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

Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai

Chapter twenty: Ashy acquisitions

The heroes had just arrived at Chocovine Town, getting off of the boat and stepping foot into the harbor. Looking around, they all saw signs of the festival that they heard about before they came here. Dawn, who was being followed by her Garchomp Germany, walked up to a stall that was selling Phione merchandise. Dawn picked up a Phione plushy and gave it a gentle squeeze, before Germany sniffed at the plushy a bit.

"Oh yeah, Phione are a major selling point here in Chocovine Town," the man running the stall said to Dawn as Ash, Brock, and Kenny came over to join her, "Phione bring good luck to those who spot one. You can even take a submarine ride to hopefully see the Phione up close." With a smirk, the man said, "You know, every coordinator who's seen a Phione ends up winning the next contest that they enter."

Nodding once in understanding, Dawn said, "Sounds lovely, but me and my friends Kenny and Ash are all aiming for the Pokémon League instead." Ash and Kenny both nodded in confirmation. "Will the Phione luck help us there?" Dawn asked.

"No doubt about it," the man replied, "The good luck that seeing a Phione can bestow works all around. Say, what gym are you kids looking to challenge next?"

"Dawn, Kenny, and I all won badges at the Canalave City gym," Ash explained, "We're gearing up to head on over to Snowpoint City next to challenge the gym there."

The man had a look of consideration on his face. "...If I recall correctly," the man began, "Snowpoint City's gym specializes in ice type Pokémon. But then again, Snowpoint City is located far up to the north where it's cold, and ice type Pokémon are very common there. There's also the fact that the place is called Snowpoint City, so you've got to figure ice Pokémon would be involved in the local gym somehow."

Folding her arms over her chest, Dawn said, "Well I guess that means Germany here will be sitting the Snowpoint City gym challenge out." Dawn and Kenny, due to their knowledge from their previous lives, knew ahead of time that Snowpoint City had gym number seven, and that it was going to use ice type Pokémon. Knowing that, Dawn by no means was planning to use Germany who, being a Garchomp which is dual dragon ground type, has a times four weakness to ice.

The heroes thanked the man for his time, and Dawn even decided to purchase the Phione plushy she had picked up, before they took off to go see if they can find a Phione in order to try to get some of that Phione luck to help them with their upcoming challenges to the Snowpoint City gym.

As the heroes took a break later in the afternoon, they all had their Pokémon out for a late afternoon picnic lunch in the park. Brock had out Happiny, Sudowoodo, and Croagunk, Ash had out Pikachu, Monferno, Grotle, Staravia, Swampert, and Buneary, Kenny had out Roshi, Kermit, Shallot, Zarbon, Elay, and Cell, and Dawn had out Chi-Chi, Akiza, Cyrus, Leni, Germany, and Coupins.

Looking to Dawn and Kenny, Ash asked, "So what Pokémon do you guys think you'll be using in your respective challenges to the Snowpoint City gym?"

Gesturing to himself, Kenny said, "Well no way am I going to send Roshi out to face ice Pokémon because that will just be asking for trouble. I will likewise have to refrain from unleashing the power of the legendary Elay."

Pointing to Kenny's shiny Sandslash, Brock said, "Umm, Sandslash isn't a legendary Pokémon."

"Not Elay's species, but Elay himself," Kenny clarified, "But I digress." The reborn trainer gave the matter some thought, before saying, "I think I'll make using Zarbon, Cell, Goofy, and Slick my go-to plan, given I heard that the Snowpoint City gym uses four Pokémon per trainer per battle.

Ash's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "Oh, we can use four Pokémon?" Looking to his party that he had with him, Ash said, "That'll require some reworking of my planning." Ash then looked to Dawn. "What about you, Dawn?"

Dawn gave the matter a moment of thought. "I think I'll go in with Chi-Chi, Leni, and Jack, plus my Toxicroak Froppy." Upon hearing that Dawn owns a Toxicroak, Brock's Croagunk perked up and went right over to look up at Dawn, giving her a suspicious look. "...Trust me, Froppy is far and away from being like that Toxicroak belonging to that one guy in Team Galactic," Dawn remarked as she looked down at Brock's Croagunk, "No need to get your undies in a knot, Croagunk."

Brock's Croagunk then waved his arms in the air as he made some insisting noises. "...I think that Croagunk wants to settle the score with that Toxicroak in Team Galactic," Brock said, "I mean, I was able to see how Croagunk wasn't happy to have gotten help from your Pokémon when he was able to take that Toxicroak down the first time, Dawn. Croagunk probably wants to settle things in a one on one once and for all."

Ash, looking curious, remarked, "Maybe having Croagunk spar with Dawn's Toxicroak will help him train for that?"

