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-two: Heated siblings in Veilstone City

The heroes were in Veilstone City, having just gotten off helping Looker with a raid at a nearby discovered Team Galactic warehouse. They were now making their way over to the Veilstone City gym, where they expected to meet Mitchell. A while ago, Dawn and Kenny had helped Mitchell with some training so that he and his then Murkrow could finally win a battle against Mitchell's older sister Rhyanna and her Misdreavus.

The training paid off as Mitchell was able to finally win against Rhyanna. However, for some odd reason, Mitchell left home on his own journey, which eventually saw him in a spot to rise to the position of Veilstone City's gym leader, due to Maylene needing to step down for some rather bad reasons that thankfully aren't as bad as they could have been. Mitchell, in the video phone calls he's had with the heroes, has made it clear he's not in the mood to even see Rhyanna.

However, and going against Mitchell's own wishes on the matter, Brock decided to inform Rhyanna of where she could find Mitchell. Given that Rhyanna now knew where to find Mitchell before they were fully ready to try to peacefully resolve matters there, the heroes were now making their way to see Mitchell in person, in the hopes that they can clean up any damage if there was any (Dawn had it down that it'd be likely there was damage if Rhyanna got there first) and try to explain things.

"Oh for crying out loud, dude," Kenny said as he looked at Brock, "We had a plan to fix the mess between Mitchell and his sister that would minimize as much mess and damage as possible! Why did you have to go and tell Rhyanna where to find Mitchell before we were ready to help them fix what all was going on there?"

"I'm sorry, but I still believe that Rhyanna had a right to know where to find Mitchell," Brock insisted, "They're family. I'm sure they'll be able to work out whatever is going on between them." Brock then looked a bit forlorn as he thought about something.

Dawn arched a wry eyebrow as she took note of the change in Brock's expression. "...I take it you've been where Mitchell and his sister are at right now?"

"Oh yeah, Brock has a lot of little siblings," Ash said, "I believe that there's a total of nine younger siblings?" Turning to look at Brock, Ash asked, "Did I get that right or am I off by one or two in either direction?"

Brock gently shook his head. "No, no, you got it right, Ash." Given that Ash turned his head back around, he didn't see it when Brock's shoulders sagged a bit, as if under the weight of a guilt that's eating away at him. Dawn and Kenny both saw it, and the former was planning to ask about it, especially since it might very well be related to how Brock had informed Rhyanna about Mitchell's location not only before the heroes were fully ready to deal with it, but against Mitchell's wishes on the matter as well.

The heroes rounded a corner that put them on the street in Veilstone City where the gym was located. The boys at least half expected the exterior to have been remodeled since Mitchell was to take over, especially since he was changing the Veilstone City gym to a dark Pokémon gym, from the fighting Pokémon gym it had been under Maylene's control. However, the exterior still looked as it did while Maylene was running the show.

"Well what did you expect?" Dawn asked when the boys expressed surprise at the lack of change in the Veilstone City gym's exterior, "Mitchell's still got some studying and training to do before he officially takes over. Also, remodeling takes time, and typically has to wait until the one who will be in charge can actually start redesigning a few things here and there."

As the heroes got closer, they could hear some shouting, although when they first started hearing it the shouting was too far away to be heard clearly. However, getting closer let them make out that it was a young male voice that Dawn and Kenny were the first to identify as Mitchell's. Getting closer, the heroes were able to clearly make out some of the words that Mitchell was shouting, and from what all they could figure, Mitchell was shouting and Rhyanna, given that they heard Mitchell yell her name angrily.

"...Oh no," Dawn said as she jogged up ahead, leaving the boys to jog to catch up with her.

...

"You don't even know why I'm upset with you!" Mitchell yelled, his expression a visage of anger, as he stood six feet from his older sister Rhyanna in the main courtyard of the Veilstone City gym, "So what makes you think I'm willing to hear any apology out of you, Rhyanna?!"

The older sister looked unsure of how to proceed here, as well as a little upset that her younger brother clearly didn't want anything to do with her for the time being. Rhyanna was about to speak up when she got cut off before she could utter a single word, given that Dawn had just rounded the corner and ran into the Veilstone City gym's main courtyard, catching both siblings by surprise with her sudden arrival onto the scene.

