Hey y'all! My second (or third, depending on perspective) Pokemon story. Hope you like it.

As for LATEOTT, not to worry; I'm not gonna stop updating. I got this idea for a fic and I decided to write it down before it disappears from my head.

I don't own Pokemon

Ash watched, helpless, as his Grovyle was blasted back by a powerful Solar Beam attack, courtesy of Drake's Altaria. His Pokemon harshly struck the wall of the ship and slid down with swirls in his eyes.

"Grovyle is unable to battle! The winner is Altaria! Since Ash has used up both of his Pokemon, the winner of this match is Drake of the Elite Four!" Fitzwilliam, said Elite Four's first-mate, yelled.

Ash sighed as he recalled Grovyle back into his pokeball. He hadn't really expected to beat an Elite Four member, so he wasn't too disappointed. Granted, the somewhat bitter disenchantment over being so easily bested still lingered, even if it was at the hands of one of Hoenn's best.

It was humbling, maybe a touch too humbling, to discover how utterly outclassed he was; how very far he still was from reaching his goal. And yet, not so long ago he had felt like he was on top of the world. He had definitely learned one lesson from this.

Crashing down was painful.

"Sonny."

Startled, he looked up at Drake, who was giving him a considering look. He met his gaze as firmly as the lingering disappointment allowed him to, his pride wounded but by no means destroyed. After what seemed an eternity, but was actually just a few seconds, the older man smirked.

"Why don't we take a walk to my cabin and have a chat? There is something I'd like to tell you," Drake said before walking towards the aftercastle. Ash soon followed, both curious and confused.

The rest of the group, consisting of Brock, May (who was holding the still injured and fatigued Pikachu) and Max, made to follow as well. However, they stopped when Drake raised his hand in an obvious 'stop' gesture.

"This is a conversation I'd rather have between solely me and Ash. Please wait here; Fitzwilliam and the crew will attend to your needs."

The raven-haired Trainer gave the veteran a surprised look "Why do they have to wait outside? You can tell them anything you can tell me."

He shook his head "If you want to tell them after our discussion, you can. Until then, I'd prefer you listen to what I have to say without any outside interruptions. What I'm about to tell you, you'll need to consider and process on your own, initially at least."

Ash was about to insist again, but Brock beat him to the punch "It's okay, Ash. We'll wait here for you two to finish."

Though he at least wanted to take Pikachu with him, he knew what his starter needed most was some medical attention. The boy looked at his friends' reassuring gazes, though Max's also had a bit of a pout to it, and he nodded before stepping through the cabin door and into Drake's quarters. After a quick look around, he could honestly say he liked it. It was comfortable and practical in its simplicity with just a smidge of lavishness to show that it belonged to the captain of the ship.

"Please take a seat." The ship captain pulled out a chair that was next to a moderately large, round table before sitting at the opposite end.

"So... what is this about?" Ash asked when he sat down.

Drake cleared his throat, as if getting ready to give a long-winding speech "Well, first I want to ask you if you've understood the lesson I've been trying to teach you?"

The young Trainer gave a solemn nod "Yeah, all the matches I've won recently got into my head and I got too cocky. I lost focus because of that."

"Correct. There was a time when I consecutively lost several battles before I realized that my arrogance was the main reason I started losing. However, it's not just that."

Ash gave him a weird look, prompting Drake to clarify "Well, it's a big part of it, of course, but it's not just arrogance that's the problem. Do you remember what I said during our battle?"

The boy recalled their fight and quickly remembering the man's words "A battle is no place for idle thoughts. All focus must be on the fight."

Drake nodded while pouring some sort of medium-brown drink into a glass. When he noticed his guest's gaze, he lifted the unlabeled bottle with a smile "Peach ice tea; very refreshing during the hot seasons, which is most of the year down here in Hoenn." He took out another glass from the cupboard next to him "Want some?"

Only just realizing how parched the battle under the hot Sun had left him, Ash nodded with a grateful grin. After the guest was poured his glass, the two simultaneously gulped down the cool beverage. The young Trainer sighed in relief, to which Drake chuckled in good-nature.

"You've got a lot of heart, sonny. A couple of... mutual friends saw it fit to inform me about you," the Elite Four member said, causing Ash to go wide-eyed.

"Mutual friends? Who?" he asked, bewildered to find out that some people actually talked about him with the veteran Trainer.

