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-nine: The Pokémon League, part four

The next morning, Dawn had met up with Kenny, Ash, and Brock after having rotated her party around to give her the best set-up she could think of going into her battle against Lucian in a little bit. Lucian, a psychic Pokémon user, is the last and strongest member of the Sinnoh elite four, and Dawn had to defeat him if she wanted to reach the battle against Cynthia so that she would get to challenge her for the title of champion of Sinnoh.

But such a feat was apparently easier said than done. During the dinner that the heroes had with Flint, Volkner, and their Proprietor friend last night, Flint said that no one who had won the Lily of the Valley Conference and chose to challenge the elite four had ever been able to reach the title match against the champion ever since Cynthia herself first became the champion. At best, challengers to the elite four had only ever reached, and lost, the battle against Lucian.

Dawn, if she wanted to make history by challenging Cynthia for her title and sub sequentially take said title from her, first had to make some more history by defeating Lucian in the battle she's going to have against him shortly.

"He uses psychic Pokémon, right?" Kenny said, "So ghost and dark Pokémon will be the bread and butter for my main man here."

"I don't think it'll be that simple, Kenny," Brock pointed out, "After all, Lucian is the regarded as the strongest of the Sinnoh elite four. I'm certain that he's taken some precautions against challengers who come at him with Pokémon strong against his chosen type of psychic."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "I shouldn't count on my battle against him to be a walk in the park, regardless of what precautions that I myself take. I'll have to be careful not to lose my head during the battle, regardless of what Lucian pulls out against me." Sighing, Dawn said, "Lucian is the last hurdle I have to face if I want to reach the title match against Cynthia. I have to approach this with as much of a reasoned and logical mindset as possible. I've even decided to rotate Chi-Chi out of my party for the time being."

Ash perked up at that. "Your Infernape? But I'd figured that you'd bring her along. Isn't she the first Pokémon you ever got?"

"Yes, and as you should know since you own an Infernape of your own," Dawn proceeded to explain, "Chi-Chi is dual fire fighting type. A fighting Pokémon with no secondary typing to mitigate how it's weak to psychic. As much as Chi-Chi being my first Pokémon ever has a place in my heart, it would be reckless of me to bring her in my team against Lucian."

Giving Dawn a wry look, Kenny asked, "So who all do you have planned?"

Returning the look her fellow reborn trainer was giving her, Dawn replied, "Oh, you'll see when I have my battle against Lucian later today."

A short while later, everyone had gathered back in the stadium of the main arena of the Lily of the Valley stadium. The bleachers were all full as everyone was cheering for the show that was about to start. Very rarely does one who wins the Lily of the Valley Conference and choses to challenge the Sinnoh elite four actually manages to reach the battle against the last member of that mighty group of trainers. Rarer still is someone who manages to win that final elite four battle.

Dawn looked over at where Lucian stood. Despite how he was known in the games and (to a lesser extent) the anime in Dawn's previous life to always carry a book to read, Lucian had no book out at the moment. He was focused solely on her, affording her the respect that was due to her because of how she had actually managed to reach the battle against him. Dawn actually appreciated it how her opponent was showing that he was taking her, taking their battle, seriously.

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 Lucian 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!"

Lucian tossed up a pokéball as he called out, "Mr. Mime, I choose you!"

"Alright, Souji!" Dawn said as she sent out her Rampardos, "Let's get goin'!" When Souji came out into the battle, it was seen that he was wearing the Assault Vest held item; Dawn has a habit of swapping the held items of her Pokémon around, depending on what sort of battle she was about to head into. Pointing forward, Dawn called out, "Souji, use Iron Head!"

"Mr. Mime, use Reflect!" Lucian ordered.

Mr. Mime was able to quickly get up a protective barrier that weakened the impact physical moves would have on Lucian's team for a set amount of time. Because of that, Souji's Iron Head didn't do as much damage as it would have otherwise, given that Mr. Mime endured the assault. However, it was still a super effective move against the fairy typing of Mr. Mime, and Souji being a Rampardos has phenomenal physical attack to back his physical moves like Iron Head.

