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-six: The Pokémon League, part one

"So you are going to challenge the elite four, Dawn."

Dawn nodded in confirmation to Kenny's statement as she talked to the boys. After winning first place in the Lily of the Valley Conference by besting Ash after her most difficult battle yet since she had first been reborn into this world, Dawn earned the right to challenge the Sinnoh elite four. If she beats them, she'll then earn the right to challenge Cynthia for her title of Champion of Sinnoh. And if she wins there, then Dawn will become Sinnoh's new champion.

Shrugging, Dawn replied, "Well I mean, why not? I did earn the right to do so. I've already informed the people running the League that I am going to be challenging the elite four, because the League needed to know ahead of time due to how those battles have to be televised."

"Do you know how the battles will be structured?" Brock asked.

Dawn nodded in the affirmative. "Yes. I'll battle one member of the elite four a day, assuming that I win against them, and also assuming I make it through all of them I will then battle against Cynthia for the title of Champion." Leaning back in her seat, Dawn went on, "Since the battles will be once per day, I was told that I'm allowed to switch my on hand Pokémon in and out before heading into each battle. This means I won't be stuck using the same six Pokémon in each battle."

"Who will you be battling first?" Ash asked.

"I was told that the first member of the elite four that I would be facing is Aaron," Dawn explained, "And I got it down that he uses bug type Pokémon." The fact that she would be allowed to rotate her party in between battles was a huge boon to Dawn, as it'd allow her to set her team up for all of the battles to maximize her ability to win in every battle. And against Aaron, the bug Pokémon user in the elite four, she already had a few Pokémon in mind for the party she'd use against him.

Ash smiled as he regarded Dawn. "I have to admit it, I'm actually a little jealous that you're getting to do this," Ash admitted, "I was kind of hoping that I'd get to face off against the elite four of Sinnoh at some point to see if I can try my hand at becoming Champion."

"Well things can always turn out weird like that," Kenny remarked.

Dawn nodded in agreement as, even with what all preparations she was taking, she wasn't entirely sure on her odds against Aaron of Sinnoh's elite four. But then again, Dawn did net a win against Tobias, who as it turned out had an entire team of legendary/mythical Pokémon. If she could get over a hump like that, then she might just be able to get over Aaron and make it further through the elite four of Sinnoh.

Especially if she played things cautiously. Which she always did.

The next day, everyone who was still on Lily of the Valley Island gathered back in the main arena, given that Dawn was gearing up to face off against Aaron of the Sinnoh elite four. When she saw the scoreboard light up, Dawn saw it that Aaron would be coming at her with an entire party; back in the games in her and Kenny's previous life, the Sinnoh elite four all had parties of five in their initial challenge, but Dawn saw here that they'd all have full parties.

Dawn knew better than to expect things to be exactly like the games.

Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "This official challenge to the Sinnoh Pokémon League's elite four will see Dawn Berlitz of Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh, face off against Aaron of the elite four! Each trainer may use their respective entire parties of Pokémon, and the battle is over when all of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle! Also, both trainers may substitute Pokémon out at any time! Let this battle..." Throwing both hands up, the referee yelled, "...BEGIN!"

"Dustox, I choose you!" Aaron called out, sending his Dustox out first.

"Alright, Cyrus!" Dawn called out as she sent in her named Staraptor who had the Muscle Band tied securely around his right ankle, "Let's get goin'!"

Seeing Dawn's first Pokémon, Aaron looked more amused than anything. "Oh, you're coming at me prepared, I see, using a flying Pokémon against my bugs! But it'll take a lot more than holding a type advantage in order for you to best me!"

Dawn nodded in agreement. "I never rely on any one aspect all on its own."

Aaron nodded, then pointed forward. "Dustox, use Toxic!"

"Cyrus, use Aerial Ace!" Dawn called out. Cyrus flew in quickly and slashed at Dustox with a sure to hit strike. Even though it was a super effective physical hit boosted by the Muscle Band, it didn't take Dustox out right away, which Dawn expected since she is battling a member of Sinnoh's elite four here. But she could tell that she had done a great chunk of damage to Dustox who, after it got over reeling back from the strike, threw conjured purplish slime at Cyrus which hit him and inflicted toxic poisoning on him.

