Chapter one: Reincarnation

Don Barret was getting back from checking things out at the local smoke shop after getting off of a ten hour shift at his boringly easy job. Don was quite amused by the selection of

incense sticks that was for sale, and bought a twenty count of the one that smelled like chocolate. He had no idea how the incense stick makers were able to make a chocolate scented

incense stick, but he wasn't going to knock it, especially since he likes lighting incense sticks when he relaxes at home.

And what a relaxing time he'll be having, as he's got the next week off of work due to some sort of manager holiday. That gives him time to rack up hours in the remakes for Diamond

and Pearl that recently came out on the Switch. Don had been a fan of the Pokémon series for... pfft, as long as he could remember, really. He knew intricate details of the games and

anime, had some rather strong opinions on certain bits, like how the Samurai who chided Ash had no real legging to stand on.

But that was from the Kanto stuff, and while Don knew a lot there, where he truly shined was when it came to Sinnoh. He actually first entered the realm of Pokémon fandom when the

original Diamond and Pearl games first came out, and he had a blast. After grinding hours into his copy of Pearl, Don looked to past generations of Pokémon, partly due to having a need

to complete the pokédex as much as he could until Heartgold and Soulsilver dropped some time later.

Even so, it was content from the Sinnoh region that Don loved the most. The Pokémon of Sinnoh appealed to him more than those from past regions, and ones from future regions were

hard pressed to match up in Don's opinion. More than that, what Don thought Sinnoh topped the other regions in was the music; even to this day, one of Don's favorite examples of

video game music was the theme that played in the Sinnoh games when you battled a gym leader. And the remakes did a fair job at recreating all of the Sinnoh music, at least if you ask

Don.

Don wanted to try to recreate the feeling of when he first played through Sinnoh all those years ago when he cracked first into Shining Pearl; the original Pearl was his first, so of course

Don started on the Pearl remake. He even managed to assemble the same party in the original Pearl that he used to defeat Cynthia in the Pearl remake; Infernape as his starter (both

the one in original Pearl and the one in Shining Pearl ended up being female, to Don's surprise) Staraptor, Roserade, Garchomp, Lucario, and Palkia.

Those six helped him become champion in Pearl, and they repeated the process in Shining Pearl.

He then spent some time working out Brilliant Diamond, mostly to complete the pokédex as much as he could. Even after all that he's done, Don still enjoys the Sinnoh region. Sinnoh

even helped to give Don some of his fondest childhood memories; using his same championship party, Don beat a friend of his in a PVP battle, and said friend was rocking an entire

party of legendary Pokémon at the time of the battle.

"Why are you complaining that I used Palkia?" Don remembered telling his friend, "That's the only legendary that I used. You had SIX legendary Pokémon." Ah, memories.

Don put a lot of effort into raising the Pokémon of Sinnoh. His main six aside, Don also got Torterra and Empoleon (he still preferred Infernape), Honchkrow, Mismagius, Luxray, a west

sea Gastrodon, Magmortar and Electivire, Togekiss, Gliscor, Mamoswine, Leafeon, Yanmega, Gallade, Porygon-Z, Weavile, Floatzel, Toxicroak, Drapion, Spiritomb, Lopunny, Rampardos,

and Mothim which in a move that surprised Don ended up becoming one of his favorite Sinnoh Pokémon. And those are just the ones that Don was able to remember off of the top of his head. There were many, many more that he remembered raising in Sinnoh. Don was getting to the corner he had to take a crosswalk through to get to the other side of the road, and walking south down that road for a mile and a half got him home. As he

waited for the little white walking man to appear in the signal sign thingy, Don suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, as well as a shortness of breath. He was also wheezing a bit, and

started coughing when a random passerby noticed he was unwell.

"Damn it," Don thought as he fumbled to pull an inhaler out of the right front pocket of the tripp pants he was wearing, "Don't tell me that I'm having an asthma attack now of all times."