In fact, from what Dawn was able to see, the attack did enough damage so that if it wasn't for Reflect, Mr. Mime would have gone down. Either way, one more attack, regardless of its type, ought to be enough to defeat Mr. Mime. "Souji, use Earthquake!" Dawn commanded.

"Mr. Mime, use Light Screen!" Lucian called out.

Still quicker than Souji, Mr. Mime got off the Light Screen, meaning that Lucian now had barriers weakening both physical and special attacks from Dawn's Pokémon. But that did nothing to stop Souji from triggering an earthquake, slamming Mr. Mime with seismic slams that knocked it over onto the ground of the battlefield, where it laid defeated. "Mr. Mime is unable to battle!" the referee announced as he raised a hand, "The winner is Rampardos!"

As Lucian recalled his fainted Mr. Mime, Dawn gave him a serious look of consideration. "He could tell that his Mr. Mime would have gone down to one more attack after getting hit by Souji's Iron Head," Dawn thought, "Even with how Mr. Mime was able to set up Reflect beforehand. Lucian must of gone on and decided to sac Mr. Mime to set up Light Screen as well, to give his remaining Pokémon more of a defense against what I can dish out."

"I have to admit," Lucian began as he spoke to Dawn, "The fact that your Rampardos was able to take out my Mr. Mime in just two hits, despite how both were physical hits that were dampened by Reflect, shows that your Rampardos boasts immense physical attack."

Dawn nodded in acknowledgement to Lucian's words of respect. "Souji has more than proven himself. At least if you ask me." The named Rampardos then gave an exhalted cry skywards, a show of how he was confident in his power that was being boasted.

Lucian offered a small but sincere smile of amusement at Souji's prideful cry, before holding up a pokéball. "...My next Pokémon here is a measure I've taken against challengers who come at me with dark type Pokémon, hoping to take advantage of how dark Pokémon are immune to psychic attacks. But it'll work just as well in a contest against your Rampardos!" Tossing up the pokéball, Lucian called out, "Medicham, I choose you!"

To everyone's surprise, Dawn was actually keeping Souji in, making no moves to swap him out. This caught even Lucian's attention. "...Confident in your Rampardos, are you? Very well, let's see how that confidence will reward your faith!" Gesturing forward, Lucian called out, "Medicham, use High Jump Kick!"

"Souji, use Protect!" Dawn ordered. Souji's eyes glowed as a protective dome of energy appeared over and around him, ready to block anything that came his way. That included Medicham's High Jump Kick, and after Medicham bounced back from having used High Jump Kick, arcs of blue sparks danced all over Medicine as it cried out in pain. But it was able to overcome that and get right back up to try attacking again.

Lucian offered another amused smile. "Interesting. You used Protect to scout out what my Medicham was going to do. And since it blocked High Jump Kick, that counted as missing which meant my Medicham took the recoil." Lucian arched a wry eyebrow. "...But Protect has a chance to fail if used multiple times in a row. I wonder if you can make it work again." Pointing forward, Lucian commanded, "Medicham, use High Jump Kick!"

"Souji that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon out, "Alright, Marquess! Let's get goin'!" Dawn recalled her Rampardos, and in his place she sent out her Spiritomb, who is a dual ghost dark Pokémon. Both types are strong against Lucian's chosen type of psychic, which as a result made Marquess a solid choice for Dawn to bring along in her team when she went into her battle against Lucian.

...Something else about Marquess being part ghost type thus immune to fighting attacks is that since he was set to receive Medicham's High Jump Kick, the attack technically missed due to how Marquess has an immunity against it. Because High Jump Kick missed again, Medicham ended up taking the recoil damage again; immediately after Medicham crashed down, arcs of blue sparks danced all over Medicine as it cried out in pain.