Normally this would be bad, but Dawn saw Cyrus being poisoned as he was right now as a good thing for one main reason. Pointing forward, Dawn called out, "Cyrus, use Facade!"

"Dustox, use Moonlight!" Aaron called out quickly.

As Dustox tried to heal itself, Cyrus flew in and slammed into it with a strike that did twice the usual amount of damage due to how the named Staraptor was afflicted with a status ailment. The strike sent Dustox flying back until it slammed into the ground, clearly out of it. "Dustox is unable to battle!" the referee announced as he held up a hand, "The winner is Staraptor!"

As Aaron recalled his fainted Dustox, Dawn thought, "So far so good. I really need to be careful now since Cyrus is now toxic poisoned."

Tossing up a second pokéball, Aaron called out, "Yanmega, I choose you!"

Seeing that Aaron's second Pokémon is a Yanmega, not in initial battles against Aaron but it does appear in rematch teams, Dawn quickly switched her Pokémon in and out. "Cyrus that's enough, fall back! Alright, Inosuke! Let's get goin'!" Taking the place of Dawn's Staraptor was her Mamoswine, a far different beast from the Mamoswine that anime!Dawn had in the anime in Dawn's previous life. He was also wearing the Expert Belt held item securely tied around one of his tusks.

Seeing Dawn's choice of second Pokémon got Aaron's attention. "A Mamoswine? That's a rather interesting choice of Pokémon to bring against me. I wonder what it's up to." Pointing forward, Aaron said, "Yanmega, use Bug Buzz!"

"Inosuke, use Avalanche!" Dawn ordered.

Yanmega, due to its speed, was able to outrun Inosuke and hit him with a violently slamming buzzing sound. But the named Mamoswine was far from finished, and he retaliated by making a large volume of slamming snowfall smack right down onto Yanmega, who cried out in pain because, although it's primarily a bug Pokémon, it's also a flying Pokémon; with no secondary typing to mitigate things, ice attacks will really hurt Yanmega.

Especially Inosuke's Avalanche, which in addition to how it doubled in power due to Inosuke attacking Yanmega after it had attacked him first, was still super effective so the double ended up being doubled again. There's also how it was boosted by the Expert Belt AND the fact that Inosuke got STAB for using it. As such, Yanmega was slammed to the ground hard by Avalanche, and as such it ended up getting taken down. "Yanmega is unable to battle!" the referee announced, "The winner is Mamoswine!"

Up in the audience where they were watching everything, the boys were all amazed with how it was going so far for Dawn. "She's taken out two of Aaron's Pokémon so far without any of her own going down," Ash remarked in an amazed tone, "Considering how Aaron's a member of the elite four, that can't be an easy feat to pull off."

"True, but keep in mind her Mamoswine took a hit and her Staraptor is poisoned," Brock pointed out, "Dawn's team has taken some hits."

"Dawn would be the first to tell you that no one is flawless," Kenny pointed out in return.

Down on the battlefield, Arron looked a bit excited given how tough Dawn was making things for him. "Not bad at all, Dawn," Aaron remarked, "I'm glad to see that you're making me work hard in our battle! It'll give me all the more validity as a member of the elite four when I win!" Tossing up another pokéball, Aaron called out, "Heracross, I choose you!"

"Inosuke that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon out, "Alright, Boss! Let's get goin'!" After the swap, Dawn sent her named Honchkrow out. Pointing forward, Dawn called out, "Boss, use Drill Peck!"

"Heracross, use Rock Slide!" Aaron called out. Heracross summoned a rain of fairly large rocks to fall down all around the battlefield, but Boss flew up in a drilling fashion to avoid all of it, then aimed right down at the dual bug fighting type and struck him right in the gut, scoring a critical hit that threw Heracross back and made him slam into the ground, where he skidded for a bit until he came to a stop where he laid clearly passed out.

Holding his hand right up into the air, the referee announced, "Heracross is unable to battle! The winner is Honchkrow!"