"It could also be good training for her Toxicroak as well," Kenny pointed out. Turning to look at Dawn, Kenny said, "What say you, my main man?"

Dawn thought about it for a bit before she ultimately relented. "Sounds fair. I just hope Croagunk doesn't get too carried away. It's clear he's got a chip on his shoulder due to Saturn's Toxicroak, so I don't want Croagunk projecting his dislike there onto Froppy."

"It he gets out of hand, I'll reel him in," Brock promised. With plans for training made, the heroes continued to relax and eat lunch with their Pokémon.

That night, the heroes went to a submarine ride that will give the passengers a shot at seeing the Phione. When the heroes got there, they saw that Team Rocket was organizing the event, and also Dawn and Kenny saw that Ash and Brock failed to recognize them, despite how they wore casual clothes, kimono coats, and glasses. Dawn remembered from this point that Team Rocket isn't up to any trouble yet, so she let things be for now.

The heroes were in the passenger compartment in the submarine, with Ash having Pikachu and Buneary out, Brock having Happiny and Croagunk out, Kenny having Shallot out, and Dawn having Coupins out so that their Pokémon can see the Phione as well potentially. "Hey, do you think we'll see the Phione soon?" Ash asked.

"There's a chance they may not show up at all," Brock replied, "So we need to be-" Brock was cut off when a Phione came up to the submarine window that Brock and his Croagunk were sitting in front of. Following that, two more Phione swam up. The passengers all cheered upon seeing the trio of Phione swim around playfully, thankful that the trio had shown up.

Turning to look at Brock, Kenny said in a sly tone, "You were saying?"

While the trio of Phione swam around for the amusement of the passengers, one stopped still and swam up to the window Ash sat in front of with his Pikachu and Buneary. It swam in place to look at Ash's Pokémon for long enough that other passengers came by to see the Phione standing still. The submarine soon swims past, and eventually returns to shore after surfacing back at the harbor.

...

The heroes got back onto the docks and began to make their way back into town. Ash and Brock were both in the mood to eat out that night, with Dawn and Kenny not objecting. As Ash and Brock looked ahead, both of them too distracted by looking around for restaurants to eat at and talking to one another to even mind Kenny and Dawn behind them, Kenny quietly whispered to Dawn, "Hey dude, wasn't there one episode of the anime where there was a Phione who was crushing on the Buneary who crushes on Ash's Pikachu?"

Dawn nodded in confirmation. "But Ash here caught that Buneary," Dawn whispered back, "So if things continue playing out like that episode, then I have no idea what will occur."

Kenny was about to whisper something else to Dawn, but Ash loudly said, "Woah! That place looks good!" Ash stopped to turn around to look at the reborn trainers. "We ought to eat there!" Ash said, pointing at the place to eat at that he found.

The reborn trainers, both of them deciding to let Ash and Brock pick the first place they found for dinner, agreed with Ash's find and followed him and Brock into the restaurant to eat. They all had a wonderful time, and after dinner they got boarding at the local Pokémon Center, where they all turned in for the night.

The following morning, Ash was the first to be up and at 'em, getting right to training his Pokémon for the upcoming gym challenge at Snowpoint City. He was leading all of his on-hand Pokémon in a group exercise that was basically just morning stretches. As for Dawn and Kenny, they came out looking like they had just woken up. They saw Ash leading his Pokémon in the group exercise while Brock sat at a nearby folding long table he had set up, with a camping pot of coffee ready with mugs, a sugar shaker, and a pitcher of milk for creamer.

Seeing the set up, Dawn said, "Brock you are a livesaver." Brock smiled and let out a humming laugh off good natured amusement as he gestured for Dawn and Kenny to sit down with him. As the two reborn trainers helped themselves to the coffee with Dawn going first, she said, "I want to be ready for the gym challenge in Snowpoint City just as much as Ash, but even I can wait until after waking up a bit more. I still have to rotate Jack and Froppy into my party."

"Ash is just that dedicated to training," Brock said, "He's always ready to give it his all. He's a very inspiring person who brings out the best in his Pokémon."

Kenny nodded in agreement. "And it shows. If what I got down is true, Ash has won against every Sinnoh gym he's challenged so far on the first try each. Dawn here told be about the epic win Ash scored in the Oreburgh Gym, and Ash's actual first try at the Pastoria Gym doesn't count because it was cancelled before either he or Crasher Wake could call out the first attack."

"The long story made short here is that Ash cares for his Pokémon," Dawn said, drawing nods of agreement from both Brock and Kenny. Dawn then scowled bitterly. "...Unlike that jerk Paul. He's clearly got a screw loose, that purple-haired jerk."