Drake gave him a... smile? Grin? Smirk? It was an upward turn of the lips that was really hard to decipher for the thirteen year-old boy.

"Both their reputation and my trust in them deigned me to watch footages of your battles in the previous conferences, including the Orange League. Like I said, you've got a lot of heart. Guts too. They allowed you to get impressively far in your journey," Drake revealed, pouring himself another glass of ice tea.

Ignoring his lack of answer, Ash grinned shyly at his praise, truly honored to hear how highly Hoenn's most powerful Elite Four member (according to Max) thought of his accomplishments. It also helped ease the sting of his earlier loss.

Taking a sip from his glass, the man then said "And that's about as far as you'll get."

The raven-haired Trainer nearly dropped his glass. You could hear a pin drop as he stared at Drake in pure shock.

"W-What?"

"To be more accurate, at your current pace with your current approach, you might as well kiss your dreams of being a Pokemon Master goodbye," he said casually, as if talking about the weather.

Still utterly flabbergasted (who wouldn't be?), Ash shakily spoke up "W-What do you mean 'kiss my dreams of being a Pokemon Master goodbye'? What the hell are you talking about?"

The ship captain sighed "What I mean is, as I've already mentioned, you've got a lot of heart and guts and you are able to utilize them to your benefit, both in battle and bonding."

"Then I don't get what's the problem?" Ash narrowed his eyes, the shock steadily turning into annoyance and anger.

"It's that you don't realize that those things can only take you so far. You're failing to effectively use the one thing you have which is vital for a Pokemon Trainer." He reached across the table with his right hand and poked the teenager on the forehead with an index finger "This."

Ash lightly rubbed the spot on his brow and gave Drake an annoyed glare "So the problem is I'm stupid? Thanks a lot."

The man bellowed out a laugh "It's a tad more complicated than that. You have a good head on your shoulders, lad. The stupid part would be that you don't make use of it as often as you could and should."

"Yeah, well, thanks for the advice, but I don't need your approval to become a Pokemon Master," Ash said a bit more harshly than intended, but he couldn't find it within himself to care. Drake had really pushed his buttons; this was not what the raven-haired Trainer had expected when he had invited him to his cabin.

"And that's something that I like about you, Ash. Even if I was to tell you that you'd never become a Pokemon Master, you wouldn't give two shits about what I'd say." The Elite Four member grinned? Smirked? Ah, who cares? He was getting of track.

"But you did!" Man, it was like the guy was actively trying - and succeeding - to confuse him with all the mixed signals.

"No, I said you'll never fulfill your goal the way you're going about it right now. Pay more attention, lad." He took a sip of his drink before continuing "Besides, I'm still a veteran Trainer and an Elite Four member. You may not need my or anybody else's approval, but you'd be a fool to ignore my advice, or the advice of any Trainer more experienced than yourself for that matter."

Ash grumbled crabbily and looked away in response.

"Disregarding advice just because the truth behind it is brutally unpleasant is for children and the small-minded. You are neither," Drake declared seriously, his stony gaze resting on the boy in front of him.

The teenager shifted uncomfortably, not knowing how else to accept the simultaneous praise and criticism "Thanks, I guess. I still don't get why you're telling me all this."

The man's eyes softened a bit "Remember those mutual friends I said about?" Ash nodded "They were Prof. Oak, his grandson Gary Oak and Lance."

For the umpteenth time that day, Ash felt the world momentarily crawl down to a halt. Those were the people that had spoken to Drake about him? However, after letting his mind process the information, Prof. Oak and Drake did appear to be around the same age and it was quite possible that they were friends, so that wasn't too surprising. There also weren't many, if any, people who knew him as well as the researcher.

Gary Oak had very likely become acquaintances with the Elite Four member through his grandfather, although he had implied that Gary and him had spoken to each other on a separate occasion. His old rival also knew him quite well, so that wasn't really a stretch either.

But Lance of all people? The Kanto/Johto Champion? The greatest Dragon-type Master in the world?

"Why Lance, you say?" Drake smirked. Ops! He must have accidentally said it loud. "Well, he was quite impressed with your courage in the Red Gyarados incident and, later, your performance in the Silver Conference. Since we're one of the few rare Dragon Masters, we often talk and share information, like new Trainers that left an impression on us."