Catching her breath a bit, Dawn panted, "I'm not too late, am I?"

"Oh, Dawn!" Mitchell said in a surprised tone, "Congratulations on becoming the champion of Sinnoh!" Giving Dawn a curious look as Ash, Brock, and Kenny arrived on the scene, Mitchell asked, "What are you doing here?"

A short while later inside of the Veilstone City gym, in a kitchen area where there was a table large enough for everyone to sit at, Dawn explained things to Mitchell and Rhyanna. "...So your original plan was to first get me to agree to sit down and talk with Rhyanna," Mitchell said, "Before she was given any of my contact info period, before having the actual sit down to try to sort out why I'm as upset with my older sister as I am."

Dawn nodded in confirmation. "We figured things might go very south very quick if there wasn't any sort of mediation there to help keep things from getting too heated." Arching a wry eyebrow, Dawn went on, "Given what the boys and I heard as we approached the gym here, I figure what all we had reasoned was well founded."

Gesturing to Rhyanna, Mitchell went on with an annoyed, angry hint in his snarling, "Then why did Rhyanna show up here before I agreed to having a sit down with her?"

"Because she's your older sister, Mitchell," Brock pointed out, "You two are family, so you can't let this bad blood you have against her go on for any longer."

"Mitchell," Rhyanna began, "I-"

"SHUT IT!" Mitchell snapped, turning on his sister suddenly and making her tense up. Turning to look at Brock, Mitchell said, "So I'm guessing that you told Rhyanna where I was before I had agreed to a sit down with her, probably without the knowing of your friends here. If that's the case, then did you also tell Rhyanna, in addition to where I was, not only that I didn't want to speak to her but why I didn't want to speak to her?"

Brock looked a bit guilty. "...I think that you had shouted something about her trying to control your life. But I didn't say anything to Rhyanna other than where to find you."

Rhyanna looked surprised by that accusation. "Control your life? Mitchell, where did you ever get an idea like that?"

Mitchell turned quickly to face his older sister again. "Oh! It must be so convenient for you about how you had forgotten all about how you had blatantly admitted to planning to brainwash me into not being upset with how I always lost to you!"

"What?!" Ash, Brock, and especially Rhyanna all exclaimed in unison.

Dawn and Kenny, on the other hand, both looked like they could see where this was heading. "Ooh, I see where Mitchell is coming from," Dawn remarked, "And it looks like the theory that Kenny had on the whole matter turned out to have more validity than I had given it credit for..."

(FLASHBACK)

Dawn and Kenny were preparing to head out on the road, having said their good byes to Mitchell and Rhyanna. "Oh, Mitchell," Dawn said, "Before I go, there's something that I want to give you." Dawn then reached into her bag, pulled out a Dusk Stone, and showed it to Mitchell.

"It's a Dusk Stone!" Mitchell remarked, "I can use it to evolve Murkrow into Honchkrow!"

Rhyanna looked similarly as amazed with the prize that Dawn was giving to Mitchell. "It can also evolve Misdreavus into Mismagius. I was aiming to find one so I could evolve my Misdreavus, because I remember stories from me and Mitchell's grandparents about how Mismagius can use incantations to make people happy, and I was going to do that to cheer Mitchell up since he was upset." Rhyanna looked to Mitchell and considered him for a moment before she turned to look back at Dawn and Kenny. "But he seems to have cheered up on his own."

Dawn nodded in agreement as she handed the Dusk Stone to Mitchell, to graciously took it, intending to use it to evolve his Murkrow into Honchkrow as soon as possible. With the good byes having been exchanged, Dawn and Kenny took off.

As Dawn and Kenny were walking on the road, Kenny said, "Hey Dawn, something's bugging me."

"Hmm?" Dawn began, "What's up?"

"That Rhyanna girl admitted what her plan was to cheer up her little brother because he was upset," Kenny began to explain, "Which was using a Mismagius's incantation powers to make her little brother happy. Keep in mind the little brother was upset because he always lost to Rhyanna in battles."

