Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter thirty: Festival Festivities concluded and training begun
Dawn was browsing through a catalog of various held items at home an hour or so after she and everyone else met Barry and his mom Patty at their house. There were a number of items that had piqued Dawn's interest, and she was circling ones that she wanted to snag. Given she was sitting on fifteen million in reward money, she didn't exactly have to worry about expenses for a while. As Dawn was browsing through the catalog, Ash came walking into the house with Kenny and Brock.
Looking up, Dawn said, "And how was training with Barry, Ash?"
"I got a good workout in for my Pokémon, yeah," Ash replied, "I feel like we'll go very far in the Twinleaf Town festival tournament tomorrow."
Dawn smiled. "Well I'm glad to hear it," Dawn replied as she stood up from where she was sitting.
"I see you've been checking out that catalog," Brock said.
Nodding in agreement, Dawn said, "Oh yeah. I've circled all that I wanted to order. My mom said she'll order it for me while I'm out."
"And now all that there is left to do is crash for the night," Kenny remarked, "Of course, I got some babysitting duty tomorrow, so I won't be able to take part in the tournament."
"You and Dawn are going to be missing out on a whole lot, Kenny," Ash commented, "I can just tell that the tournament will be awesome." The heroes spent the rest of the night relaxing, eager for the wonderments that the following day will bring to them. As the heroes slept, Dawn thought about what all awaited them after the festival, especially considering how Johanna said she had a bit of work ahead of her after the festival.
Dawn was still wondering what her mom meant by that.
The following day, the festival was still going strong, with Ash, Brock, and Dawn walking around to track down Patty's husband Palmer; they were provided a photo of him, so they'd be able to identify him when they came across him. "So Palmer has to do a thing with your mom in order to kick off the tournament?" Ash asked.
Dawn nodded in confirmation. "Yes, but Palmer was nowhere to be found. That's why we were asked to track him down so that we-"
"This food is delicious!" an excitable adult male voice called out, cutting Dawn off and making her plus Ash and Brock turn to face a food stall ran by Team Rocket in disguises. There at the stall eating a lot of food was Palmer.
Dawn, with a dry look on her face, said as she gestured to Palmer, "There he is." The three of them then went up to Palmer and got his attention.
Palmer, with a curious look on his face as the heroes got his attention, said, "Can I help you kids with anything?"
"Mr. Palmer," Dawn began, "My mom Johanna is looking for you, as you have to help her kick off the tournament for the festi-"
"Holy geez! I can't believe I forgot about that!" Palmer exclaimed in shocked surprise. Handing what food he still had over to the heroes, Palmer said before taking off, "Thanks for the reminder, Kids! Anywho, I gotta blast!" Palmer then took off running in the direction of where the tournament was going to go down.
The heroes, as they saw Palmer take off like that, could only look on in stunned surprise. "...So that's what Barry's mom meant when she said that Barry gets a lot of his energetic and excitable attitude from his dad," Brock commented dryly.
Smiling in amusement, Ash said, "Well he's not the only one excited for the tournament!" Ash took off running in the same direction as Palmer, although he wasn't anywhere near as excitable as the man himself. But then again, Dawn was thinking that there would be no way for anyone to be at the same level of energy and excitement as Palmer. That man was in a league of his own when it came to being like that.
At least he was a good person.
A short while later, everyone attending the festival saw Johanna and Palmer announce the start of the tournament. Each competitor would be allowed one Pokémon each during the tournament, without being allowed to change out what Pokémon they were using. The person who won the tournament would get a golden trophy, plus the option to fight Palmer, the Tower Tycoon of the Battle Tower in Sinnoh's battle frontier, in an exhibition battle.
Dawn enjoyed actually spectating a battle for a change, watching as the battles went on by one by one. Dawn was joined in watching the tournament by Delia, who cheered as Ash moved up the brackets. Eventually, the tournament was down to the last round to determine the winner; in the anime in her and Kenny's previous life, Dawn remembered that Ash defeated Barry and won the gold trophy for winning the tournament.