The older man then coughed twice "In any case, we digress. Their words prompted me to view several videos of your official battles. Lance mostly mentioned you in passing; it was the two Oaks that gave me a more... extensive load of info on you."

Ash blinked, staying silent for a few moments before saying "So, what did they say?"

Drake chuckled "We'll get to that. The good Professor had asked a favor of me. With his grandson's new future as a Pokemon Researcher, he asked me to come to Pallet Town and bring Gary here to Hoenn."

The young Trainer perked up at that "He's here?" He hadn't seen his ex-rival for a while now and it would be interesting to talk to him again.

His spirits were deflated when the man shook his head "No, I dropped him off at the coast north of Rustboro City. At the moment, he's researching Fossil Pokemon that used to live at the coastlines and in the sea. The Lileep, Anorith and their evolved forms are being re-integrated to what used to be their natural environment in the ancient times, so it's the perfect opportunity for him."

Ash grinned in excitement "Wow, that's cool."

"Quite. If I understood correctly, you and him had spoken via videophone once in the last week."

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Ash nodded, having almost forgotten about that. After winning his seventh badge, he had been so pumped and had called his mother back home. Coincidentally, Gary had been there as well. His peer had said that his research had 'brought him back home' so to speak and was actually leaving the very next morning back to Hoenn.

They hadn't talked long, just catching up and exchanging some experiences from their travels. That must've been the day before Drake's ship docked into the Pallet Town port. Or maybe the ship had already arrived and he and his crew had spent the night there.

"He had noticed in the way you spoke that you were becoming presumptuous. However, it wasn't something he could scold you about over the phone and he didn't want to ruin your mood, well-earned as it was. It was bothering him I suppose, considering that he couldn't help but praise and criticize you at the same time," Drake commented with a small smile.

The raven-haired Trainer pouted, feeling almost betrayed by the brunette researcher.

The Elite Four member chuckled at his expression "He told me a lot about your Pokemon, your battling style and yourself. With Samuel pretty much saying the same thing and seeing the footages of your battle, I can say I got a good read on your training and battling style. It wasn't hard to miss what you lacked that would get you to the top as you so desire."

Ash just gave him a look that clearly stated for him to clarify.

"Let me ask you? How many times did you teach your Pokemon new moves?" Drake asked.

The teenager pondered his question before answering "Twice. I taught Pikachu Iron Tail and I taught Swellow Aerial Ace."

"Really? That 's pathetic."

Ash's eyes widened again in shock "E-Excuse me?"

The older man leaned his head against his hand "In three years of training, that is incredibly low. There's a good reason Trainers teach their Pokemon new moves, especially those not the same type as the Pokemon themselves. Do you know why?"

Ash shook his head, still reeling from the shock.

"Because they think ahead. To gain an advantage over other Pokemon in battle, because they know that winging it and just going gung-ho won't ever get them anywhere. For example, Gary taught his Squirtle to use Rapid Spin so well, the rotation caused a friction in the air that deflected Electric-type attacks and he did it for this very purpose in mind. It was no accident on his or his Pokemon's part."

Drake took another sip "Another question. How often do you train your Pokemon?"

This time, Ash scowled "All the time. What kind of Trainer would I be if I didn't?" Seriously, he was starting to realize some of his shortcomings, but this was really offensive.

"I mean outside of battling and sparring. Do you have a training regimen for your Pokemon?"

The young Trainer blinked in confusion "Um, training regimen?"

The ship captain sighed "Lad, even experience can only take you so far. Let's say your Heracross. The Sinnoh region's Elite Four Aaron also has one. Even if luck, instincts and the 'determination from the heart of your friendship' brought your Heracross' full power to the forefront, it still wouldn't match up to even a half-hearted exertion from Aaron's."

After downing the final few drops of ice tea, he went on "The point is it wouldn't be solely because his went through more battles than yours. It would be because Aaron put it through intense training outside of battles. The power of its attacks, its physical skills like strength, speed, reflexes and so on."

He lifted both of his hands palms up, as if holding an object in each and trying to weigh their worth "Training increases the amount of power a Pokemon has, experience increases its efficiency in battle. They have their own, autonomous worth while, at the same time, their value is dependent on the other."

Drake crossed his arms and let Ash stew on his words. God knows he needed it after the rather long lecture and he wasn't even done yet. The boy was clenching and unclenching his hands, obviously going through a bit of inner turmoil. Despite his apparently gruff demeanor and image, Drake was a patient man and he could wait for the lad to think things through and speak first.

