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

Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai

Chapter forty-four: Lily of the Valley Conference, round five part two

Dawn still couldn't believe it that she had actually defeated Tobias in round five of the Lily of the Valley Conference, thus putting her in place to battle in the final round against whoever between Ash and Kenny won the other round five battle. Dawn was also taken by surprise by all manner of people swamping her to congratulate her for defeating a seemingly undefeatable opponent. At least the first persons to reach Dawn were Kenny, Ash, and Brock, who helped to give her some measure of breathing room.

The first thing on Dawn's mind after she was taken by the boys to a break room in the main stadium of the Lily of the Valley Conference area was how Tobias was doing. The reborn trainer strongly suspected that Tobias, despite putting on a front of looking accepting of the result as he shook her hand on moral obligation to congratulate her for winning, was in some way at least partly upset that he had lost. As such, she went about looking for him.

Eventually, Dawn while alone found Tobias sitting alone in a break room, sitting on a metal folding chair as he stomped both of his feet repeatedly while waving his fists in the air at his sides as he cried, "I can't believe that I lost! I have an entire party of legendary Pokémon! That's supposed to make me invincible!"

Dawn, who didn't alert Tobias to her presence yet, was surprised with what she was seeing; Tobias, in an almost comical fashion comparable to bits she remembered seeing in various animes from her previous life, was throwing a childish tantrum. "He's more like the little kids in my previous life who I won against in battles in the video game than I thought," Dawn thought, more surprised by how she's seeing Tobias react than anything else.

Dawn quickly stood up and, hoping to try to make Tobias feel better, knocked on the door. She could hear Tobias inside give a yelp of surprise as he jumped in his seat, but he calmed down and made his way over to the door. Opening it, Tobias saw Dawn standing there. "Oh, Dawn," Tobias greeted, "I suppose there's something that you wanted to say to me?"

"Yeah, I was hoping that you didn't have any hard feelings," Dawn replied.

Sighing, Tobias replied, "That's kind of an oxymoron of a thing, asking if someone has hard feelings after they lost a battle. No matter how well one takes defeat, they will still be at the very least a little bit annoyed that they had lost. It's human nature due to how we're competitive creatures."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "I can see that. I mean, I had gone into our battle fully expecting to lose to you, and that notion in and of itself made me feel a little annoyed. The fact that I actually won the battle still has me completely surprised."

Tobias arched a wry eyebrow. "...You went into our battle earlier fully expecting to lose to me."

"You do have a reputation," Dawn pointed out, "Backed mainly by your Darkrai having apparently carried you though everything single handedly up until our battle earlier. There's also the fact that you have Latios, Cresselia, Articuno, Raikou, and Entei." Gesturing to Tobias, Dawn said, "With a line up like that, can you blame me for being surprised that I was able to overcome it?"

"...No, no I can't blame you," Tobias replied, "Just like how I shouldn't be blamed for not believing that I had lost."

Giving Tobias a wry look, Dawn said, "You got through everything up until our battle earlier using just Darkrai, right?" Tobias nodded in the affirmative. "I guess that means that Darkrai has seen the most training out of all of your Pokémon," Dawn went on, "Tell me, what have you done for training all of the other Pokémon that you have?"

Tobias actually looked mildly surprised by Dawn's line of questioning. "Train my Pokémon?" Tobias replied, "What are you talking about? I've never done any training with any of my Pokémon period."

Dawn actually blanched at what Tobias had just told her. "You've never trained any of your Pokémon period?!"

"I mean, why should I of trained?" Tobias replied with a casual shrug, "I have legendary Pokémon. They're powerful enough on their own to not need training." Relenting a bit, Tobias went on, "At least that's what I thought up until today. That bit I said during our battle earlier, about how I had to focus more on training, was actually only for show as I had still expected to win at that point. I at that point wasn't actually planning to bother actually train, but since I ended up losing, I'm going to have to reconsider my stance on that."

Dawn, still looking a little shocked, nodded her head in agreement as she said, "Uhh, yeah, you should. Especially since I'm guessing that given what I heard about your Darkrai, you've not used any of your other Pokémon anywhere near as extensively. No matter how impressive a Pokémon may be, it can only do so much without any battle experience. That was shown today with all of the other Pokémon you brought with you."

"So I need to use my other Pokémon more, huh?" Tobias replied.

Gesturing to herself, Dawn explained, "I try to make an effort to use and train all of my Pokémon as evenly as possible, instead of relying on any one Pokémon to carry me through everything." Dawn had seen that enough times in the video games in her previous life, and it actually rather amazed the reborn trainer to learn that such a prominent person from the anime had turned out to be a total walking textbook example of that.