Here, Ash still ended up winning the tournament and netted himself the gold trophy, but Ash defeated Brock instead since Barry was barred by his dad from entering the tournament, due to Barry's attitude towards Dawn and Kenny a while ago, with said attitude getting Barry barred from the Sinnoh league for the rest of the year.
After he awarded Ash the golden trophy for winning, Palmer offered him the option to fight him in an exhibition battle. Palmer called out his Rhyperior, saying he will use it in a one on one against Ash if he chose to fight the exhibition battle. Dawn remembered from her and Kenny's previous life that Ash accepted and used Grotle but ultimately lost to Palmer. Ash, just as he did in the anime, accepted the exhibition battle.
"Oh, you're allowed to use a different Pokémon than the one you chose and were stuck with using in the tournament," Palmer informed Ash, "Your Pikachu may have won the tournament for you, but I bet he's exhausted by now. It wouldn't be fair if I forced you to use your exhausted Pikachu in our battle, especially since he'd go against my Rhyperior who had a blatant type advantage."
Ash nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you, I will be wanting to use a different Pokémon," Ash replied. Holding up a pokéball, Ash went on, "And I have the perfect Pokémon in mind to use." Ash and Palmer then took their spots to have their exhibition battle. Palmer had his Rhyperior stand out on the battlefield, ready for whatever Pokémon Ash decided to send out.
In a move that surprised Dawn, Ash called out, "Swampert, I choose you!" Coming out onto the battlefield was Ash's Swampert, a dual water ground type.
"That'll give Ash a huge advantage," Dawn thought, "Especially considering the fact that both of its STABs are super effective against Rhyperior, AND it resists rock."
Gesturing forward, Palmer said, "Rhyperior, hit 'em with Megahorn!"
"Swampert, break up its footing with Earthquake!" Ash commanded. As Rhyperior charged at Swampert, Swampert triggered a massive quake that shook the entire battlefield, as well as parts of the immediately surrounding areas. Rhyperior, surprised by the sudden quake, stumbled around as it was hit by seismic waves that, although nullified somewhat by Rhyoerior's Solid Rock ability, still did some decent damage.
Palmer looked impressed by Ash's command of Swampert. "Not bad, young man!" Palmer praised, "But let's see how well you do as we move forward! Rhyperior, use Sandstorm!"
"Swampert, use Waterfall!" Ash commanded. Cloaked in water, Swampert charged in as Rhyperior was beginning to conjure a sandstorm to envelope the battlefield. Swampert was slightly quicker, and as such it rammed into Rhyperior going up its front, striking Rhyperior hard. Even Solid Rock didn't numb all of the damage from Waterfall, and as such not only was Rhyperior pushed back a great deal, but it also flinched thus it couldn't carry out Sandstorm fully.
Gesturing forward, Palmer called out, "Rhyperior, shake it off and use Megahorn again!"
"Swampert, hit down on Rhyperior with another Waterfall!" Ash ordered. Swampert, who was still in the air following hitting up Rhyperior's front, came slamming back down in another Waterfall. The large Rhyperior was sent reeling back, and eventually fell over onto its back onto the battlefield, clearly having been knocked out despite still reducing some of the damage from Waterfall with its Solid Rock ability.
Holding up a hand to make the announcement, the referee called out, "Rhyperior is unable to battle! The winner is Swampert! Victory of this exhibition battle goes to Ash!"
As everyone watching the battle cheered for Ash's surprise win, Dawn looked mildly surprised. "Ash won the exhibition battle against Palmer here?" Dawn thought as she slowly clapped, "Huh. Well he has pulled some surprise wins, and he did catch that Swampert." Dawn was able to shake off the shock and give a small but gentle smile as she applauded Ash for his win against Palmer.
...
"Oh! You kids already know about the gym in Sunyshore City," Palmer said the next day, after the festival was over, as he talked to the heroes; Kenny was able to cover his babysitting job and was able to rejoin the others.
Dawn nodded in the affirmative. "I heard talk that the gym in Sunyshore City uses electric Pokémon."