Ash's mind was a maelstrom of thought and emotions. You could say anything you want about his density, but you could never accuse him of not being quick thinking. It granted him many a victory in Pokemon battles during the course of his journey. It allowed him to scrape up a win whenever he was pushed into a corner.

And that was the problem.

He had rarely ever actually controlled the pace of a battle. It was usually when he was close to losing that his brain went into overdrive and conjured up a desperate, unorthodox tactic that saved his ass and even that wasn't always a success. He realized that, as he faced stronger and stronger opponents, that method wasn't going to cut it anymore.

He remembered that girl he fought in the Silver Conference, the one who liked using Fire-types and an Electabuzz. Even though he had used Water-type Pokemon and his Phanphy, she had almost beaten him because she had controlled the pace of the fight. Knowing her Pokemon's weaknesses, she had prepared not only by using an Electric-type, but had come up with strategies that allowed her to even the grounds and dominate Ground and Water Pokemon.

The only thing that had saved him was the type advantage. The girl had been far craftier and better prepared than him. In many ways, she had been more deserving of victory than him.

It all came down to one conclusion; Ash was ignorant.

It wasn't something to be proud of.

He took off his hat to run his hand through his hair while exhaling in frustration and self-depreciation, realizing how right Drake (and Gary) was.

"Why you?" he asked.

Though vague, the Elite Four member understood what the raven-haired teenager was asking. Why was he the one doing this? Lecturing him? Caring so much about... all this? Drake smirked knowingly.

"Being pretty much an outsider, my opinion is more objective than those of your friends. It might be hard for someone as emotional as you to understand, but wisdom is best served dispassionately."

Ash gave him a confused frown, causing him to better explain "Passion is neither necessarily good or bad, but it often hinders sound judgement. The warmer side of things isn't necessarily better than the colder one. For example, it might've been better for you to spend a bit of time brooding after a loss to analyze the battle and see what went wrong and what you could've done better instead of immediately bouncing back."

After thinking about it, he determined that Drake was right, again. The lessons he learned from his losses were mostly temporary things, quickly forgotten in his boundless excitement and his... tunnel vision. Gary had once used that word to describe him and he hadn't worded it as a compliment. He chuckled unintentionally.

The man in front of him raised an eyebrow, to which Ash just chuckled somewhat ruefully again "It's just something I remembered. Gary had once insulted me by saying I have tunnel vision."

The ship captain nodded "As a Pokemon Trainer, having tunnel vision isn't a good thing. You need to pay attention to more than just your goal. Anyway, the lack of an actual training schedule is also preventing many of your Pokemon from evolving."

The young Trainer face adopted an expression of rage the moment he uttered those words "I will not make my Pokemon evolve if they don't want to! I allow them to choose whether they'll evolve! I-"

"-don't neglect your Pokemon's feelings and wishes, which is good," Drake cut in."However, how do you know which of your Pokemon want to evolve and which don't?"

Ash thought about how to phrase his answer "Well, I, uh... Pikachu didn't, neither did Bulbasaur and Squirtle and-"

"Yes, I'm aware that you've had a rather unusual experience regarding evolution with several of your first Pokemon. Those three did not want to evolve, while Charmander stopped listening to you after he did. Plus, I can bet that you've met some people who insisted that evolution was the only way for a Pokemon to become strong. All these experiences have lead you to have a tad negative opinion on it."

Ash scoffed "That's ridiculous! I'm always happy when my Pokemon evolve. I have never hesitated to show how proud I am of them!"

"But you've haven't considered that perhaps they wanted to either; that it might have been the very reason that they joined you. The only thing that those Trainers you encountered were wrong about is that it's not the only way for a Pokemon to become stronger, sonny, but it is a way nonetheless. Most Pokemon see evolution as a natural part of growth and a way of attaining more power, thus they look forward to it," Drake elaborated.

He pulled out a pokeball "For instance, my Shelgon you fought. Did you know that he's only nine months old?"

Ash stood up, staring gobsmacked at him "Nine months?!" That... baby was the Pokemon who took his oldest Pokemon's attacks like nothing and finished him off with only two of its own?