The inhaler slipped from his hands because someone in a rush to try to aid him stumbled into him on accident, and the inhaler flew into the street, where a car ran it over and crushed it.

"...Fuck," Don thought as he fell to one knee and eventually onto his side.

As he laid on the sidewalk, a few passersby looking over him, Don struggled to breathe, but he could tell that this asthma attack, and he could tell full well it was an asthma attack as

he's had a few in the past, was going to be a big one. He cursed his luck, as he had a long break planned where he'd relax at home and grind hours into the D/P remakes. The last thing

that Don saw before he had lost consciousness was a paramedic come driving up.

"...If I survive this," Don thought, "I'm going to spend the required downtime to recover making the Sinnoh region my bitch." Don soon after that passed out, hopes of once again

traveling through his favorite Pokémon region going through his mind before... well, they couldn't.

...Or could they?

To Don's surprise, he woke up in a bed, but he didn't open his eyes yet. "...I must be at the hospital," Don thought as he slowly came to. Opening his eyes, Don gained a look of

confusion on his face as he saw where he had woken up in; he looked to be in the bedroom of a child, and was laying in the child's bed. Panicking at the thought of being found sleeping

in a child's room due to being an adult in his early twenties, Don got up out of the bed, and by chance looked down at himself.

...Or rather, herself.

"What in the name of Odin is going on?!" Don exclaimed, freaked to see that he, or rather she, was wearing a pink sleep gown. He even freaked out upon hearing what he sounded like

now. If this was a dream, then Don hoped he'd wake up soon, because the last time that he checked, he still had a penis. If what he feared was true, then Don had lost more than one

important member. Stumbling backwards, Don by chance walked past a mirror, and saw what he looked like now.

Don saw that he had woken up as Dawn, the female player character from the Sinnoh games, and one of Ash's traveling companions in the Diamond and Pearl anime. Understandably,

Don freaked out once again, screaming at the top of her lungs due to seeing he had become Dawn somehow. As she panicked, Don, now going by Dawn, heard the door open. Coming

inside was Johanna, Dawn's mom, who was followed by a Glameow. Both Johanna and her Glameow looked worried.

"Dawn, sweetie, are you okay?" Johanna asked, "I heard you screaming."

What could she say? Before waking up, Dawn was an early twenties guy, but now is a ten year old girl. Remembering from her previous existence, Dawn could tell that the guy she used

to be did indeed die from that asthma attack, but woke up here, with all previous memories. Dawn realized that she had isekai'd, and into the world of Pokémon, in the Sinnoh region.

Dawn, once she had settled down, looked to Johanna.

"...Sorry, mom. Just had a bad dream is all."

...

Downstairs, Dawn and Johanna were having some coffee as they talked of plans Dawn has about going on a journey. Although still a bit unsettled over having isekai'd, Dawn was getting

used to her new life. Thanks to remembering everything from her previous life, Dawn felt that she'd be able to adjust well enough, though she'd never tell anyone about who she really

was. Instead, Dawn had that talk with Johanna about the journey she was about to go on supposedly.

"You forgot this, Dawn," Johanna said as she handed a postcard to Dawn from across the table. Receiving the postcard, Dawn saw the Sinnoh starters Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup. "It

came from Professor Rowan," Johanna went on, "And he's inviting you to come to his lab in Sandgem Town to pick one of the three as your first Pokémon."

As Dawn continued to look at the postcard, Johanna went on, "Regardless of your choice, I bet that it'll be a big help in you becoming a top coordinator like myself, which you went on

about last night before you went to-"

"Actually, mom..." Dawn spoke up, sounding unsure and mildly worried. The sudden speaking up had caught Johanna's attention. "I'm..." Dawn went on, sounding like she might cry,

"...I'm not sure if I even want to do contests anymore. I'm sorry if I disappoint you, but I-"

Dawn was cut off as Johanna, a warm and understanding smile on her face, got up, walked around the table to get to Dawn, and wrapped her arms around her daughter in a warm,

loving hug. "...Dawn, you don't have to worry," Johanna said in an understanding tone, "I'll be proud of you no matter what path you end up taking. Whether you follow in my footsteps

and aim to be a top coordinator, or end up forging your own path different from the one I forged long ago."