Tobias nodded in understanding to Dawn's words. "That probably explains how you were able to best me in our battle today, despite my impressive lineup. Very well." Straightening himself out a bit, Tobias said, "I shall begin my training after the Lily of the Valley Conference. I understand that I need to stay to fight the loser of the other round five battle to determine third and fourth place. I at least hope to get third, as that's the best I can get at this point."

Dawn wasn't entirely sure how well Tobias would do, regardless of whether he faces Ash or Kenny; Ash had proven to have developed way more by this point than he did in the anime, and Kenny like Dawn herself has his own tricks, not to mention a legendary Pokémon of his own to help give him some staying power against Tobias. Both of the boys have their own assortment of tricks and tools at their disposals, so it'll be up in the air on how well Tobias will do against either of them.

The user of legend nodded once to Dawn before politely excusing himself, making his way past Dawn and leaving her there in the doorway of the room that he was in before leaving. Dawn turned to look in the direction that Tobias took off in, hoping that, for his sake, he really will better his attitude when it comes to raising and actually training his Pokémon. And not just Darkrai, but all six of them as evenly as possible.

Here, where things are real life now, a person with an entire team of legendary and or mythical Pokémon has the potential to become the strongest trainer in the world. All that such a trainer has to do is train their Pokémon properly.

Later that afternoon, the other round five battle was held. Dawn, as she sat with Brock in the audience, watched the battle between Ash and Kenny unfold. Dawn actually felt conflicted as she watched the two boys battle one another; they were both competing for the same goal at this point, but they had also long since become friends, similar to how Dawn had long since become friends with Ash. And she had been friends with Kenny since long before they had isekai'd into this world.

And that was another thing; in addition to seeing one of her friends defeat the other in this battle here, Dawn will have to battle her friend who wins this battle in the final round of the Lily of the Valley Conference, as only one of them can win first and earn the right to challenge the elite four. As the battle between Ash and Kenny raged on, Dawn thought that, in a way, it was cruel how three friends were all against one another for one prize.

...But the fact that they can laugh the feelings of disappointment off like it was nothing afterwards was why Dawn loved hanging out with them.

The battle between Ash and Kenny was actually rather interesting to watch. True to his word, Kenny did not bring Black with him into the battle against Ash, instead bringing with him the team of Roshi, Cell, Kermit, Shallot, Zarbon, and Elay. As for Ash, he brought with him the exact same Pokémon that, in the anime in Dawn's and Kenny's previous life, he had used to finally defeat Paul in the Lily of the Valley Conference. The only change to Ash's team here was that his Buizel had evolved into a Floatzel quite some time ago.

When the battle reached the final stage, Kenny and Cell were staring down at Ash and his Infernape. "You are an able opponent, Ash," Kenny began as he praised the Kanto region native, "You've taken out Roshi, Kermit, Shallot, Zarbon, even the legendary Elay." Gesturing to his shiny Scizor, Kenny said, "Now only Cell remains." Cell raised his right pincer claw up to open and close it a few times.

Ash smiled, amused by how awesome of a battle Kenny had been able to give him. "You're pretty good yourself, Kenny. I only got Infernape left." Ash kept his left foot forward but moved his right foot back. "Our battle will come down to the last Pokémon standing." Ash's Infernape gave a loud and prideful cry, showing he was ready to throw down. Gesturing forward with his left hand, Ash called out, "Alright, Infernape! Use Flamethrower!"

"Cell, dodge and use Slash!" Kenny commanded.

Cell, who was charging at Infernape, saw him open his mouth to breath a stream of flames right at him. As such, Cell jumped up high to try to avoid getting hit by the highly effective attack that, if it did not defeat him out right, would easily push him closely towards the brink of defeat. However, the operative word here is 'try' because, while Cell didn't take the Flamethrower from Infernape over a general area of his person, he did get hit by it on a concentrated area of his person.

To be specific, Cell got hit by Infernape's Flamethrower right on his abdomen.

Going wide eyed in shocked pain, Cell immediately dropped back down as he cried out greatly in pain while covering his burning abdomen, in a manner much like how a guy would react if his crown jewels were hurt in such a fashion. As the named shiny Scizor stumbled around while covering his wounded member with his metal pincer claws, Kenny said, "Why?! Why does Cell keep getting hit right in the shmeat?!"

Up where she and Brock were watching the battle unfold, Dawn couldn't help but face palm; due to how Cell moved to try to dodge the Flamethrower from Infernape, he had unintentionally put his oft-struck abdomen right in the line of fire. "That... umm..." Ash said, sounding mildly unsure as well as a little concerned, "...Wasn't my intention." Shaking his head, Ash said, "But either way we've got a battle to finish! Infernape, use Flare Blitz!"