"Well there goes me getting to playfully hint at it," Palmer remarked, sounding mildly disappointed, "I had the perfect pun in mind and everything." Smiling as he changed his tune, Palmer said, "Oh well, you live and learn. Anyway, you kids have fun giving the Sunyshore gym the business!" The heroes waved Palmer off as he took his leave.
After Palmer was gone, Dawn and Kenny turned to face Ash and Brock. "Kenny and I have a different path to Sunyshore City than what you guys have in store," Dawn said, "So I guess this is where we part ways for now."
Nodding in agreement, Ash said, "Yeah. Hope to see you in Sunyshore City, Dawn and Kenny."
"Last one there is a rusty spoke!" Kenny said right before he took off running. Dawn, mildly annoyed with Kenny speeding off like, had to turn to run after him, screaming his name in annoyance as she had to catch up to him. Seeing Dawn and Kenny take off like that, Ash and Brock couldn't help but smile and laugh in sincere amusement. With an awesome few days at a festival behind them and good hopes ahead, all of the heroes took off for where their gym challenge journey in Sinnoh was going to take them next.
A few days later on their journey towards Sunyshore City, Dawn and Kenny were wandering through a forest. "So what Pokémon do you plan to use at the Sunyshore gym?" Kenny asked his friend.
"Well it'll be an electric Pokémon gym, so of course I'll be bringing ground type Pokémon," Dawn said, "I think I've settled on Germany, Shadow, Albedo, and Inosuke as the four I'll use."
Kenny nodded in agreement with his friend. "I'm likewise feeling that Roshi and Elay will be among those of my cringe posse that I use. I still need to think of two more guys to use, though." Turning to look at Dawn, Kenny asked, "What do you think, my main ma-"
"Hey look, there's a Murkrow over there," Dawn pointed out, making Kenny stop short and see that there was, indeed, a Murkrow.
The Murkrow saw Dawn and Kenny, and looked like it was about to use an attack. However, it was cut off when Dawn tossed up a pokéball while saying, "Alright, Boss! Let's get goin'!" To the surprise of the Murkrow, Dawn had called out a Honchkrow, who gave a confident cry as he flew up against the Murkrow in opposition. The Murkrow soon flew down and landed on the ground, clearly not aiming to try and start anything against its evolved form. This prompted Boss to land on the ground as well.
Curious, Dawn and Kenny walked up to where Boss and the Murkrow were standing on the ground. At that point, a slightly younger boy came out into the clearing where Dawn, Kenny, Boss, and the Murkrow were all standing around. "Oh, you found my Murkrow," the boy spoke up.
"So this is your Murkrow, huh?" Dawn asked the boy, prompting a mildly unamused expression out of the Murkrow. That didn't escape Dawn or Boss. Turning to look at the boy, Dawn gave him a knowing look. "...Everything not working out smoothly?"
The boy looked down, a bit of a troubled look on his face. "...No. Murkrow and I are trying to train, but it's not going too well."
"Well maybe you'd talk to us about it over a bit of a late breakfast?" Kenny offered, "Dawn and I were about to set up camp and make up some curry." The boy, as well as his Murkrow, seemed intrigued by the offer, so they both accepted.
...
Later as everyone was eating, the boy got to talking to Dawn and Kenny. "My name is Mitchell," the boy said as he gave his name, "And my Murkrow and I are training so that we can finally win a battle against my older sister Rhyanna and her Misdreavus."
"Wait, your Murkrow's having trouble beating a Misdreavus?" Kenny asked, "How? Doesn't it have a type advantage against ghost Pokémon like that?"
"Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that I always lose to my older sister," Mitchell said, "Every single time we battle. I got so frustrated that I left to come train here in the mountains."
Dawn listened to Mitchell explain himself for a bit. After he was done, Dawn held her hand out to him. "Can I see your Murkrow's pokéball for a second?" Mitchell, although curious, nonetheless handed over his Murkrow's pokéball to Dawn. She scanned it with her pokédex to get a lowdown on Murkrow's stats. "...Well that would help explain a lot."