We use cookies. By using our services, you acknowledge that you have read and accept our Cookies (/cookies/) & Privacy (/privacy/) Policies. Accept

The reincarnated girl, still getting used to having reincarnated, shivered a bit as she smiled. "Thanks, mom." After they broke away from one another, Dawn took up the postcard from

Professor Rowan.

Seeing Dawn look at the postcard, Johanna said, "So is there any of those three in particular that you're considering, Dawn?"

Dawn, thanks to remembering everything from her previous life, knew the Sinnoh region, both games and anime, inside and out. She knew of others up to Galar, and knew them well,

but it was in Sinnoh where Dawn felt she had always shined the best. And in this life, she was going to shine in Sinnoh again, and she'll do it her way. "...I'm actually feeling that

Chimchar is going to be my best bet," Dawn replied. She can already imagine traveling through the world of the Pokémon anime, with a Chimchar, eventually Infernape, at her side.

Johanna looked a bit amused by her daughter's choice. "Hmm, I'd have sworn you'd pick Piplup, if I were a betting woman. It looks the cutest to me out of the three."

Remembering in the Diamond and Pearl anime that anime!Dawn had picked Piplup, the Dawn who was here now had other plans. "Nope, I'm really feeling Chimchar." Johanna

nonetheless respected her daughter's choice, and together the two of them finished their coffee, while Glameow nuzzled against the side of Dawn's right shin. The rest of breakfast

passed by without incident, which made Dawn feel relieved.

Later, Dawn was dressed and fully ready to go. Unlike the Dawn from the anime, Dawn here had no intention of messing with contests. No, she was aiming for something else. As such,

she ended up packing sensibly for her journey, instead of Johanna having to do it for her. As Dawn was getting ready to leave, Johanna stopped her and gave her the first ribbon that she

(Johanna) had won, as a good luck charm of sorts.

"And remember what I said, sweetie," Johanna said, "I'll be proud of you no matter what path you make for yourself."

Dawn nodded in thanks. "Thank you, mom. Wish me luck." Turning around, Dawn got onto her bike and took off for Sandgem Town from her starting point of Twinleaf Town.

...

Dawn soon arrived in Sandgem Town, and remembered from watching the anime in her previous life that she'll eventually run into Professor Rowan, just looked around a little bit, giving

passersby the impression that she was lost. Soon enough, Dawn spotted Professor Rowan approaching her, having seen that she looked lost. "Excuse me young lady, but you seem to be

lost," Rowan said, "I could help you if you need directions."

Knowing who he was already, Dawn had to play along anyway. "Yeah, I'm trying to find my way to the lab that Professor Rowan works at," Dawn said, "I got a postcard from him inviting

me to his lab to pick my first Pokémon."

"Ah, so you're Dawn!" Rowan said, "Yes, your mom Johanna told me about you. Anyway, I am Rowan. Since I was on my way back to my lab, why don't you just follow me?" Dawn

nodded along and let the Pokémon professor show her the way.

Over at Rowan's lab, some lab workers were going about feeding the starter Pokémon. "I don't trust that Turtwig," a female lab worker said, "I caught him foraging through one of the

drawers of my dresser."

"I was there, and the Turtwig clearly was looking for food," another female lab worker pointed out. Walking over to where the starter Pokémon sat, the second female lab worker picked

up Turtwig and held him, gently stroking his head. Turtwig cheered and nuzzled into the lab worker's chest. "Aww, he's just a sweetheart who gets hungry sometimes," the second

female lab worker said. Not that she or any of the humans saw it, but Turtwig blushed in a way that indicated he knew and liked what he was doing.