This time, however, Medicham ended up passing out from the pain and falling over onto the battlefield, clearly defeated. Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Medicham is unable to battle! The winner is Spiritomb!"

As the audience cheered, given that she had taken out two of Lucian's Pokémon so far, Dawn thought, "Assuming it takes no damage from any other source, a Pokémon can knock itself out if it misses twice with High Jump Kick. Using Protect and exploiting the fighting immunity ghost Pokémon have counts, although I'm still surprised that I was able to cheese out a knockout like that here. I was thinking it'd only ever work in the games in my previous life."

After he recalled his defeated Medicham, Lucian remarked, "Impressive. You got me down by two Pokémon so far without any loss of your own. No other challenger who had made it this far after winning the Lily of the Valley Conference can claim as much, and even Cynthia would be hard pressed to get a two Pokémon lead on me without any loss of her own. I daresay that you might be the greatest challenger yet who had won the right to challenge the Sinnoh elite four."

Dawn smirked a bit in amusement. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Indeed," Lucian went on as he held up a pokéball, "Let's see how well you've earned that vote of confidence!" Tossing up the pokéball that held his next Pokémon, Lucian said, "Alakazam, I choose you!"

"Marquess that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said, swapping her Pokémon out once again, "Alright, Scorpion! Let's get goin'!" Taking the place of her named Spiritomb was her named Drapion, who cried out challengingly upon entering battle. Lucian, for his part, looked a tiny bit concerned by how his Alakazam was facing a Drapion right now. Even more so when Dawn called out, "Scorpion, use Night Slash!"

"Alakazam return!" Lucian said as he swapped his Pokémon out, "Bronzong, I choose you!" After the swap, Lucian had his Bronzong take to the battlefield; Lucian's Alakazam's only move that would work on Dawn's Drapion was Shock Wave, and Lucian knew even then he'd have to boost first with Calm Mind in order to deal some serious damage. That boost would have occured while Dawn dealt her own heavy damage with Night Slash, which was bound to hurt Alakazam even with Reflect up due to how Alakazam's defense was far and away from the best in the world.

Lucian hoped that Bronzong, while still weak to dark but had much better defense than Alakazam, would be able to take the Night Slash from Dawn's Drapion, using a mix of Bronzong's bulk and the fact Reflect was still up. However, while Bronzong was able to endure, Scorpion had still scored a critical hit, due to a mix of Night Slash's increased critical hit ratio, having his affection maxed out, and the fact he was holding a Scope Lens (Dawn had an extra one, hence why she had given one to Mitchell a while ago).

In addition to everything boosting the odds of Scorpion scoring a critical hit, he has the Sniper ability, which made his critical hits sting even more than the critical hits from Pokémon without that ability. Because of that, Bronzong was reeling from the Night Slash it received from the named Drapion. Gesturing forward, Dawn called out, "Scorpion, use Night Slash!"

"Bronzong, use Earthquake!" Lucian called out. Quicker than Bronzong, Scorpion slashed at it again with Night Slash, dealing another critical hit that knocked Bronzong to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process. When that dust had settled, everyone saw it that Bronzong had just been taken down in the battle.

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

Dawn breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she had avoided a close call just now; she had no idea how well Scorpion would have taken an Earthquake from Lucian's Bronzong, and Dawn thought as she saw Lucian recall his fainted Bronzong that she didn't want to of found that out the hard way. "I see that you're a notch above the rest," Lucian said, "I really need to get to it if I want to win here. I've yet to lose to anyone who has reached me, after all."

"Maybe I'll be the first to break your streak against challengers," Dawn replied.

Nodding once, Lucian said, "You've come very far so far, but I'll be ending things here!" Tossing up another pokéball, Lucian said, "Girafarig, I choose you!"

"Scorpion that's enough, fall back!" Dawn called out as she swapped her Pokémon again, "Alright, Luan! Let's get goin'!" After the swap, Dawn had her named Weavile out. Pointing forward, Dawn said, "Luan, use Brick Break!"

