Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai
Chapter fifty: Battle for the title part one- For the glory
It was the morning following her victory over Lucian of the Sinnoh elite four. Dawn, after having made sure her party of Pokémon was set up the way she wanted it to be, was now mentally trying to get herself ready. In a few moments, she'd be heading out to the Lily of the Valley stadium, where she'd go into the main arena to have an official Pokémon battle, just like she had every day for the past four days where she battled and defeated each member of the Sinnoh elite four one after the other. However, her opponent today wasn't a member of the Sinnoh elite four.
It was Cynthia, the Sinnoh champion.
As Dawn was double checking everything, the boys looked on with a mix of feelings; pride, mild amusement, apprehension, hope. "...She's actually done it," Ash remarked to Brock and Kenny, "She has earned the right to challenge Cynthia for her title."
"This is serious," Brock said, "I mean sure, every battle that Dawn has had against the members of the Sinnoh elite four were serious. But this is Cynthia that we're talking about now. She's in a league of her own."
"League of her own?" Kenny repeated, "But Cynthia doesn't own the Sinnoh Pokémon League."
Brock opened his mouth, looking like he was about to correct Kenny, but he immediately closed his mouth back up before gently shaking his head. "...Never mind." Around that time, Dawn had finished with all of her preparations for the official title match that she was going to be fighting in shortly, where she'd be facing off against Cynthia for the title of champion of Sinnoh. Dawn then made her way over to where the boys were all at.
Shrugging, Dawn said, "Well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
"I certainly hope so for your sake, my main man," Kenny remarked, "You're about to duke it out against flippin' Cynthia for crying out loud. She won't be like Aaron or Bertha or Flint or Lucian who had come before her. You'll need to bring more than just your A-game. Like, your A-plus game, or something like that."
Dawn gave a light humming chuckle of amusement. Kenny, despite not quite having the words to put it in a properly eloquent manner, was still able to describe how big of a deal the battle that Dawn was about to head into was going to be. Cynthia was no joke; while Dawn was able to get through all of the Sinnoh elite four without any of her Pokémon going down in the process, the reborn trainer fully believed that, in the event that she does win against Cynthia, multiple Pokémon in her (Dawn's) party would go down in the process.
The reborn trainer estimated that, if she does win, at least half of her team would go down against the team that Cynthia was bound to be packing. As a matter of fact, Dawn had prepped one of the Pokémon in her party to perform a sacrificial role in just weakening one of Cynthia's Pokémon in order to make the taking down of Cynthia's Pokémon in question easier for the other Pokémon in Dawn's party she was bringing with her to the title match. Cynthia was that big of a deal.
Everything was as ready as it could be. Dawn felt that there was nothing left for her to do but to go out and try her best, mainly to see if her best was good enough to change the course of history in this world she had found herself reborn into. With all of the boys following her, Dawn made her way to where she had to face the greatest challenge.
One way or another, Dawn was going to give Cynthia one hell of a hard time in their upcoming battle.
Over in the main arena of the Lily of the Valley stadium, the bleachers were once again packed to the brim as everyone came to see something that many were reporting would never of happened at all; someone who won the Lily of the Valley Conference having gotten to the title match against Cynthia after defeating the elite four before her.
Dawn looked on at Cynthia where she stood on the other end of the battlefield, looking primed and a little eager for their soon to happen battle. Cynthia was going to be using the party that had made her so formidable of a trainer, a party that Dawn couldn't quite predict due to how things had been going ever since Dawn had first woken up after she had reincarnated into this world. But the Sinnoh champion wasn't the only one bringing her best.
The reborn trainer herself also brought her own all-star team. The same team that, in her previous life, Dawn had used in the video games to beat Cynthia in the original Pearl, and then again in Shining Pearl when those remakes came out. If there was any team that Dawn trusted to bring with her to a battle against Cynthia, it was those six Pokémon in particular. She's still amazed she was able to get all six, especially considering the fact that one of them is a legendary.
"Well now, this is something that I was starting to think was never going to happen!" Dawn looked up and over to Cynthia, who had spoken up. With Dawn's eyes on her, Cynthia said, "Someone who isn't one of the elite four challenging me for my title. I have to admit, it's actually rather exciting." The Sinnoh champion gave a single nod towards Dawn. "You've been shown using so many Pokémon, I honestly have no idea what to expect out of you."