The other starter Pokémon, however, did see and while Piplup more or less didn't care, Chimchar was very much unamused with Turtwig. The lewd blushing of Turtwig was also seen by a

Starly and a Staraptor that two more lab workers brought into the room, but the bird Pokémon had no clue what to make of Turtwig. It was this scene that Dawn and Rowan walked in

on.

"Huh, no chaos and no missing Pokémon," Dawn thought, her curiosity piqued as she followed Rowan into the lab. Looking at the three starter Pokémon, Dawn then turned to Rowan and

asked, "So those are the three starter Pokémon, right Professor Rowan?"

"Indeed they are," Rowan began, "There's Turtwig the grass type, Chimchar the fire type, and Piplup the water type. Go on ahead and pick whichever one you want."

Seeing that a new trainer was coming up to pick from them, the starter Pokémon perked up. Piplup in particular puffed its chest out to try to look impressive, but Dawn looked at Chimchar for a bit before saying, "I want to pick Chimchar." Chimchar looked calmly happy to have been picked, while Turtwig looked mildly disappointed and Piplup looked utterly shocked. "Oh, Chimchar's a good choice," one of the female lab workers said, "She is also really well behaved compared to the boys here. Piplup acts stuck up all the time, and I think that Turtwig

knows what he's doing when he-"

The female lab worker who was holding Turtwig earlier cut the first female lab worker off. "He was just looking around for food. Geez."

Shaking that off, Dawn looked to her now Chimchar. Dawn remembered from her past life how, in both the original Pearl and in Shining Pearl, her starter Chimchar was female. And now

this Chimchar was also female. She also acted differently from the starter Chimchar from the anime from what Dawn remembered. The Turtwig also seemed a little sus from what Dawn

remembered about the anime, but she wrote it off as a change that came with isekai.

Rowan then handed a pokédex and several pokéballs over to Dawn. She was even shown how to check the status of her Pokémon with her pokédex by scanning the pokéball, and did so

with her Chimchar's ball. To Dawn's surprise, Chimchar aside from being female also had a jolly nature and the Iron Fist ability. "That's Chimchar's hidden ability," Dawn thought, "Are

influences from generations past gen four going to be having influence here? Not to mention that I raised an Infernape with Iron Fist when it became available in the games. And that

one was ALSO female."

Looking up from the pokédex, Dawn said to Rowan, "Thanks again, Professor Rowan."

Nodding once, Rowan said, "Good luck on your journey, Dawn. Oh, by the way, would you be interested in giving your new Chimchar a nickname?"

Thinking about it, Dawn remembered the name she gave to the last Infernape she had raised in the games before she had isekai'd. "Yes. I'm going to name her Chi-Chi." With all

business taken care of, Dawn and Chi-Chi took off from Professor Rowan's lab, ready to take the world of Pokémon by storm.

Realizing that she needed to catch more Pokémon, Dawn went to Route 202. With Chi-Chi out with her, Dawn looked around for anything good. In quick order, Dawn soon came across

her first wild Pokémon, a Starly. "The anime had Dawn tango with a Buneary here, despite how the games didn't have Buneary appear until later," Dawn thought, "The differences

between anime and game logic." Pointing towards the Starly, Dawn said, "Chi-Chi, use Scratch on that Starly!"

Chi-Chi rushed the Starly and scratched at it, making it cry out. The Starly retaliated with Growl, lowering Chi-Chi's attack a bit. Not deterred, Dawn ordered another Scratch, with ChiChi rushing back in and scratching Starly again. Starly then tried flying at Chi-Chi to hit her with Tackle, but at Dawn's call Chi-Chi jumped up and avoided the hit. When Starly landed, it

panted in exhaustion a bit. Seeing that, Dawn took out an empty pokéball and readied it. Unlike the girl she had woken up as, this Dawn had a LOT of knowledge and experience.