As Aaron recalled his fainted Heracross, Dawn took note of the close call she just had, not to mention the fact that she had just defeated Aaron's third out of six Pokémon. The other three bugs ought to include a few dual bug flying types, which meant that Inosuke could see some more use if Dawn played things carefully. Sure enough, Aaron tossed up a fourth pokéball as he called out, "Beautifly, I choose you!"

"Boss that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon out again, "Alright, Inosuke! Let's get goin'!" Coming back out into the battle was Dawn's named Mamoswine, who was looking more than ready to get into the thick of things.

Looking onward with some look of concern in his expression, Aaron was clearly looking like he wanted to play things cautiously. "...Beautifly, use Shadow Ball!" Aaron called out, clearly hoping to have his Pokémon keep their distance.

Pointing forward, Dawn commanded, "Inosuke, use Avalanche!"

Due to Beautifly's greater speed, it was able to conjure and cast the Shadow Ball right at Inosuke, striking him and doing some decent damage. But the named Mamoswine was still far from being finished, and he retaliated by making a large amount of snow fall down slamming into Beautifly, making it cry out in pain as it was hit by the ice type attack that, due to all that it had going for it to multiply its damage output, slammed Beautifly to the ground and knocked it out.

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

Dawn saw that she had to take down just two more Pokémon from Aaron, and she'll have gotten over the first roadblock in her path to see if she could challenge Cynthia for her title of Champion of Sinnoh. But she saw that Inosuke had taken some hits and, while he could still keep going, she didn't want to take too many more risks with her named Mamoswine if she could help it. Things at this point basically depended on Aaron's next Pokémon.

Tossing up another pokéball after recalling his fainted Beautifly, Aaron called out, "Vespiquen, I choose you!"

"Inosuke that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon in and out, "Alright, Souji! Let's get goin'!" After the swap, taking the place of Dawn's Mamoswine was her Rampardos, who gave the Vespiquen he was facing a challenging look. Pointing forward, Dawn ordered, "Souji, use Rock Tomb!"

"Vespiquen return!" Aaron said as he called his Vespiquen back, "Drapion, I choose you!" Dawn was a bit surprised to see Aaron call his Vespiquen back and send Drapion, his sixth Pokémon, out in its place. Then again Dawn felt she shouldn't have been too surprised, especially given the fact that both trainers taking part in the battle were allowed to substitute their Pokémon out at any time.

But Drapion ended up taking the Rock Tomb which, in addition to dealing a moderate amount of damage to Drapion, also lowered its speed, giving Souji a better shot at out running it. "Drapion, use Cross Poison!" Aaron called out.

"Souji, use Earthquake!" Dawn commanded. Souji triggered a massive Earthquake that shook the battlefield, slamming Drapion with seismic waves that it was barely able to get through by the skin of its teeth, going on to strike Souji with Cross Poison which Soujo was able to take well enough. Seeing that Drapion was on its last legs, Dawn called out, "Souji, use Iron Head!"

"Drapion, use Night Slash!" Aaron commanded. The two opposing Pokémon charged at one another, but the named Rampardos was faster, going on to slam his head, shining like polished metal, right into Drapion's face, sending it reeling back until it hit the ground and skidded for a bit until it came to a stop, where everyone saw that it had been defeated.

"Drapion is unable to battle!" The referee called out as he raised a hand, "The winner is Rampardos!"

Aaron recalled his defeated Drapion, before sending Vespiquen back out. Thinking about it, Dawn saw that Aaron was using his initial battle party from the games in her previous life, with Yanmega having been added to give Aaron a full party for the battle here. Dawn knew that things still wouldn't be settled until the battle was actually over, so she was going to be fighting on until she had taken out Aaron's Vespiquen here.

Pointing forward, Dawn ordered, "Souji, use Rock Tomb!"

"Vespiquen, use Defend Order!" Aaron commanded.

Vespiquen concentrated on herself as she glowed a light murky greenish color to raise her defensive stats. As such, Vespiquen was a sitting duck when Souji hit her with Rock Tomb, doing great damage that left Vespiquen on the brink of defeat, hanging on only because of the defence boost from Defend Order. Even with another boost from using Defend Order again, Aaron doubted that Vespiquen could take another Rock Tomb from Dawn's Rampardos.