Dawn shrugged. "So?"

Giving his friend a wry look, Kenny said, "Rhyanna essentially said that she was going to brainwash her little brother Mitchell into being happy, which not only is unethical because she's basically taking away his mental and emotional freedom in that situation, but it doesn't do anything to resolve the actual reason why the little dude was upset in the first place." Gesturing to Dawn, Kenny went on, "At least you did the right thing, training with him to help him become strong enough to actually win in a battle against his older sister. And now he'll get even stronger since you gave him that Dusk Stone he can evolve his Murkrow with."

Dawn nodded to Kenny in return. "I can't wait to see how far Mitchell will go once he evolves his Murkrow. Also Kenny, you read way too deep into Rhyanna's plan." While making her way with Kenny, Dawn added, "I'm sure Rhyanna wasn't really meaning or thinking any of that."

(FLASHBACK OVER)

In the kitchen area of the Veilstone City gym, Dawn and the others were still sitting around the table as Dawn wrapped up the story. "...So yeah," Dawn said, "It turns out that Kenny's deep reading into the situation might have been more accurate than what I would have guessed. At least as far as Mitchell is seeing things."

"Mitchell, I was not going to brainwash you," Rhyanna said firmly, "I only wanted you to not be upset anymore."

"And do you know why I was so upset?" Mitchell said immediately, "It was because, prior to me training with Dawn and Kenny, I always lost to you whenever we battled! Every! Single! Time!"

Rhyanna looked a bit worried. "...Mitchell, I-"

"And your plan to make me 'not upset anymore' was to use a Mismagius's incantation powers to force me to be happy!" Mitchell spat, cutting his sister off, "That wasn't an actual solution to the problem, that was just a pretty cover you were going to put over the problem so that no one would be bothered by seeing something not palatable to look at!"

The older sister was unsure what to say here. "...I-"

"You were going to brainwash me!" Mitchell snapped, slamming his place at the table with his right fist, "Brainwash me into being happy that I always lost to you!"

Trying to get things to de-escalate, Brock said, "Come on now, Mitchell. I'm sure that Rhyanna didn't intend for that to be what came out of things here."

Mitchell turned to look at Brock. "You just heard it! Rhyanna was essentially going to take my life over! My ability to think my own thoughts, feel my own feelings, live my own life! She didn't actually see me as someone who could be her equal, or even as family! I was just someone for Rhyanna to control! Had she been successful in getting a Dusk Stone before I was given the actual help that I needed, I would have ended up being nothing more than Rhyanna's obedient robotic punching bag!"

"I'M SORRY!" Everyone turned to look at Rhyanna as she practically screamed, clearly sounding upset. Settling down a bit, Rhyana said, "I'm... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. All I wanted was to make you happy, Mitchell. I didn't think the only plan I had come up with for that through. I never considered how I would have been taking your ability to life your life away, or how my plan was overall wholly unethical. I... I just didn't want you to be upset anymore!"

Rhyanna threw her face into where her arms were resting on the table as she cried loudly. Everyone stopped short as they turned to look at Rhyanna, who was crying loudly, her emotions having hit a breaking point. Eventually, Brock had to reach out to get Rhyanna to calm down. "...Both sides here are in the wrong and the right, you know."

"Huh?" Rhyanna said, tears running down the sides of her face, as she looked up at Brock.

Brock nodded somberly. "...Mitchell is in the wrong because he has been blowing what you were doing or planning to do out of proportion," Brock explained, "But he is in the right because, when an outside view of your sibling situation is taken, his views are logical to draw to. Similarly, you're in the wrong because, with all due respect, your plan to make Mitchell happy not only would have taken away a lot of his autonomy but it's also admittedly rather unethical. However, you're also in the right because you honestly meant no harm by it and sincerely only wanted Mitchell to be happy."

The two siblings looked to one another. Things were tense. "...To make matters worse..." Mitchell spoke up, his head lowered and his tone subdued, "...Rhyanna had admitted what her plan was immediately after I had finally defeated her in a battle. That win that I had finally scored over her was one of the highest, if not the highest, high points in my life so far. And she ruined it by admitting what her plan was to 'make me happy'."