"What do you mean?" Mitchell asked, looking on.
Handing Murkrow's pokéball back over to Mitchell, Dawn explained, "Your Murkrow has a Naive nature. A Pokémon's nature affects how its stats grow, unless it's one of the neutral natures. But the Naive nature isn't neutral, as it raises speed growth but limits special defense growth." Giving Mitchell a wry look, Dawn went on, "I'm betting that your sister's Misdreavus uses a lot of special attacks, right?"
Mitchell, looking a bit surprised, replied, "Y-Yeah. How did you-"
"Ghost Pokémon tend to use special attacks," Dawn pointed out, "In fact, the ghost Pokémon I own all use special attacks. My guess is that your sister beating you as often as you say is due to how she's able to exploit your Murkrow's decreased special defense growth due to his Naive nature."
"You sure know a lot about Pokémon strengths," Mitchell remarked, looking and sounding impressed.
Gesturing to where Boss sat with Mitchell's Murkrow, Dawn went on, "Boss over there also has a Naive nature. He's got more in common with your Murkrow than you'd think."
Mitchell looked over at where his Murkrow and Boss were sitting and eating. Turning back to look at Dawn, Mitchell said, "Umm, if it's not too much to ask, could you help me and Murkrow with doing some training?"
"Dawn and I were going to do some training after breakfast here anyway," Kenny pointed out, "I'm sure I speak for the both of us when I say there's no problem with you joining us."
Dawn nodded along in agreement. "Totally. As a matter of fact, I was going to suggest that Boss show your Murkrow the ropes during training."
Mitchell smiled, happy that he was getting some help with training his Murkrow. "Thanks, you two. This is going to be awesome."
Mitchell ended up joining Dawn and Kenny in their training. For Mitchell and his Murkrow, this saw them work directly under Dawn and Boss. "In addition to having a Naive nature like Boss," Dawn said, "Your Murkrow also has the Super Luck ability, meaning his attacks have an increased critical hit rate."
"So Murkrow has a higher chance of hitting Rhyanna's Misdreavus hard," Mitchell replied.
Dawn nodded in agreement. "If you're okay with it Mitchell, the plan I have for your Murkrow will be to have him learn the same moveset that Boss has. We'll start with Drill Peck, Facade, and Thunder Wave."
"Wait, how will Facade help?" Mitchell asked, "It's a normal type move so it'll have no effect on ghost Pokémon like Misdreavus."
"It's to give Murkrow a more balanced moveset," Dawn explained, "You'll be focusing on Drill Peck and Thunder Wave when you go in for your rematch with your sister."
Mitchell considered what Dawn was telling him for a moment. "...Thunder Wave will paralyze Misdreavus, and Drill Peck will deal damage." Looking up at Dawn, Mitchell asked, "Can Murkrow even learn Drill Peck?"
"Boss knows it, so he can simply give your Murkrow the step by step to use it," Dawn replied. Murkrow, in her and Kenny's previous life, got Drill Peck as an egg move, but the anime did show in the Unova arc a Scrafty teaching an attack to a Scraggy that Ash got. Dawn was really banking on anime logic for this one.
...
Over those next few days of training, Mitchell's Murkrow ended up learning Drill Peck, Facade, and Thunder Wave from Boss, who acted on Dawn's instructions to walk Mitchell's Murkrow through learning those attacks step by step. "Hey, what's your Honchkrow's other attack that he knows?" Mitchell asked.
"Boss's other attack is Night Slash, which is a move Murkrow reportedly can't learn until they evolve into Honchkrow," Dawn explained, "That's why I held off on telling you."
Mitchell looked to where his Murkrow stood on the ground next to Boss. "...So I'm banking on Drill Peck and Thunder Wave for my rematch against Rhyanna."
"Well I'd say your Murkrow's mastered the moves he was learning under Dawn's Honchkrow," Kenny remarked, "He just has to stun Misdreavus, then land a lucky crit with Drill Peck."