Brock's expression became serious. "He's not a good influence, no. I'm still hoping you're able to gather all the evidence you need to bring Paul to answer for his cruelty." Turning to look at where Ash genuinely praised Swampert for doing well, Brock said with a small smile, "But if there's one good thing about Paul, it's that his poor attitude helps make the good attitude of good trainers like Ash stand out all the more."

Dawn and Kenny both nodded in agreement with Brock, confident in Ash's attitude as a trainer as a whole. As the heroes aside from Ash had coffee, Ash and the others all looked over as they saw, to their surprise, a Phione come hopping out of the Pokémon Center, followed by a Nurse Joy and her Chansey partner. "That Phione just came out of the sink, startling Chansey," Nurse Joy said, "It then saw you all training outside, cried out in happiness, then immediately ran out to see you."

The Phione hopped right on over to Ash's Buneary in a beeline, taking her by her right arm and trying to get her to come with it. Grotle walked over to Phione and lifted a front foot up to offer Phione the equivalent of a handshake, but Phione responded by hitting Grotle with Ice Beam, making the heroes all get up. "Hey! What was that for?" Ash scolded.

Before an answer could be given, Team Rocket came running over to where everyone was at. "Hey Phione!" Jessie scowled, "You need to come back with us!"

"Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed as he stepped forward to challenge them, his Pokémon aside from Buneary backing him up. As for Buneary, she hid behind Pikachu while reaching for his front left paw with hers. Phione saw this and cried out in outrage at Pikachu, who looked on in confusion.

Phione's outraged cry got everyone's attention. "...What put a Beedrill in Phione's undies?" Kenny asked as he looked at the Phione.

Translating, Meowth said, "Apparently, Phione is jealous of Pikachu because of how Buneary is getting close to him, and is challenging Pikachu for the right to be with Buneary." Pikachu looked a bit surprised by this, and made it clear he wasn't accepting the challenge but that made Phione even more upset. Then, to everyone's surprise, Buneary herself stepped in. "...Buneary is now saying that she'll face Phione herself," Meowth translated, "And that she'll go on a date with it down to the beach if it wins."

Phione hopped up and down, clearly accepting the terms. Thusly, everyone went down to the beach in order to watch the battle between Buneary and Phione.

A short while later, the two small Pokémon stood facing one another on the beach, with all of the humans (aside from Nurse Joy who remained back at the Pokémon Center) standing by to watch. Ash was worried about how this would go for Buneary, but he had faith in her. Buneary opened the combat by going in with Dizzy Punch, which Phione dodged with Double Team. Phione then used Supersonic which Buneary dodged by quickly falling to the sandy shore and rolling away like she was a rolling pin.

Getting up, Buneary hopped up high with Bounce, before aiming a foot at Phione. Phione countered by using Ice Beam, which struck Buneary directly and made her fall to the sandy shore with a slight thud that was muffled by the sand. "You can do it, Buneary!" Ash called out as Buneary struggled to get back up. Buneary was able to pick herself up and dusted herself off, clearly hurt a little from the hit from Ice Beam and the fall.

Buneary flinched in pain a bit, which Phione took as a cue to fire another Ice Beam, to which Buneary fired her own Ice Beam. The two Ice Beams met, and began pushing against one another for a second before a large hunk of ice began to form. When the ice hunk got large enough, Phione stopped and jumped back before using Supersonic again, hitting the ice hunk and shattering it to make ice chunks fly at and hit Buneary.

Buneary was thrown back, and she growled in frustration as she forcefully tried to push herself back up. "You're almost there, Buneary!" Ash called out, "I believe in you!" Buneary, spurred on by her trainer's encouragement, was able to push herself all the way back up as she gave off a determined cry. As Buneary did this, she began glowing white very brightly to everyone's amazement. Her form grew and shifted, mostly getting taller and her ears growing longer.

When the changing was complete, the glowing faded, revealing that Ash's Buneary had evolved into Lopunny. "Woah, check it out!" Jessie said, "The twerp's Buneary just evolved into Lopunny!" Phione saw the now Lopunny and liked how she looked even more, reinvigorating its efforts to win the evolved Pokémon over. It fired a Supersonic at Lopunny, who got out of the way by jumping up by using Bounce.

Phione tried dodging the Bounce again, but this time Lopunny was able to land a solid hit. Phione was pushed back, and began painting with exhaustion. Seeing that she had Phione on the ropes, Lopunny took aim with Ice Beam, but stopped short when Team Rocket quickly snatched up the Phione while it was weakened, trapping it in a glass sphere. "Hey!" Ash yelled, "What do you think you're doing, Team Rocket?!"