The younger brother looked up, showing that tears were now running down the sides of his face. "...Why can't you let me be my own person, Rhyanna?" Mitchell asked, sounding like he was about to cry himself, "That's what I really want here."

Rhyanna lowered her head back down, shuddering a bit. "...I had promised mom before she passed that I'd always look after and take care of you. I worried that it'd be breaking that promise if you had left to be on your own." Looking back up, Rhyanna said as some more tears ran down the sides of her face, "I mean, look at you, Mitchell! You're still so young! You shouldn't have left on your own yet! Not for a few more years at least!"

Mitchell lowered his head back down. "...Really? That story you've told me on and off over the years?" The younger brother gently shook his head. "...Rhyanna, that happened back when I was a toddler, barely able to say any words period. It was years and years ago." Mitchell stood up from the chair he was seated in, stood for everyone to see. He held his arms out at length at his sides, palms turned to face Rhyanna and the heroes.

"...I'm about a year younger than Dawn, Kenny, and Ash here," Mitchell explained, "I have a lot more autonomy now than I did way back when you made that promise to mom before she died. I'm more able to keep an eye on myself than I was way back then."

"Where..." Rhyanna said, trying to wipe away tears, "...Where did all of this come from? One instance, you were waddling around trying to follow me. And the next you're set to become a gym leader...!"

Shrugging as she folded her arms over her chest, Dawn said, "Youth in the world nowadays seems pretty talented, don't you think? I mean, I'm about a year older than Mitchell here, and yet I had just become champion of the Sinnoh region." Gently shaking her head, Dawn said, "But I digress. I know now you had made a promise to look after your little brother, but that doesn't mean you had to try to keep him from growing up."

Rhyanna turned to look at her younger brother. "...I guess that I had been so caught up in trying to hold onto what family that I had left, I didn't realize that enough time had passed that said family had grown up."

Mitchell raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed over his chest. "Things don't stay the same forever, Rhyanna. That's something you've got to respect." Mitchell placed his hand over his chest so as to gesture to himself. "Just like you've got to start respecting me, start seeing me as more than just the little kid who used to waddle around in a bid to follow you everywhere."

Rhyanna wiped a tear from her eye as Mitchell lowered his hand. "...I guess so, Mitchell. I really am sorry that I didn't think through the plan I had come up with to try to make you feel happy."

The younger brother sighed. "...Just... Just try to give things more thought in the future."

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask," Kenny said, "Brock, what was really going through your mind when you went around and told Rhyanna where Mitchell was before we were ready to try to help fix up what all happened there?"

Sighing, Brock explained, "The thing is... is that I used to have ten younger siblings rather than nine." The heroes all looked shocked at that. Brock nodded grimly in confirmation. "...Yeah, I had another younger sister. She was the third oldest, after me and Forrest. We... we had a rather big fight one afternoon, I'd say about a month and a half before I had first met Ash. She refused to speak to me, citing how I 'didn't understand her'."

"...Something happened to her before you were able to make up, huh?" Dawn asked, having a mildly dreading worry where this story could be leading.

Brock nodded in confirmation. "...She was seriously hurt in an accident one dark and stormy afternoon. She was rushed to the hospital." Brock hung his head, shuddered terribly. "...She died in the operating room."

"Oh... oh my goodness..." Dawn said, surprised beyond words.

Brock turned to look at Mitchell and Rhyanna. "...That's why I went around and told Rhyanna where to find you, Mitchell. So that she could try to fix things with you. I don't want either of you to go through what I had gone through with me and Forrest's younger sister."

"...But without you guys being here to help sort through things," Mitchell said, "I doubt we would have made any significant progress towards fixing what damage there was between us."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "Hence why I thought that it'd be better to hold off on fixing things here until we were free to help sort things out, because sometimes, even situations that are family only need some outside help to be resolved in as healthy of a manner as what can be achieved."