So he decided to go on the offensive. "Vespiquen, use Attack Order!"

"Souji, use Rock Tomb!" Dawn called out.

Both Pokémon began using their attacks, but due to the speed drop she suffered due to getting hit by Rock Tomb, Vespiquen wasn't as fast as normal. As she was still trying to will up her Attack Order move, Vespiquen got hit again when Souji summoned more boulders to fall down on and around her, slamming her right down to the ground. After the dust that had been kicked up by the attack settled down, everyone saw that Vespiquen had been defeated.

Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Vespiquen is unable to battle! The winner is Rampardos!" Gesturing over to where Dawn stood, the referee went on, "Victory of this battle goes to Dawn Berlitz!"

The audience cheered wildly as Dawn was declared the winner, having just defeated the first member of Sinnoh's elite four. Speaking of said member, Aaron, after he recalled Vespiquen, went up to Dawn. "Not bad, Dawn," Aaron remarked, "It's clear that you know the ins and outs of how Pokémon battles work. Even so, defeating me is no small feat. Whenever someone who does wins the Lily of the Valley Conference does decide to challenge the elite four, I defeat those challengers fifty-five percent of the time."

Hearing that surprised Dawn. "...So a little over half of all challenges to the elite four end on you."

Aaron nodded in confirmation. "That's why it's a big deal that you defeated me. You're part of the less than half of challengers to the elite four who made it past the first hump. But let me just tell you this." A mild hint of seriousness entered Aaron's expression. "I'm only the first member of the elite four that challenges face. The one after me will be a bigger challenge, and the one after that'll be even tougher, and so on."

Dawn nodded in understanding to the first member of Sinnoh's elite four. "I can see that. That's the reason why the Sinnoh Pokémon League is regarded as one of the greatest in the world."

Smiling as he gave a single nod, Aaron held a hand out to offer Dawn a handshake. "I wish you luck in challenging the rest of Sinnoh's elite four. And who knows? You may even end up going right to the end, and face off against Cynthia herself." Dawn, giving a small but sincere smile, accepted the handshake from Aaron as everyone watching cheered, amused to see that the challenger to the elite four this year had made it past Aaron. But the next battle was going to be a tougher ordeal for Dawn, that much she knew.

She was going to have to go harder against the next member of the Sinnoh elite four if she wanted to so much as stand a chance.

Later that evening, just after Dawn's Pokémon were all treated, she was sitting with the boys in the main lobby of the Pokémon Center on Lily of the Valley Island. "Congratulations again, Dawn," Ash said, "You actually defeated a member of the Sinnoh elite four! At this rate, you'll be making even Cynthia sweat!"

Dawn nodded along in thanks to the vote of confidence from Ash. "Thanks. But we shouldn't count my Pokémon eggs until they hatch. I still have the other three members of the Sinnoh elite four to get through. The battles I'm going to be having will get progressively more challenging as I move on through the other members of the Sinnoh elite four."

"And then there will be Cynthia after them," Brock pointed out, "And she's bound to be an entirely different ballgame all on her own altogether."

"But my main man here can roll with the best of them," Kenny stated, "I'm sure she'll be fine. Oh, we ought to check up on how Maylene's doing." The rest of the heroes all agreed, and soon enough went to go use the video phone in the Pokémon Center to call over to Roark's place in Oreburgh City, as that's where Maylene's staying ever since she moved to Oreburgh City following some rather troubling happenings and a close call over in Veilstone City.

To the surprise of the heroes, they got a woman who looked like an older female Roark, save for how her hair was brushed and combed straight. "Oh! You look like that Dawn Berlitz girl who beat Aaron of the Sinnoh elite four earlier today," the mystery woman said, "But who really are you and why are you calling here?"

The heroes explained themselves to the mystery woman, even explained to her why they were calling and who they were looking for. "Oh, so you're looking for my son's girlfriend because you wanted to see how she's doing, as well as ask her if she saw Dawn's victory against Aaron earlier today."

"So you're Roark's mom, huh?" Kenny asked.

Confirming Kenny's guess to be accurate, the now revealed Roark's mom replied, "Indeed I am. And before you ask yes, Maylene did see the battle on TV, having seen it with Roark and myself earlier."

