have been sooner, but your husband's boss had to approve of putting him on leave first," Dawn explained.

Izashi nodded in confirmation. "I actually got the next two weeks off, as I've got too much time off saved up and the boss says I have to use some of it. At least it's paid leave."

"Well I'm just glad I that I got my husband back safe and sound," Moinko replied, then added while looking to Dawn, "And I have you to thank for that, young lady." Moinko then left the room, but came back a few moments later carrying a Pokémon egg. "A well to do trainer named Riley left this egg at the Pokémon Egg care facility that I run here in Canalave City," Moinko said as she handed the egg over to Dawn, "I think that you will be able to take excellent care of it."

"Th-Thanks," Dawn said, surprised that she was given a Pokémon egg, supposedly left by Riley who, in Dawn and Kenny's previous life, was an NPC the player helped in the Sinnoh games on Iron Island. If it was Riley who left this Pokémon egg with Moinko, then Dawn had a sinking suspicion on what Pokémon will end up hatching from the egg. That being said, hatching the egg became a top priority for the reborn trainer.

...

Later that evening, after Dawn and Kenny finished some intense training out on Route 218, they turned in for the night at the local Pokémon Center. "So what do you think about your egg, Dawn?" Kenny asked as he took the top bunk in a back bedroom while Dawn took the bottom bunk.

Dawn looked to where the egg sat on a cushion on a dresser in the room. "...I'm going to want to do some walking around Canalave City with the egg. Since eggs here seem to hatch in a manner similar to how they did in the games in our previous life, simply having the egg on hand while doing a bunch of walking will get the egg to hatch."

"Well you raised a Togekiss who hatched as a Togepi from an egg you got," Kenny remarked, "I'm sure you'll do fine raising whatever Pokémon hatches from that egg." Kenny then rolled over and promptly went to sleep.

Dawn, smiling gently as she continued looking at her egg, slowly closed her eyes as she said, "Yeah. I bet I'll have a blast with whatever Pokémon hatches from that egg."

END, CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Author's notes;

Here Dawn, Kenny, and Ash have their battles against Fantina and win on their respective first tries each, thus bringing all of them one badge each closer to the Pokémon League. Dawn and Kenny make it to Canalave City ahead of Ash and Brock since their blimp they took was delayed, allowing Dawn and Kenny to have some adventures and get in some training around the Canalave City and Iron Island areas.

This sees them save some workers on Iron Island, with the wife of one of the rescued workers giving Dawn a Pokémon egg left at the Pokémon egg care facility she works at, with the egg Dawn gets having been left there by Riley, who will pop up soon. Things will continue in the next chapter, so keep your eyes peeled.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Germany (male Gabite), Shadow (male Gastrodon), Lynn (female Floatzel), unhatched Pokémon egg

Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Zarbon (male Machamp), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Goofy (male Houndoom), Juan (male Pikachu)

Ash's Pokémon: Pikachu (male), Grotle (male), Monferno (male), Staravia (male), Floatzel (male), Buneary (female)

EDIT: Someone in an anonymous PM pointed out to me something rather unfortunate about the name of the daughter of Izashi and Moinko (the daughter's new name is Otama, like the mochi girl from One Piece), so I changed the girl's name. Seriously, her original name was actually something that I came up with at random because I thought it sounded Japanese, which is what I was going for. I had no idea it was an actual thing. My apologies.