Ash's Infernape rushed in, cloaked in a violent aura of flames, as he rammed himself right onto the stumbling and in-pain Cell. The force of the attack threw Cell back up until he hit the ground of the battlefield and skidded for a bit. When he had finally come to a stop, everyone saw that Cell, after the dust had settled, had clearly been knocked out. Holding up a hand, the referee then announced, "Scizor is unable to battle! The winner is Infernape!" Gesturing to Ash, the referee declared, "Ash will move on to the final round!"

As the audience cheered excitedly over an intense battle that had finally come to a close, Dawn nodded where she and Brock sat as she contemplated the battle that had just occured. "So Ash is the winner," Dawn thought, "Meaning that I'll have to face him in the finals while Kenny will most likely have to fight a battle against Tobias to determine third and fourth." Gently shaking her head, Dawn thought, "Ash, by simply making it to the finals here, has done better than he did in the anime in me and Kenny's previous life."

Dawn looked down to where Ash and Kenny were shaking hands, then thought, "...Ash could very well potentially WIN the Lily of the Valley Conference here, thus earning him the right to challenge the Sinnoh elite four and, provided he beats them, challenge Cynthia and, provided he beats her, become the new champion of Sinnoh. It'd see him become a region champion way ahead of schedule, given that in the anime in me and Kenny's previous life, Ash doesn't win a region league tournament and become a region champion until he gets to Alola."

As Dawn, with Brock next to her, applauded the well fought battle between Ash and Kenny, Dawn saw it when the boys down there looked up at where she and Brock were both sitting. Dawn also saw it that Ash was focusing more on her, giving her a knowing and challenging look. "...But just as Ash has the potential here, so do I," Dawn thought, "And with all due respect to Ash, Sinnoh is MY turf. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I win against him, so that I can at least attempt to see if I can do here what I've done a few times in the video games before I was isekai'd."

The audience continued to cheer, unaware that the two finalists were staring one another down. Dawn and Ash were both going to give one another a battle that none of them were ever going to forget, that much at least Dawn knew. However, how the battle was going to turn out, what all would be going down in said battle, THAT is was Dawn couldn't anticipate. Ash was that good of a trainer, and the Pokémon he's used here, has gotten here, has made him that much more unpredictable.

That was something Dawn was liking about her upcoming battle against Ash.

That evening, the heroes were back at the trainer accommodations, using the video phone to check in on Maylene to see how she's doing. To their mild surprise, they got Roark instead. Then again, they were phoning Roark's place in Oreburgh City, given that's where Maylene was staying. "Oh, how are you guys doing?" Roark asked, "Phoning to check up on Maylene, I take it?"

Dawn nodded in the affirmative as she stood near where Ash was sitting on the stool in front of the video phone. "Yeah, we wanted to see if Maylene saw the fifth round battles for the Lily of the Valley Conference on TV today."

"Oh yeah, she and I watched them together," Roark said. Letting out a breath, Roark went on, "Maylene's still excited over how you had actually defeated the Darkrai user, Dawn. She's got it in her head that you're going to win the entire Conference."

"Hey now, I'm still in it," Ash said, "And I aim to win!"

Chuckling a bit, Roark replied, "I know, I know. I'm just repeating what Maylene said." Arching a wry eyebrow, Roark said while looking at Dawn, "So you've caught a legendary Pokémon of your own now, huh? You aren't going to have it carry you all the way through the battle against Ash tomorrow, are you Dawn?"

"Unlike Tobias, I never put all of my eggs in one basket," Dawn replied, "Assuming that I do decide to bring Tsukune with me into the battle against Ash tomorrow, at best I'll only call Tsukune out if my other five Pokémon all go down first."

Roark arched a wry eyebrow at what Dawn said. "Assuming that you do decide to bring it? Are you meaning to say that you might not bring it with you tomorrow?"

"I rotate my party regularly," Dawn said, "I like to try to keep my opponents on their toes." To be completely honest, Dawn did fully intend to bring Tsukune with her tomorrow into the battle against Ash, saving it as a last resort option. As for her other five Pokémon, she wasn't sure yet although she felt she was almost certainly going to pick Chi-Chi; that female Infernape is the first Pokémon that Dawn ever got, and she means a lot to her.

All that there was left to do now was rest for the night. Tomorrow would be the day where two friends would have to fight one another in the final round of the Lily of the Valley Conference, with only one being able to emerge as the winner. Dawn and Ash both owed it to one another to give their battle their all. Nothing less would do.

The following morning, Dawn was using the video phone at the trainer accommodations to call her mom Johanna. "Oh, hello Dawn," Johanna said, "How are you and your friends enjoying being at the Lily of the Valley Conference?"

Dawn actually looked a little bit surprised, given that Johanna was giving off an air of not knowing how things had gone for her. "...Umm, have you watched any of the Conference on TV, mom?"