"A fighting attack?" Lucian wondered aloud, "Sure, Girafarig is part normal, but still part psychic. Besides, the Reflect and Light Scr- OH!" Realizing part of what Dawn was aiming for, Lucian gestured forward and quickly called out, "Girafarig, use Thunderbolt!"

Girafarig quickly conjured up its electric attack to cast at Luan, who was still quicker and was able to chop down at Girafarig, busting through the Reflect and Light Screen thus destroying them in the process, before hitting Girafarig square in the head. The Brick Break did its job, and although Luan got hit by the Thunderbolt in the process, she was still able to keep going. Gesturing forward, Dawn ordered, "Luan, use Night Slash!"

"Girafarig, use Thunderbolt!" Lucian commanded.

As Girafarig tried conjuring another Thunderbolt to cast at Luan, the named Weavile slashed at it with Night Slash, making it cry out in pain before it fell over onto the ground of the battlefield, clearly passed out. Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Girafarig is unable to battle! The winner is Weavile!"

As she watched Lucian recall his fainted Girafarig, Dawn gave him some serious thought. At this point, Lucian had only two Pokémon left, one of which is his Alakazam which he had sent out but immediately called back upon seeing Scorpion. The next Pokémon that Lucian sends out would be determining what move Dawn makes next, as she might have to use something on the fly if she had to deal with Lucian's mystery sixth Pokémon.

...Which ended up being the case, given that Lucian tossed up a pokéball as he called out, "Slowbro, I choose you!"

"Luan that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she recalled her named Weavile. Tossing up a pokéball herself, Dawn called out, "Alright, Luna! Let's get goin'!" After the swap, Dawn's named Luxray took to the battlefield, looking eager similar to how Lynn did during the battle against Bertha. Dawn figured that her Pokémon who went down in the battle against Ash still wanted to make up for going down in that battle. Gesturing forward, Dawn ordered, "Luna, use Spark!"

"Slowbro, use Flamethrower!" Lucian commanded.

Luna, cloaked in electricity, charged right at Slowbro who breathed a stream of fire at her. The electricity blocked the fire some as Luna rammed herself right into Slowbro, hitting it and not only doing some decent damage but also paralyzing it as well. "Luna, use Crunch!" Dawn said.

"Slowbro, use Flamethrower again!" Lucian called out.

Being right up next to Slowbro, Luna was able to quickly bite down on the paralyzed Pokémon's right shoulder with glowing teeth, making Slowbro cry out in pain before it nailed Luna with another Flamethrower. Although the first Flamethrower didn't due much to Luna because the electricity from her Spark attack blocked it somewhat, she still took damage from the first Flamethrower. And the second one not only was able to do more damage, it also burned Luna as well.

Dawn scoffed in annoyance, but she knew better to let her head get to her. She kept herself calm, and saw Slowbro wince in pain with a mildly rattled look on its face, a sign that Luna's Crunch had dropped its physical defense one stage. That ought to help mitigate some of the disadvantage that comes with Luna's burn halving her physical attack damage output. Still, Dawn didn't want to take too much chance with Luna, given her burn and the damage she's taken so far.

Damage that Lucian seemed keen to try to capitalize on. "Slowbro, use Psychic!"

"Luna that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said, swapping her Pokémon out, "Alright, Scorpion! Let's get goin'!" Dawn's named Drapion came back out, and his dark typing would render Slowbro's Psychic moot. However, Slowbro couldn't attack because its paralysis kicked in, giving Dawn free space to pivot into either way. Gesturing forward, Dawn called out, "Scorpion, use Night Slash!"

"Slowbro, use Slack Off!" Lucian commanded.

As Slowbro tried to move to use its recovery move, Scorpion slashed at it with Night Slash, dealing a solid super effective hit that sent Slowbro reeling back and falling over onto the ground, skidding for a bit until it came to a stop, clearly being defeated. Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Slowbro is unable to battle! The winner is Drapion!"