"Phione here is a top tier good luck charm!" Jessie proclaimed, "We'll be using it to help rake in the dough and snatch every Pokémon we set our eyes out to snatch!"

"And good luck trying to stop us, twerps!" Meowth bragged, "Because there's nothing that you can do to stop us without risking hurting Phione here at the sa-" Meowth was cut off when Lopunny froze the bottom halves of Team Rocket up with Ice Beam, leaving them unable get away. Dawn, who had Coupins out, had him use Psychic to levitate the glass sphere Phione was in out of Team Rocket's grasp.

Dawn, as she safely held the glass sphere that Phione was in, gave Team Rocket a wry look. "...You were saying?"

Pointing an accusing paw at Dawn, Meowth said, "Hey, no fair! That's cheating!"

Rolling her eyes dryly, Dawn said, "Ash, if you would be so kind?"

Ash smirked a bit, knowing what Dawn was asking for. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

"Piiiiikaaaaachuuuuu!"

That Thunderbolt struck Team Rocket, blowing up around them and sending them blasting off again. With Team Rocket gone, Dawn opened the glass sphere, letting Phione out. Phione hopped out and began hopping over to continue battling Lopunny, but stumbled a bit as it panted hard with exhaustion. The initial battling against Lopunny, coupled with Team Rocket trying to steal it and its subsequent escape, had worn Phione out.

"Hey Phione, are you okay?" Ash asked. Phione, ignoring Ash, looked up to Lopunny and began talking to her, seemingly as if it were asking her something. Lopunny, looking curious about what Phione was asking it about, gave the matter some thought for a bit, then she gave Phione an answer while gesturing to Ash. Seeing where Lopunny was gesturing to, Phione turned and saw Ash. Phione looked to be thinking about something.

Then, after a few moments, it hopped over to Ash and then cried up at him, seemingly asking something which must have been a big deal because Lopunny and the other Pokémon who were out all looked surprised. "What did Phione say?" Ash asked.

Brock looked from Lopunny to Phione to Ash, then back and forth a bit as he tried putting the pieces together. "...I think that Phione asked Lopunny how she's so tough, then Lopunny replied because you trained her, and now Phione's trying to ask if it could go with you because it wants to become a lot stronger than it is now." Phione nodded in confirmation to everything that Brock had said, which surprised Ash because a Phione was wanting to go with him.

"Are you sure you want me to catch you?" Ash asked, with Phione nodding in confirmation. Smiling a bit, Ash said as he took out a pokéball, "Alright then. Go Pokéball!" Ash threw the pokéball at Phione, who went into the pokéball before it fell to the sandy shore. The pokéball shook for a bit before it made a ping sound, indicating capture. Picking up the pokéball that held his new Pokémon, Ash held it up as he cheered, "Alright! I caught a Phione!"

...

That evening at around sunset, Ash took his Phione to the beach because it indicated it wanted to say goodbye to its friends who were still wild. After Phione explained to its wild friends what it wanted, the wild Phione understood and, with some tears in their eyes, looked like they wished Ash's Phione the best before taking off. After that, Ash came back to the Pokémon Center where the others were waiting.

"So Ash," Brock began, "What will you be doing to train your new Phione?"

"Well Phione is a water Pokémon," Ash explained, "So I was thinking of having it spar with Floatzel and Swampert to help get it caught up."

Dawn and Kenny nodded in approval of this idea. "At least try to work on a reasonable training schedule, Ash," Dawn said, "I know you want to train for the upcoming challenge at the Snowpoint City gym, but you can at least have some breakfast in the morning first."

Seeing that Brock and Kenny were both giving him looks showing they agreed with Dawn, Ash sighed and gave a mildly embarrassed small smile. "Alright, alright," Ash relented, "I'll make sure my Pokémon and I eat breakfast first." The heroes then shared a good laugh as they unwound for the night, happy that things are looking up.

The following morning in Chocovine Town, various elders were getting up to usual morning activities, mostly relaxing on their porches with morning coffee, or relaxing at stalls they ran in the open air market area. One such example saw an older woman in her early seventies setting up her baked goods stall for the morning. She had it set up and was ready to begin the day of business, but she wore a mildly confused look of worry on her face.

As this older woman looked concerned, another older woman, roughly the same age but she wore glasses unlike the first older lady, came over. "What seems to be the problem, Mina?" asked the second older lady to the first.

The first older lady, revealed to be named Mina, gave a resigned sigh. "It's just that the little sweetheart who came by here regularly hasn't shown up in a while. I can't help but wonder what could have happened to her, Momo."