Johanna gave a small but mildly sorry smile as she gently shook her head. "No, I've been busy helping with something big that's going to be done for the Pokémon contest scene. I haven't had all that much time to check out much TV at all." A curious look replaced the hint of regret in her tone. "Why do you ask, dear?"

Dawn sighed internally, now knowing why her mom wasn't paying attention to the Conference. Johanna had also brought up the 'big thing' that Dawn remembered hearing about back in Twinleaf Town when she and the boys were there for the festival. The reborn trainer was still curious about that business, and intended to get some answers at some point. But first things first, Dawn had to inform her mom about what she (Dawn) was about to get into.

"...Mom," Dawn said, "My friend Ash and I are going to be facing off against each other in the final round. Whoever between us wins will be the winner of the entire Lily of the Valley Conference."

Johanna looked like she had gone as wide eyed as possible. "You... you made it to the final round?!" Johanna exclaimed, "Why Dawn, that's... that's amazing! I can't believe you've grown so much and in so short of a time! I'm so proud of you!"

Dawn smiled, surprised to find herself as touched as she was by her mom's praise. "...Thanks, mom. Could you at least make an effort to keep tabs on my battle against Ash in the final round?"

"Well as it just so happens, I am going to be having my old rival Lila over, since she's part of the effort that I'm helping with," Johanna informed, "And from what she was saying on the phone, she's going to want to have the TV turned to play the Conference. So yes, I will be seeing you."

Dawn nodded in acceptance, and she also was a bit intrigued by the fact that whatever the 'big thing' that Johanna was working on is, Lila was pitching in as well. "...I'll try not to disappoint you in the final round today, mom," Dawn said.

"Good luck, sweetie," Johanna said, "And fight well." Johanna then ended the call on her end, which prompted Dawn to put up the phone back into its slot on the video phone terminal. She then stood up and stretched her arms up into the air. She had to go meet Ash on the battlefield of the main arena so that the two of them could fight one another to determine who between them will become the winner of the Lily of the Valley Conference.

Dawn realized that this battle with Ash was going to be her most challenging yet, and not because of what was on the line or the fact she had to fight a friend for it. Remembering how she had felt about seeing Ash and Kenny fight one another yesterday, she realized that she was now going to be having a battle under similar circumstances, only thing is that one of them was going to feel the sting of being denied after getting as close as possible.

She would hate it if it happened to her, although she would understand and accept it. And it was due to that reason that Dawn knew that Ash would be similarly upset if he loses to her, although he was going to be a good sport about it. All that the two of them could do for one another at this point was to give it their all and make the battle as epic as possible. They also owed it to Kenny, as well as Tobias to a lesser degree, because they had to defeat them in order to get to this point. Dawn and Ash also owed the audience one hell of a show.

And Dawn intended to give it to them.

Everyone had gathered at the main stadium, with the audience roaring with excited cheers for an awesome battle. Brock and Kenny sat with one another in the audience, getting good views of the battle that was about to unfold. Down in the arena, Dawn and Ash faced one another as they stood within easy talking distance, doing some pre-battle shows of good sportsmanship by wishing one another the best of luck in the battle that was about to unfold.

"It's still amazing that we're fighting each other in the final round, Dawn," Ash remarked, "If there's one thing that I love about it, it's that I'm facing a friend."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "Yeah. But don't let that hold you back, Ash. We owe it to everyone that we've met along the way, fought and defeated along the way, to give it our all here."

Ash smiled confidently as he gave an agreeing nod himself to Dawn. "I want you to make me sweat in our battle, Dawn."

Dawn smiled, glad to see that Ash was on the same page as her. The two trainers were then instructed to go to their spots on the battlefield by the referee so that he could begin to announce the beginning of the battle. "This battle of the final round of the Lily of the Valley Conference will be between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, Kanto, and Dawn Berlitz of Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh! Both trainers may use all six of their respective on hand Pokémon, and the battle is over when all of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle!"

The referee then held his hands out at his sides at waist level. "Now then! Let this battle..." Quickly throwing his hands up into the air, the referee yelled, "...BEGIN!"

END, CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Author's notes;

And here we see the final battle in the Lily of the Valley Conference get underway, with Dawn facing off against Ash. It will be the harshest battle that either of them has faced in Sinnoh to date, and only one of them will walk away as the winner. How the battle will end up going will be seen in the next chapter, as Dawn and Ash will go at one another with everything that they've got respectively.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Tsukune (Palkia), four unknown Pokémon

Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Kermit (male Politoed), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Shallot (male Glaceon), Zarbon (male Machamp), Elay (male Sandslash; shiny)

Ash's Pokémon: Pikachu (male), five unknown Pokémon