Dawn nodded in agreement. Part of the training with Mitchell secretly involved building up Murkrow's affection towards Mitchell, as getting it high enough will boost critical hit ratios for all of Murkrow's attacks. Dawn made sure that Murkrow always ate his fill of the curry that Kenny made when they camped out during training. "...There's one last thing to do before you and Murkrow are ready to have a rematch against your sister and her Misdreavus," Dawn said.
Curious, Mitchell asked what the last thing was, before Dawn took out and handed a Scope Lens over to Mitchell. "This is a Scope Lens," Dawn explained, "It's an item for Pokémon to hold. It'll boost the critical hit ratio of Murkrow's attacks even more."
Mitchell took the Scope Lens from Dawn, his eyes a bit wide with curiosity. "Wow, thanks," Mitchell said, "So I give this to Murkrow to hold before I challenge my sister to a rematch?"
Dawn nodded in confirmation. "If all goes well, then you should be able to finally net a win over your older sister." Given the time of day, Dawn figured that it was early enough to squeeze in Mitchell's rematch against his older sister, and so after they all got their camp packed up, the reborn trainers had Mitchell lead them back to where he lived.
A short while later, Mitchell led the reborn trainers to his house where, conveniently enough, his older sister Rhyanna was standing outside waiting with her Misdreavus. "Mitchell, there you are!" Rhyanna said, "I was worried about you!"
"He... got caught up in the swing of things when he joined us for training," Dawn explained, "Sorry if we caused you any undo worry."
Mitchell nodded firmly in agreement. Looking to his older sister, Mitchell said, "Rhyanna, I want to show you the progress I made in said training. Let's battle."
Rhyanna, although looking surprised with the confident attitude her little brother was giving off, nodded in agreement. "Sure. The usual spot?"
"Fine by me," Mitchell said as he and his sister led Dawn and Kenny over to a clearing where they could have their battle.
...
The two siblings faced off against one another, with Dawn officiating the battle. "Alright, this is a one v one," Dawn said, "Last trainer whose Pokémon is still standing wins. Go!"
"Misdreavus, I choose you!" Rhyanna said, sending out her Misdreavus.
"Murkrow, I choose you!" Mitchell said, sending in his Murkrow.
Seeing her little brother's Murkrow flying in place with that serious look of confidence on its face, Rhyanna said, "Huh, he seems to be getting along with you a lot better." Smirking a bit, Rhyanna went on, "Let's just see how far that goes! Misdreavus, use Shadow Ball!"
"Murkrow, dodge and use Thunder Wave!" Mitchell called out. Murkrow flew out of the way of the incoming Shadow Ball as he threw a weak jolt of electricity at Misdreavus, who was struck by it and got paralyzed as a result.
Seeing that surprised Rhyanna. "Your Murkrow can use Thunder Wave now?"
"That's not all that we've got!" Mitchell said, "Murkrow, use Drill Peck!"
"Misdreavus, use Shadow Ball again!" Rhyanna called out. Misdreavus tried conjuring a Shadow Ball again, but not only did it take a heavy hit from Murkrow's Drill Peck first, it failed to use Shadow Ball due to paralysis. "Misdreavus, try to use Shadow Ball again!" Rhyanna ordered.
"Murkrow, use Drill Peck!" Mitchell commanded.
Misdreavus managed to fight through the paralysis and fire a Shadow Ball, but Murkrow actually drilled through the attack with Drill Peck, busting the Shadow Ball and going on right in to strike Misdreavus on the forehead, sending it flying back until it slammed into the ground, clearly having been knocked out by a critical hit from Drill Peck.
It wasn't just Rhyanna who was stunned by this turn out, Mitchell was stunned as well. Dawn, with a knowing smirk on her face, held up a hand. "Misdreavus has been defeated," Dawn announced, "Which means Murkrow wins, meaning Mitchell won the battle!"