As the second older woman, revealed to be named Momo, nodded in agreement with Mina, the heroes came walking on through that portion of the open air market area. It was Mina who first spotted the heroes, her eyes zeroing in on Ash. "Oh! You're that boy who caught one of the lucky Phione," Mina said, waving Ash and the others over to her and Mina, "Maybe you can help out with a little problem that we have."

Ash, curious, came walking up to Mina and Momo. "What's the problem, ma'am?" Ash asked as he reached the two older women as Dawn and the others caught up to him.

"A while ago," Momo began to explain, "There was this sweet little Kirlia who came by through here every morning. She was such a sweetheart, dancing around and singing and occasionally helping us old folk with heavy lifting by using Psychic. All of us old folk who work here in the open air market just loved that Kirlia to bits, always doting on her and giving her little treats. But then one day, starting about a week ago, Kirlia stopped showing up."

"A Kirlia, huh?" Dawn remarked. Turning to look at Ash, Dawn said, "Maybe we ought to help look for this Kirlia, Ash. I can help out since I've rotated Jack into my party."

Mina, with a confused look on her face, said, "Jack? Who's Jack?"

"I name my Pokémon," Dawn explained, "Jack is the name of my Gallade." Dawn was about to call Jack out to show Mina and Momo, but she stopped short when they heard the sounds of a Kirlia panting coming up. Everyone turned to see a Kirlia appear a short distance away, jogging rather than using psychic powers to float.

"Oh! There's that sweet little dear now," Mina said, sounding relieved, then added in a confused tone, "But why is she jogging? Don't Kirlia usually float with their psychic powers?"

Dawn and the boys got an answer for why Kirlia was jogging when she got close enough for them to see what she looked like up close; Kirlia with all due respect was actually notably overweight, probably qualifying as obese for her species. She had a round and plump face, a notable soft belly, and her arms and legs where also wider and more plush than what's normal for the Kirlia species.

As Kirlia was about to jog past Mina's baked goods stand, Mina got her attention. "Hey sweetie, you had us worried!" Kirlia stopped, partly to catch her breath, as she turned to look up at Mina. "You haven't been by here in a while, so us older folks were growing worried about you," Mina went on. She then took up a cookie and held it out to Kirlia. "Here, it's your favorite," Mina said as she offered the cookie to Kirlia.

To the surprise of Mina and Momo, Kirlia quickly shook her head. "Hmm? What's up with Kirlia?" Momo asked, "She's never turned down treats before."

"I think I see what's up here," Kenny said. Gesturing to Kirlia, Kenny pointed out, "It's oblivious that Kirlia here is, with all due respect, rather chunky around the curves for her species." Turning to look at Mina and Momo, Kenny said, "You nice old ladies said you and the other seniors in this area like doting on Kirlia and giving her treats, right? That's probably how Kirlia got so plush." Gesturing to the Kirlia, Kenny said, "My bet is that she's trying to diet and lose the weight, which is why she hasn't been by this area to see you in a while."

Kirlia nodded in confirmation to what Kenny said. "Oh dear, we must have been so caught up in having a little sweetheart to dote on around here that we overfed her without meaning to or even realizing it," Momo said, sincere regret in her tone.

"At least she's trying to lose her belly," Mina said, "It shows she's trying to get her health back on track."

Clapping his hands together, Ash said, "I got it!" Turning to face Kirlia, Ash said, "Kirlia, why don't you join me, Dawn, and Kenny for training? We're going to have our Pokémon work out and train for our upcoming challenges to the gym in Snowpoint City, so you can work out with them." Kirlia looked like she was considering the offer, then after a few seconds she nodded in agreement, which drew some happy cheers from the heroes that Kirila agreed to join them for working out.

END, CHAPTER TWENTY

Author's notes;

This chapter sees the heroes begin training for the upcoming challenge at the Snowpoint City gym. It also sees the covering of the Phione episode in Chocovine Town, as I was planning to have Ash's Buneary evolve into Lopunny during those events here. Also to give Ash a further leg up, here he catches the Phione who was crushing on Buneary then Lopunny.

The end of the chapter sees an idea someone I talked to in the PMs gave me, but I gave it my own spin to give Ash a chance to show other aspects of being a Pokémon trainer, that being helping an overweight Pokémon diet and slim back down, a concept that has appeared in the anime at least a few times before. Kirlia's diet and exercise will continue in the next chapter, so give her your best support as she works hard to achieve her goal over time.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Jack (male Gallade), Germany (male Garchomp), Froppy (female Toxicroak), Akiza (female Roserade), Leni (female Lucario)

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), Phione (gender unknown), Monferno (male), Staravia (male), Swampert (female), Lopunny (female)