Throwing the readied pokéball at the winded Starly, Dawn called out, "Go pokéball!" The pokéball flew at Starly, smacked into it, then took Starly into itself. The pokéball fell to the

ground, and shook a bit, before making a ping sound, indicating capture. Dawn smiled at herself as she went to get her newly caught Starly. She picked up the pokéball and scanned it

with her pokédex, and saw she had caught a male Starly with a jolly nature.

Remembering the Staraptor she had raised, Dawn said to the pokéball that held her new Starly, "I'll name you Cyrus." Dawn then suddenly realized that the first two Pokémon she got

had a lot of similarities to the Pokémon she had raised in the video games from her previous life. She wondered if this trend would continue, and felt that it would do so upon catching

her next Pokémon on Route 202, a female Shinx that also had a jolly nature; Dawn in her previous life favored raising physically attacking Pokémon with a jolly nature.

Regardless, Dawn kept the Shinx and named her Luna, like the Luxray she had raised in the video game in her previous life. Seeing that she had made some decent progress, Dawn

decided to take a break, so she called her Pokémon out for a breather and some lunch. With Chi-Chi, Cyrus, and Luna out in front of her, Dawn said, "Alright team, here's the deal. We're

going to be-"

"Chim?" Chi-Chi said as she looked over at some bushes. The other Pokémon and Dawn all turned to look, and saw a Pikachu stumble out from the bushes before collapsing from

exhaustion. Dawn remembered this scene from the anime, how this was Ash's Pikachu and that he inevitably fries Dawn's bike with a Thunderbolt. Dawn ordered her Pokémon to stay

put as she went to check on the Pikachu that had just shown up.

Quickly recalling her Pokémon as she remembered that Team Rocket would show up soon, Dawn said in an alarmed and worried tone, "I'm taking you to a Pokémon Center, Pikachu! Is

that okay with you?" A bit confused, Pikachu nonetheless was able to tell that Dawn could be trusted, so he let her pick him up, put her in the basket of her bike, and sped off for the

nearest Pokémon Center, avoiding Team Rocket altogether.

...

At the Pokémon Center, Dawn had Pikachu treated, as well as Chi-Chi, Cyrus, and Luna. Dawn told the Nurse Joy what had happened with finding the exhausted Pikachu, then called her

mom Johanna to inform her of her progress so far. "Oh! A Starly and a Shinx!" Johanna said, "Not a bad start at all sweetie! Also, what's this about a Pikachu?" "It came out of the bushes exhausted," Dawn said, "Also I have a feeling it belongs to another trainer but got lost, so I wanna try to help find its trainer." Johanna once more expressed

pride in Dawn before ending the call. Dawn then called Rowan, told him what happened, and also told him that she wanted to find Pikachu's trainer. Rowan mentions that he already

found a boy who lost a Pikachu, and says that the Pikachu that Dawn found most likely belongs to the boy, who Rowan said was a Kanto region native named Ash Ketchum.

Hearing Ash's name confirmed a number of things for Dawn, but she could focus on that later. For now, hearing Ash's last name reminded Dawn that she wondered if she had a last

name. Luckily, she took out her wallet and found her ID card; it gave her full name as Dawn Berlitz. Putting her stuff away, Dawn said to Rowan that she'd meet up with Pikachu's trainer

to return Pikachu. Since all of the Pokémon were rested, Dawn was able to collect them and take off.

With Pikachu in her bike's basket, Dawn rode along as she made her way to meet up with Ash to return Pikachu. As she rode, Dawn worried that she might run into Team Rocket, as she

still had to get used to life in this new world and didn't want to have to get into a serious fight right away. Sure enough, however, Team Rocket jumped out into Dawn's path. Strangely

enough, they weren't in any sort of mech. "Must be because this is my first run in with them so they have no idea what I'm capable of," Dawn thought bitterly, wishing that this

encounter didn't have to happen.