Dawn nodded once to Cynthia in response. "I've said this to others before, and I'll say it to you. I've never been one to keep all of my eggs in one basket."
Cynthia smiled mildly in amusement. "An apt way to say that you use Pokémon of all shapes and colors, of types and personalities. You above any other trainer who I have ever had the pleasure to face off against have shown a knowing of Pokémon as a whole." A challenging yet amused smirk then appeared on Cynthia's face. "...I bet that I'll have fun crushing you."
The reborn trainer returned Cynthia's look with a likewise one of her own. "You will try." Cynthia had actually given an sincerely amused bark of laughter at Dawn's challenging attitude towards that of her own. The hype in the main arena of the Lily of the Valley stadium was at a fever pitch as both of the trainers down on the battlefield were about to square off against one another as the referee had taken his place to officiate the match.
"This is an official Sinnoh champion title match," the referee began, "Between the current title holder, Cynthia, and the title challenger, Dawn! Each trainer may use their respective entire parties for this battle, and the battle is over when all of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Additionally, both trainers are allowed to substitute their Pokémon out at any time! Now then! Let this official title match..." Throwing both hands up into the air, the referee yelled, "...BEGIN!"
Tossing up a pokéball, Cynthia called out, "Spiritomb, I choose you!"
"Alright, Leni!" Dawn called out as she sent in her named Lucario, who was wearing a pair of the held item Wise Glasses, "Let's get goin'!"
Up in the audience, the boys who were watching were surprised by Dawn's choice of Pokémon against what Cynthia had sent out. "Why is Dawn using her Lucario against Cynthia's Spiritomb?" Brock asked, "She does know that fighting is ineffective against ghost, right?"
Down on the battlefield, Cynthia called out, "Spiritomb, use Psychic!"
"Leni, use Flash Cannon!" Dawn ordered.
The named Lucario conjured and cast her Flash Cannon attack at the enemy Spiritomb, striking it as it was trying to conjure its psychic power to blast her with. The Flash Cannon looked to have done a decent bit of damage, and Dawn saw it that Spiritomb looked a bit rattled, a sign that it had its special defense dropped a stage. But Spiritomb was able to strike Leni with a telekinetic blast of psychic power. Thankfully, Leni's partial steel typing let her avoid really serious damage.
Gesturing forward, Dawn called out, "Leni, use Dark Pulse!"
"Spiritomb, use Psychic again!" Cynthia commanded.
Acting quickly, Leni conjured and cast her Dark Pulse attack at Spiritomb, striking it in the face and making it turn its face down and away as it slightly shook visibly. Dawn figured that Leni's Dark Pulse had scored a flinch on Cynthia's Spiritomb, as well as do notable damage. Hoping that one or two more good hits would be enough, Dawn went on ahead and ordered, "Leni, use Flash Cannon!"
"Spiritomb, use Sucker Punch!" Cynthia called out.
Spiritomb threw a shadowed strike forward quickly to hit Leni, although it didn't do much to her. As for the named Lucario, she conjured and cast a second Flash Cannon at Spiritomb, striking it directly in the face with a potent hit that clearly was a crit, sending Spiritomb reeling back until it fell over onto the battlefield backwards and laid there on the ground, clearly out of it.
Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Spiritomb is unable to battle! The winner is Lucario!"
The audience cheered excitedly, surprised that the first Pokémon to go down was actually one of Cynthia's. As for the woman herself, she didn't begrudge that the first loss was hers. Rather, it made her a bit more excited for the battle as she recalled her fainted Spiritomb. "Impressive," Cynthia said, "You're already putting up an awesome fight! I want to see how much more of a fight you'll continue to give me as our battle continues on!" Cynthia then tossed up another pokéball as she called out, "Milotic, I choose you!"
"Leni that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon out, "Alright, Chi-Chi! Let's get goin'!" To everyone's surprise, Dawn had sent her Infernape out to deal with Cynthia's Milotic.
Cynthia herself was confused by this, and instantly thought that Dawn was up to some sort of esoteric plan here. Cynthia wanted to see what was going on here, but at the same time she still wanted to win the battle and defend her title. Gesturing forward, Cynthia called out, "Milotic, use Hydro Pump!"
"Chi-Chi, use Thunder Punch!" Dawn commanded.