Lucian recalled his defeated Slowbro and sent his Alakazam back out. He knew that he was in a bind, and he had to go big or go home to try getting out of it. "Alakazam, use Calm Mind!" Lucian called out.

"Scorpion, use Night Slash!" Dawn ordered. As Alakazam focused its mind to raise its special power, the named Drapion rushed in and slashed at it with Night Slash, dealing a super effective hit that sent Alakazam reeling back. Alakazam was barely just able to endure by the skin of its teeth, giving Lucian a shot at retaliation.

"Alakazam, use Shock Wave!" Lucian cried out, almost exclaimed.

"Scorpion, use Night Slash again!" Dawn commanded.

Alakazam was able to dish out the sure to hit Shock Wave, and it did a big chunk of damage to Scorpion because it was boosted by part of the boost Alakazam got from having used Calm Mind beforehand. But Scorpion was still able to push on through, and he slashed again at Alakazam with Night Slash, striking it hard and sending it flying back until it hit the ground of the battlefield, where everyone could see it had been knocked out.

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

The audience went wild with cheering, given that Dawn had not only just defeated Lucian, but by doing so had made history. "This is incredible, folks!" the commentator exclaimed, "Dawn Berlitz has just defeated Lucian! That means she's cleared all four members of Sinnoh's elite four! Such a feat hasn't been seen since Cynthia herself did the same back when she went through the challenge so long ago and ended up becoming the champion!"

As the audience cheered louder, the commentator went on, "Speaking of which, with her triumph over all of the elite four, Dawn has earned the right to challenge Cynthia for the title of Sinnoh's champion! The hype has never been more real! Tomorrow's battle has already gone down in history since it's the first time since Cynthia had become champion that a challenger who won the right to challenge the elite four was able to clear all of them and reach the champion title match!"

The cheering was rather overwhelming, and Dawn was still surprised that she had made it this far. That being said, the reborn trainer was expecting her battle against Cynthia tomorrow to top all other battles she has had up to this point. Unlike with each member of the Sinnoh elite four who all specialize in a different type each, Cynthia's team was more diverse in its typing, never sticking to any one type more than any other.

Dawn figured that's what made Cynthia so powerful of a trainer. But the Sinnoh champion wasn't the only one who never kept all eggs in one basket. Just as Cynthia would be going at Dawn with a team of Pokémon of varying types, so too would the reborn trainer be affording the same courtesy to Cynthia. Showing anything less was something that Dawn knew full well would lead to a bad time, so she was planning to head on into the battle against Cynthia with her absolute best line-up that she was capable of pulling off.

As the audience cheered for Dawn's win over the last of Sinnoh's elite four, Lucian walked up to Dawn and offered her both a handshake and warm smile in congratulations. Smiling warmly right back at Lucian, Dawn accepted the handshake. Thus ended the fourth day of Dawn's trek through challenging the Sinnoh Pokémon League, with tomorrow, one way or the other, being Dawn's fifth and final day, a day that will make history regardless.

"You actually made it past all of the Sinnoh elite four! Holy crud!"

That evening after Dawn had defeated Lucian, the heroes were at the Pokémon Center located locally on Lily of the Valley Island, and were using the video phone to call Mitchell over in Veilstone City, as they wanted to check up on him to see how his studies and training to become the new Veilstone City gym leader were going.

Obviously, despite how he was now carrying himself with more maturity and intelligence than he displayed when Dawn and Kenny first met him, Mitchell was still a kid who was slightly younger than the biological age of Dawn, Kenny, and Ash. As such, Mitchell exploded with excitement when he saw Dawn pop up on the video phone screen. Dawn and the boys actually recoiled a bit due to how loud Mitchell was when he cried out in excitement upon seeing Dawn.

Digging his right pinky finger into his right ear, Kenny said, "Geez, lil' dude. I know that you're excited that your senpai is primed to duke it out with Cynthia tomorrow, but you don't have to ring it out as if you were a flippin' Exploud."