"Hold it right there, little girl!" Jessie said, "That Pikachu is coming with us!"

As Pikachu growled in annoyance, Dawn tried to play it cool. "And you guys are..." Dawn said, trailing off in a manner that showed she expected to be filled in.

Suddenly, Team Rocket began to go into their motto, unaware of the Starly and Aipom that burst through the trees just now and threw Swift and Whirlwind attacks at them, cutting

Team Rocket off and making them scramble to regroup as Starly and Aipom went back, joining up with Ash and Brock who came running onto the scene. "Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed,

"Figures that you'd try to ambush any random trainer on the road!"

"Grr, it's the twerp and his friend!" James scowled. Meanwhile, Pikachu saw Ash and jumped out of the basket on Dawn's bike to run towards him. Seeing Pikachu reunite with Ash,

James scowled, "Fine, we'll just have to take Pikachu by force! Go Cacnea!"

"Go Dustox and Seviper!" Jessie said as she and James sent out their Pokémon.

As Cacnea, Seviper and Dustox appeared, Ash looked to his own Pokémon. "Are you guys ready for this?" Ash asked his Pokémon, all three of them crying out in agreement. As Ash and

his Pokémon got ready to square off against Team Rocket, Dawn came over to him.

"You want backup?" Dawn offered. Ash, as well as Brock and even Team Rocket, was surprised, but Ash wasn't about to turn down help against Team Rocket. Turning to look at Team

Rocket, Dawn said after looking at their Pokémon, "...I can handle the Cacnea and Dustox, but only one at a time. Can you keep the other one and Seviper off of me?"

Nodding once, Ash replied, "Leave it to me. I can take both of Jessie's Pokémon, so you can focus on James's Cacnea."

"I'm surprised you even know our names, Twerp," Jessie remarked.

Giving Jessie a dry look, Ash pointed out, "You tell me literally every time we meet what your names are, remember?"

Dawn couldn't help but snicker as she tossed up a pokéball. "Alright, Chi-Chi," Dawn said, "Let's get goin'!" After the named Chimchar came out, Dawn said, "Use Ember on Cacnea!"

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on Seviper!" Ash called out, "Starly, use Whirlwind on Dustox! Aipom, use Swift on Seviper!"

All of the ranged attacks flew at Team Rocket all at once, scaring the lot of them. The attacks blew up into them, sending them flying away. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

The trio of villains then disappeared into the horizon with a twinkle.

After Team Rocket was gone, Dawn continued to look into the sky where they had disappeared into. "So that was my first encounter with Team Rocket, huh?" Dawn thought as Ash and

Brock were both approaching her.

"So you're the girl who found Pikachu for me," Ash said, "Thanks for that."

Dawn looked at Ash, gave him a single nod. "No problem. Pikachu is special to you, huh?"

"Well he is my first Pokémon that I ever got," Ash remarked, while Pikachu who was perched on Ash's right shoulder nuzzled his head into the side of Ash's head.

Dawn nodded once again, looked down at her Chimchar. "I can understand that. Chi-Chi here is my first Pokémon.""Oh, so you name your Pokémon," Brock commented, "I heard that some trainers do that. I got no problem with the practice personally." The group exchanged a few salutations before

going their separate ways. Dawn remembered from the anime that Dawn traveled with Ash, but Dawn here was wanting to travel solo, at least for now. She intended to eventually make

her way to Oreburgh City, as she intended to take on the first gym.

But before that, Dawn wanted to go to Route 204 as she recalled from the games that's where Budew can be found in the wild; she figured a grass type, especially one that could end up

having a very strong presence in her rotation eventually, would be a big help to her taking on Roark's gym so she could nab her first badge. Although Dawn from the anime did contests,

Dawn here was aiming for the Pokémon League, meaning she'd have to face the gyms. Dawn had no idea how this would end up going, but she'd push through regardless.