Given how raw emotions had gotten, Mitchell was still not entirely receptive to letting his older sister back into his life fully. However, he was now more open to letting her try to make amends; as he was previously unwilling to so much as even see Rhyanna, Mitchell now being willing to speak to Rhyanna, especially if a mediating party is there to help talks progress, was a huge leap forward. At an absolute minimum, he was willing to let Rhyanna sit in when he has his gym leader examination battle that's part of his training to become the new gym leader of the Veilstone City gym.

Things between Mitchell and Rhyanna were starting to look a little better.

"A gym challenge tour?" Mitchell said in a curious and surprised tone.

Dawn and Kenny both nodded in the affirmative when, during breakfast with Ash, Brock, Mitchell, and Rhyanna the following morning at the Veilstone City gym, they told the others what they had planned. "When Kenny suggested that I could try to claim championship titles in other regions when he met up with me as Mr. Goodshow and Cynthia saw me off," Dawn explained, "Mr. Goodshow had to explain that no one trainer can hold more than one regional championship title at a time."

Kenny nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, Mr. Goodbeard said something about how it'd give one region a political advantage over others, or something like that."

"However," Dawn went on, "When I asked if there was any harm in me simply challenging the gyms in other regions to earn the badges there, without aiming to try to earn other regional championship titles, Mr. Goodshow said that not only was there no harm in that, but since I had just become the champion of Sinnoh and thus Sinnoh needs to advertise me to the other regions, a gym challenge tour would be the perfect idea."

Jerking a thumb at himself, Kenny added, "I'll be going with Dawn as I also want to try my hand at the other gyms in other regions."

"Ash told me you guys intend to start in Kanto," Brock remarked, "That's as good of a place as any, and as a matter of fact I can lead you right to the Pewter City gym."

Dawn nodded once. "That sounds nice. Thank you, Bro-"

Dawn was cut off when the video phone terminal was making a ringing sound that indicated that a call was coming in. Mitchell went up go answer the phone (he is the main person in charge of the Veilstone City gym more or less), and after speaking on the video phone for a second, he turned his head around. "Hey Dawn, it's a woman named Johanna, claiming to be your mom."

Right away, Dawn got up and went over to the video phone, sat down, and spoke to her mom. Dawn was occupied for a few moments as everyone looked on, then after a minute or two, the call ended. Dawn got up and turned to face everyone. "So what's the sitch?" Kenny asked.

"It turns out that the party that's going to be thrown in Twinleaf Town to celebrate me becoming the champion of Sinnoh had to be delayed," Dawn said, "Several of the persons in charge of overseeing the party set-up are occupied, meaning the party can't be readied without them."

"What are they occupied with?" Ash asked.

Dawn gave Ash and everyone else a wry look. "As it turned out, all of them were called in for jury duty. Apparently, a Pokémon food production company is in some seriously hot water because of some shipments of Pokémon food that had recently gone out, because all of the food in said shipments was tainted, leading to dozens of Pokémon getting sick. Four of them even died-"

"-One of which being Reggie's Linoone," a familiar voice called out, making everyone turn to see Paul of all people come in, being escorted by a gym trainer working at the gym.

The gym trainer offered a mildly sheepish look of apology to the others. "Sorry," the gym trainer said to the others, "But he came here because he heard that Champion Dawn was here with a few friends. I think he has business with them?"

The heroes were surprised by Paul's arrival on the scene here. From what they heard, Paul was firmly sticking to his efforts to clean up his act and fix his character as a person. Ash said that the last time he spoke to Reggie, Paul was doing well in keeping to his word to better himself. The heroes still had a little bit of apprehension considering Paul's past, but they were willing to hear him out given his streak of good will so far.

The heroes, Dawn especially, wanted to see where this could lead to.

END, CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

Author's notes;

Here we see the situation between Mitchell and his older sister Rhyanna explored more in detail, with Brock having some personal connection to the mess because of his massive number of younger siblings. Things between Mitchell and his older sister aren't fully fixed yet, but the ground work for reconstruction there has been laid. Anyway, the next chapter will see Paul more as he's still in the middle of working on his redemption arc. Take care.

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)