"Where's Maylene now?" Ash asked.

"Oh, Roark was called to the mines here in Oreburgh City due to some big fossil find, and Maylene went along with him," Roark's mom explained, finding it cute how Maylene wanted to stick right to Roark's side. Roark's mom then looked right at Dawn. "...So young lady. How does it feel knowing that you're already a little bit through facing off against Sinnoh's elite four?"

"That I still have a ways to go if I want to prove myself as the best that the Sinnoh region has to offer," Dawn replied.

Roark's mom gave an amused chuckle. "Well aren't you confident in yourself. I bet that you feel that you can make it all the way to face even Cynthia!"

"I'm not going to be assured of anything," Dawn replied, "I'm planning to take this cautiously and not let anything catch me off guard or trio me up. Haste makes waste, after all."

Roark's mom was about to say something, but she was cut off when the frontdoor on her end opened. A few seconds later, Roark and Maylene walked in. "Hey mom," Roark said, "Who is that you're talking- Oh! It's Dawn, Ash, Brock, and Kenny!"

Before she could be stopped by Roark or his mom, Maylene rushed right over and covered most of the screen with her surprised expression. "Holy crud, Dawn!" Maylene exclaimed, "You defeated Aaron! You actually defeated a member of Sinnoh's elite four! And here I thought that you defeating the Darkrai user was crazy!"

Dawn smiled a bit in aincere amusement over how surprised Maylene was looking. "...Yeah, Aaron did make me think a lot during our battle."

"And Dawn's not the only one to have defeated Tobias!" Kenny declared, "Or did you not see me beat him in the match to determine third and fourth place in the Lily of the Valley Conference?"

"Oh, we saw that battle, Kenny," Maylene replied, "I'm still amazed that both you and Dawn each own such amazing Pokémon."

Roark nodded in agreement with Maylene. "Yeah, I saw it too when Dawn had used Palkia of all things, then in the match for third and fourth Kenny used Giratina. The fact that you two each have an awesome Pokémon... the both of you will go on to do great things. I know you will."

Kenny nodded in agreement. "Well greatness and I do go hand in hand, ah heh heh."

"But Dawn's the really amazing person right now," Maylene remarked, "I mean, challenging the elite four of Sinnoh! And already having defeated Aaron!" The former gym leader gave a gentle smile. "I can't help but wonder just how far you'll go, Dawn."

Dawn herself also gave a small, gentle smile. "...Even I don't know how far I'll go here, Maylene."

Maylene nodded once. "Well regardless, we're going to be cheering for you over here." Roark's mom, and Roark himself in the background, all nodded in agreement before they had to end the call so that they could have dinner.

After Dawn put the phone back into the phone terminal of the video phone, Kenny said, "You know, that actually reminds me. I wonder if Byron's been watching the Lily of the Valley Conference, and after that if he's seen Dawn's battle against Aaron today."

"Knowing Byron," Dawn began, "He probably heard about it from someone after getting back from some mining work over on Iron Island." The heroes then spent the rest of the evening relaxing, with the knowledge that tomorrow, Dawn was set to battle the second member of the Sinnoh elite four in her challenge to try to reach the match against Champion Cynthia. The reborn trainer was going to have to rest up as much as she could in order to be ready for the battle that was bound to be much more challenging than the one today.

END, CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Author's notes;

This chapter sees Dawn fight her first battle in her challenge to the Sinnoh elite four, where she's able to overcome and defeat Aaron. In the next chapter, Dawn will take on Bertha, who will be using ground Pokémon. I'll also reference the episode of the anime where Bertha showed up. Anyway, here each member of the elite four will use their initial challenge teams, with one Pokémon each added to give them all full parties, because I felt that it wouldn't of made a whole lot of sense, from a narrative standpoint, if they all came at Dawn with teams of five each. See you all later.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Souji (male Rampardos), Tsukune (Palkia), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Inosuke (male Mamoswine), Boss (male Honchkrow)

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

Ash's Pokémon: Pikachu (male), Swellow (male), Heracross (male), Swampert (female), Sceptile (male), Charizard (male)