Faster than Milotic, Chi-Chi rushed in and slugged Milotic right in the face with an electrified fist, dealing a good bit of super effective damage and also managing to paralyze Milotic. However, the paralysis didn't stop Milotic from blasting Chi-Chi point blank with Hydro Pump, making Cynthia feel assured that she was going to even the current score against Dawn. However, when the Hydro Pump ended and the named Infernape was pushed back, Cynthia saw that she didn't go down, and was barely hanging in there.
"How did your Infernape endure Milotic's attack?" Cynthia said, nearly exclaimed, out of sheer surprise that Chi-Chi had endured an attack that, by all rights, should have knocked her out.
Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. "...I gave her a Passho Berry as a held item. It was consumed in order to weaken the damage from Hydro Pump as it was a super effective water type attack against Chi-Chi." Dawn was relieved that her plan was working so far; despite the fact that she's Dawn's first ever Pokémon since Dawn had been reborn into this world, Chi-Chi was the Pokémon that Dawn had in mind to play a sacrificial role in weakening one of Cynthia's Pokémon, with Milotic being the Pokémon of Cynthia's in question.
The plan was to have Chi-Chi strike Milotic with Thunder Punch, which would deal a lot of damage due to how it would be super effective against Milotic, while also having the slight chance of making Milotic paralyzed which ended up happening. The Passho Berry was in case Chi-Chi was hit by a water attack before she could strike, and Dawn hoped it would let Chi-Chi endure at least one water attack so she could land Thunder Punch on Milotic. It did let the named Infernape endure, but Chi-Chi was quicker, and would be even quicker now due to Milotic's paralysis.
But Dawn didn't want to take any chances, especially considering that Milotic, although hurting a good deal, wasn't out of it yet, and there's no guarantee that paralysis would act up enough to let Chi-Chi finish the job. Even more so when Cynthia gestured forward as she called out, "Milotic, use Hydro Pump!"
"Chi-Chi that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon out. Although she had intended for Chi-Chi to play a sacrificial role in the battle against Cynthia, she still didn't like the idea of seeing her first ever Pokémon go down. Dawn tossed up a Master Ball as she called out, "Alright, Tsukune! Let's get goin'!"
The audience went as wild as possible as Dawn's Palkia, with the Lustrous Orb held item on its person, emerged into the battle, taking a Hydro Pump to the outer side of its left thigh but the attack hardly did anything to the legendary Pokémon. Dawn was figuring that, in addition to paralysis not being guaranteed to keep Milotic down, that Milotic also had the Marvel Scale ability, which would dampen the impact from physical moves that struck Cynthia's Milotic due to how Marvel Scale was providing a defense boost.
...But Marvel Scale only bolstered physical defense. Special defense wasn't upped, so Dawn's Pokémon that relied on their special attack stat to dish out damage would still be able to hit the enemy Milotic full force. And although Akiza would have a type advantage against Milotic, Dawn was banking on Tsukune's times four resistance to water. And Tsukune was packing more than enough special attack to make Milotic crumple up.
Pointing forward, Dawn called out, "Tsukune, use Spacial Rend!"
"Milotic, use Ice Beam!" Cynthia commanded.
As Milotic tried to struggle through its paralysis, Palkia pulled its right arm back, the large pearl in its right shoulder pad glowing, before slashing the air before it with its right hand, creating a large crescent-shaped projectile that flew at Milotic and slammed into it hard, making Milotic cry out in pain before it was thrown back with such force that it slammed into the wall behind Cynthia, right below some of the audience seats, leaving a crater in the wall where it crashed into the wall. Milotic, stuck partly in the crater in the wall, was clearly out of it.
Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Milotic is unable to battle! The winner is Palkia!"
Cynthia recalled her fainted Milotic as she kept her expression calm. As for Dawn, she let out a bit of a relieved breath. "Out of all of Cynthia's Pokémon that she's been confirmed to own, both from the games and anime in my previous life," Dawn thought as she was keeping track of how things were going in the battle, "Her Milotic is arguably one of the biggest threats that she could bring with her to a battle. The fact that I was able to take her Milotic down without any loss to show for it is a major boon, although I highly doubt Chi-Chi will be able to do much more for the rest of the battle."