Willing himself to settle down, Mitchell said, "Sorry." The gym leader in training let out a sigh before continuing. "But seriously, Dawn. Congratulations on defeating all of the elite four. That blows my own feat of having finally overcome my older sister in a battle a while ago clear out of the water. I mean really."

"Oh, speaking of," Brock began, "How are you feeling about your older sister Rhyanna now? Would you be willing to talk to her again? At least contact her by video phone to let her know you're okay?"

Mitchell's expression dropped slightly, but enough for the heroes to all catch it. "...My studies and training here keep me occupied, so I haven't been able to find the time." The heroes could all tell full well that Mitchell's answer was a no without actually saying the word 'no'.

"But you had the time to answer a call from us," Brock retorted.

"You guys got me at a time when my studies and training are done for the day," Mitchell explained, "Also it was Dawn calling and I wanted to congratulate her on beating all of the elite four. Given that she had helped me so much, I felt that much more keen on seeing her."

"So you're typically free at this time of day," Brock reasoned, "Fair enough. We can simply give your sister your location and contact info and tell her when-"

"Don't." Brock was cut off when Mitchell interrupted him. Mitchell's expression was one of serious, severe fury as he said that single word. The young boy's attention was fixated firmly on Brock as he gave him a murderously angry glare that made shivers go up everyone's spines. Mitchell continued to glare at Brock like that, his brows furrowed, as he gently shook his head. "Don't. You. Dare."

After recovering a bit from the surprise fright just now, Brock said, "Mitchell, you need to talk to Rhyanna at some point. You have to let her back into your life-"

"WHY?! SO SHE CAN TRY CONTROLLING IT AGAIN?!"

Everyone recoiled in surprise when Mitchell bellowed angrily at the top of his lungs. Mitchell was even breathing a bit hard after he had shouted like that at Brock just now. It took the young gym leader in training a few moments to catch his breath and calm down. "...Apologies. That came from out of nowhere." Turning to look at Dawn, Mitchell said, "Good lock against Cynthia tomorrow. It'd be cool to see a new champion for the Sinnoh region." Mitchell then ended the call.

After Dawn hung up the phone back into its slot in the video phone terminal, she turned to look at the boys. "...We're going to have to intervene on this."

"Yeah," Brock said in agreement, "We ought to give Rhyanna Mitchell's contact info and location anyway so she can see him and talk things out with him."

"Actually, I think what Dawn has in mind is that we be there to help sort things out," Ash spoke up, "Besides, I get the feeling that things might go very south very quick if Rhyanna tries to reach out to her younger brother as he is right now without us being there to mediate things." Arching a wry eyebrow, Ash added, "Also, I want to know where that bit about her trying to control his life came from. That's got to play a major role in this whole mess."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "We can try setting something up to help the siblings after I have my match against Cynthia. We shouldn't have too much on our plate all at once." The boys, although Brock was a bit tentative about it, all nodded in agreement with Dawn. It was best for them to hold off dealing with one problem after Dawn had dealt with the one immediately before her. After all, tomorrow was the day where Dawn was going to be battling Cynthia for the title of champion of the Sinnoh region. She had to be ready and rested for it.

She had to be at her best to deal with the best.

END, CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Author's notes;

In this chapter, Dawn faces Lucian, the last and strongest of the Sinnoh elite four. And just as she had done with the first three, Dawn defeated Lucian. That in and of itself made history, at least here in this setting. In the next chapter, Dawn will be facing off against Cynthia, the champion of Sinnoh, in an official title match to see if she can try taking Cynthia's title from her. There was also a bit at the end involving Mitchell and his ongoing sub-arc where he doesn't want to speak to Rhyanna, his older sister, and his outburst near the end of the call got Ash's attention. But where that will lead will have to wait for some time yet. Take care.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Souji (male Rampardos), Marquess (male Spiritomb), Scorpion (male Drapion), Luan (female Weavile), Luna (female Luxray), Tsukune (Palkia)

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)