Rhyanna, after getting over the shock of finally being bested by her little brother, smiled gently and applauded him. "...Not bad, Mitchell," Rhyanna said, "Not bad at-"
"I..." Mitchell said as he looked down at his hands, cutting his sister off and making her and the others all turn to face them, "...I actually won. I actually won against Rhyanna." Mitchell shuddered a bit before, to everyone's surprise, he started to cry. Acting on older sibling instinct, Rhyanna ran up to her little brother and threw her arms around him in a hug. "I actually won against you!" Mitchell said through his sobbing, "I can't believe I actually did it!"
Rhyanna and the reborn trainers all smiled gently, understanding that Mitchell was crying because of how overwhelmed he felt due to having finally accomplished a major goal that he had for quite some time. They eventually allowed Mitchell to cry himself out, at which point he was carried inside and laid down on the sofa in the living room.
...
Later that evening, as Dawn and Kenny were preparing to head out, they said their good byes to Mitchell and Rhyanna. "Oh, Mitchell," Dawn said, "Before I go, there's something that I want to give you." Mitchell and Rhyanna looked on as Dawn took something out of her bag before revealing what it was to Mitchell.
"It's a Dusk Stone!" Mitchell remarked, "I can use it to evolve Murkrow into Honchkrow!"
Rhyanna looked similarly as amazed. "It can also evolve Misdreavus into Mismagius. I was aiming to find one so I could evolve my Misdreavus, because I remember stories from me and Mitchell's grandparents about how Mismagius can use incantations to make people happy, and I was going to do that to cheer Mitchell up since he was upset." Looking to her little brother, Rhyanna considered him for a moment before turning to look back at the reborn trainers. "But he seems to have cheered up on his own."
Dawn nodded in agreement as she handed the Dusk Stone to Mitchell, to graciously took it with plans to use it to evolve his Murkrow as soon as possible. With good byes having been exchanged, the reborn trainers took off.
As Dawn and Kenny walked on the road, Kenny said, "Hey Dawn, something's bugging me."
"Hmm?" Dawn began, "What's up?"
"That Rhyanna girl admitted what her plan was to cheer up her little brother because he was upset," Kenny began, "Which was using a Mismagius's incantation powers to make her little brother happy. Keep in mind the little brother was upset because he always lost to Rhyanna in battles."
Shrugging, Dawn replied, "So?"
Giving Dawn a wry look, Kenny said, "Rhyanna essentially said that she was going to brainwash her little brother Mitchell into being happy, which not only is unethical because she's basically taking away his mental and emotional freedom in that situation, but it doesn't do anything to resolve the actual reason why the little dude was upset in the first place." Gesturing to Dawn, Kenny added, "At least you did the right thing, training with him to help him become strong enough to actually win in a battle against his older sister. And now he'll get even stronger since you gave him that Dusk Stone he can evolve his Murkrow with."
Dawn nodded to her friend in agreement. "I can't wait to see how far Mitchell will go once he evolves his Murkrow. Also Kenny, you read way too deep into Rhyanna's plan." As she and Kenny made their way, Dawn said, "I'm sure Rhyanna wasn't really meaning or thinking any of that."
END, CHAPTER THIRTY
Author's notes;
This chapter covers the rest of the Twinleaf Town festival, then shows Dawn and Kenny tackling the events of the filler episode where Mitchell is training so he can beat his older sister in a Pokémon battle finally. I wanted to cover that filler episode for multiple reasons, despite how I usually skip covering content like that. I actually have plans for Mitchell later on down the line, but that will have to wait until the future.
Anyway, the next chapter will see Dawn and Kenny reunite with Ash and Brock over in Floaroma Town because the events of the Team Galactic episodes leading to the final showdown at Spear Pillar are going to be covered next. Peace out.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Leni (female Lucario), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Akiza (female Roserade), Germany (male Garchomp), Boss (male Honchkrow)
Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Zarbon (male Machamp), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Goofy (male Houndoom), Juan (male Pikachu), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny)
Ash's Pokémon: Pikachu (male), Gardevoir (female; obese), Swampert (female), Infernape (male), Grotle (male), Ambipom (female)