Over where she stood, Cynthia looked amused more than anything. "Down by two, and you still have all of yours." Looking up at Tsukune for a bit, Cynthia then looked back to where Dawn stood. "And you even brought Palkia to our battle. You certainly know how to make battles exciting!"
Dawn offered a smirk. "...Well considering the fact that I'm fighting a champion who I heard has never lost since she first became a champion, I figured that pulling out all of the stops would be a wise move on my part."
Cynthia nodded in understanding, offered a small but sincere smile. "And you aren't taking things lightly. That shows a level of respect." Holding up a pokéball, Cynthia went on, "But anyway, let's see how far the bag of surprises you've got goes! Gastrodon, I choose you!"
"Tsukune that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said, swapping her Palkia out. Tossing up a regular pokéball, Dawn said, "Alright, Akiza! Let's get goin'!" Taking the place of Dawn's Palkia in the battle was her Roserade, who had the Black Sludge held item on her person.
Unlike with Dawn's battle against Tobias during the Lily of the Valley Conference, where Dawn had the same party that she's using in the battle against Cynthia now but Akiza and Leni were never used against Tobias, here Dawn knew full well she'd have to use all of her Pokémon. With Leni having taken down Cynthia's Spiritomb and Akiza being called out here to deal with Cynthia's Gastrodon, a west sea one just like in the games and anime from Dawn's previous life, that helped to ensure that all of the Pokémon Dawn had brought with her would see some action in the battle against Cynthia.
Dawn knew that she had a type advantage here; in the event Cynthia decided to not swap out her Gastrodon, even if it wasn't taken down by Akiza's Giga Grain, it'll be on the verge of going down to whatever attack that Dawn called for afterwards. The only way to see how things would play out here would be to call for an attack. Gesturing forward, Dawn called out, "Akiza, use Giga Drain!"
"Gastrodon return!" Cynthia said, calling her Pokémon back, "Roserade, I choose you!" After the mid fight swap, Cynthia's own Roserade came in and took the Giga Drain, hardly suffering anything at all for its troubles. Pointing forward, Cynthia commanded, "Roserade, use Shadow Ball!"
"Akiza, use Extrasensory!" Dawn ordered.
Akiza conjured a psychic power that assaulted the opposing Roserade's head, making it cry out in pain. But it was able go force through it and retaliate with a Shadow Ball that it conjured and cast at Akiza, striking her in the gut with a clear critical hit that she was hard pressed to push through, especially considering how Dawn could tell that Akiza's special defense was dropped by that Shadow Ball. Both Roserades were being pushed hard, although Akiza was able to heal a tiny bit thanks to how she was holding a Black Sludge.
Dawn figured that the next exchange of blows would probably decide things here. "Akiza, use Extrasensory!" Dawn called out.
"Roserade, use Shadow Ball!" Cynthia ordered.
Both Roserades conjured their attacks and cast them at one another, Akiza assaulting the opposing Roserade's head with a psychic power, and the opposing Roserade casting a Shadow Ball right at Akiza. Both of them were hit by the attacks aimed at them respectively, after which they both stood still for a few moments. After everyone looked on silently as tense seconds passed, both Cynthia's Roserade and Akiza fell over onto the ground of the battlefield and passed out.
Holding up both hands, the referee announced, "Both Cynthia's Roserade and Dawn's Roserade are unable to battle! This is a double knockout!"
"A mirror match double knockout," Dawn thought as she recalled her fainted Roserade while Cynthia recalled her own. Dawn knew full well that she'd see some Pokémon of hers go down in the battle against the Sinnoh champion, so she wasn't too upset over Akiza going down in a mirror match double knockout against Cynthia's Roserade. Dawn was a little annoyed through, given that taking down Cynthia's Gastrodon later became a bit tougher.
Dawn figured that taking Cynthia's Gastrodon down at this point would require her to just brute force the matter. But that's going to be a process that would have to be saved for later, as Cynthia tossed up a pokéball while saying, "Lucario, I choose you!"
"Alright, Cyrus!" Dawn said as she sent her Staraptor out, "Let's get goin'!" Cyrus, with the Expert Belt held item tied securely around his body, flew in place as he cawed out at Cynthia's Lucario in as challenging of a manner as possible. Pointing forward, Dawn called out, "Cyrus, use Close Combat!"
"Lucario, use Flash Cannon!" Cynthia ordered.
Cyrus flew in quickly and proceeded to pummel Cynthia's Lucario all over. Pecks, kicks, strikes with his wings. Cyrus pummeled Cynthia's Lucario with all manner of strikes. All the while Lucario was trying to conjure and cast its Flash Cannon attack. After Cyrus let off, Lucario was able to strike, hitting Cyrus for a solid, decent hit. The special defense drop Cyrus suffered from using Close Combat was not only exploited by Lucario's Flash Cannon, but said attack dropped Cyrus's special defence for a second time.
Dawn was doubting that Cyrus could take another attack from Cynthia's Lucario, but she could tell that Cyrus was faster, and that Close Combat boosted by the Expert Belt was doing huge hunks of damage to Cynthia's Lucario. The reborn trainer figured that she ought to risk letting Cyrus go down here in the attempt to take down a fourth member of Cynthia's team. "Cyrus," Dawn called out, "Use Close Combat!"
"Lucario, use Aura Sphere!" Cynthia commanded.
Cynthia's Lucario conjured and cast its Aura Sphere attack right at Cyrus, who saw it coming. He could tell that he wasn't going to be able to avoid the attack, so Cyrus decided to immediately fly into the Aura Sphere while using Close Combat. The collision of Aura Sphere and Close Combat met with an explosion of smoke that obscured all vision. It was then shown that Cyrus fell out of the in-air smoke cloud, going straight down to the ground.
...Only to kick off of the ground and fly in a straight line at Cynthia's Lucario, catching everyone by surprise as he cried out in a mix of angered pain and challenging anger. Upon reaching Cynthia's Lucario, Cyrus unleashed a flurry of pecks, kicks, and wing strikes as he pummeled his opponent with everything that he had left, finishing off by kicking Cynthia's Lucario away while also getting a bit of distance himself.
Both Pokémon landed a dozen feet from one another, both panting hard out of exhaustion. Both of them looked at one another, both barely able to stand. Eventually, after a tense few moments, is was Cynthia's Lucario who gave a gasping cry before falling over onto the battlefield and passing out, clearly defeated.
Holding up a hand, the referee announced, "Lucario is unable to battle! The winner is Staraptor!"
Dawn breathed a sigh of relief as Cyrus showed that, while barely just, he was still able to battle. But he, like Chi-Chi, was in bad shape and could easily go down to one more attack. The reborn trainer didn't want to push her Pokémon if she could help it. Still, Dawn couldn't help but think about how lucky she was at this point; Cynthia had only two Pokémon left while Dawn had five, although two were in such bad shape that they'd probably go down to one hit each.
At the very least, she had three solid Pokémon to the two remaining ones that Cynthia had. Dawn also had a good idea what Cynthia's Pokémon that she hasn't used yet is, and Dawn knew just what to do to face off against it. Sure enough, after Cynthia had recalled her fainted Lucario, she tossed up a pokéball as she called out, "Garchomp, I choose you!"
"Cyrus that's enough, fall back!" Dawn said as she swapped her Pokémon out, "Alright, Germany! Let's get goin'!" Taking the place of Dawn's winded Staraptor was her Garchomp, who had a Muscle Band held item securely tied around his right bicep, between the two spikes that poke out from the bicep. Dawn had figured that using her own Garchomp against Cynthia's Garchomp would, at an absolute minimum, make things easier for Tsukune to clean up shop.
As for Cynthia herself, she cracked a bigger smile than before. "Now that's a very interesting play! Bringing your own Garchomp out as an answer to mine!" A look of challenging amusement entered Cynthia's expression. "...But that just begs the question. Whose Garchomp is tops?"
Dawn allowed herself a smile. "...There's only one way to find that out, Cynthia."
END, CHAPTER FIFTY
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the champion title match between Dawn and Cynthia get going. Dawn, although she had actually been able to get a good lead on Cynthia, couldn't do so without one of her Pokémon going down and another two both taking a lot of heavy damage in the process. This is a battle against Cynthia that we're talking about here, though, so that's to be expected.
Something else that's also to be expected is how the whole of the battle couldn't be done in just one chapter; sorry about that, but the chapter would of dragged on for far too long if I had tried cramming everything into it. The rest of the battle will conclude in the next chapter, which will also see some developments in other aspects of the story.
Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Akiza (female Roserade), Leni (female Lucario), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Germany (male Garchomp), 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)