The older man nodded "Dragons are difficult to train and they take longer to evolve than most. However, I knew that Bagon wanted to evolve as soon as possible, so I trained with him, hard. He evolved after only six months. A few more and he will become a Salamence. Most, if not all, of your Pokemon have evolved through need, not by reaching the necessary level through practice."

The teenager sat down heavily, a downtrodden visage on his face. The reason why Drake was going through this lecture with him getting more and more clear. A Pokemon much younger than his own, yet much stronger because of more extensive training and an actual strategy from its Trainer.

"So I have been neglecting my Pokemon." It was hard to admit when all along he thought he was the exact opposite. How many of his Pokemon wanted to evolve, but he hadn't been providing them the means for it as a good Trainer should. All because, as Drake said, of rather unusual experiences at the beginning of his journey.

Drake made a wishy-washy motion with his hand "Samuel and Gary assured me that your Pokemon are happy being a part of your team, but yeah. In a certain way, you have been. On that note, you should probably call Samuel and ask him to extend the capacity of Pokemon you may carry on your person. I'm sure he'll be more than glad to do it."

"I cab do that?" Ash asked with wide eyes.

"Uh-huh. I know you wanted to start this journey with only your Pikachu 'cus you wanted it to be like the first time." He chuckled while shaking his head in disappointment "My sincere advice is don't."

The raven-haired teen sighed "It's not just that. I needed the space for all the new Pokemon I caught in Hoenn."

"Which is why I recommend you to call the good Professor and ask him to increase the capacity, so you can bring some of your older Pokemon with you. To not neglect the other ones, you can always rotate your Pokemon whenever you're in a Pokemon Center, not to mention a number of other facilities," Drake said.

Ash fidgeted in his seat before looking down at his hands on the table. He had brought only Pikachu with him because he wanted to feel the thrill he had felt when he had started his Pokemon training trip. He didn't want to repeat that to the man because he was afraid he would find another reason to criticize him, to call him stupid.

He didn't have to bother, since Drake started guffawing "Ah, you over-emotional, idealistic types are all the same. More concerned that the things you do have a symbolic meaning than practical use."

Ash flushed at his words while the man slowly calmed down. Getting his chuckles under control, he did his best to adopt a serious expression "If you're going to be selfish, try to be a little less childish about it. I think you can spare the symbolism for the sake of your Pokemon's feelings and desires. You want them to be Pokemon worthy of a champion, then they need constant training and battling, not just a few battles every year or two."

Noticing the lad's embarrassed and forlorn expression, his own softened a bit and he sighed "You have more potential than most is why I'm telling you this, sonny. You do have an impressive brain in that noggin of yours. I've seen that. Do you want to know what I believe is your best performance?"

Still downtrodden, but feeling slightly better, Ash shook his head.

"Granted, I could only see the official ones I had access to, but I believe it was when you used your Bayleef against Harrison's Houndoom."

In all honesty, the teenager was only slightly surprised. It was a battle he was particularly proud of himself. Beating an older Trainer's Fire-type with a Grass-type was no small thing. To top it off, Bayleef had come out of it unscathed.

"You had used a combination of heart, guts and brains that gave you a victory that shouldn't have been as easy as it was. That's how you should be in a battle; focused, undeterred and undistracted," Drake said, almost fervent.

Ash grinned proudly, for once feeling good about himself during the length of their conversation.

"Wipe that grin." Which he promptly did "I want to you to actually brood about what I said today. Enthusiasm and determination are all good, but they're a hindrance without focus and guidance. Can you promise me that? Can you promise me that you won't forget what we talked about today?"

Feeling unusually determined (at least for today), Ash straightened up "Sir, yes, sir!"

And he wasn't going to forget, not after having the privilege of being at the end of an invaluable - and painful - lecture from one of the Hoenn's Elite Four. He learned far too much on this day to forget.

Drake chuckled before giving his most heartfelt smile of the day, which looked more like a regular smile "Then I'm not worried at all about giving you this."

He reached for his belt and took a single shrunken pokeball before enlarging it and presenting it to the stunned Pokemon Trainer. He pointed to himself, to which the older man nodded and took the pokeball into his hand. He seemed to stare at it in wonder before finally releasing its occupant.

What came out was a small Pokemon that was mostly light blue in color with three gray ridges on its head that looked like a helmet. Its lower jaw, ears and underpart were yellow in color with short stubby arms and legs. Ash recognized the Pokemon immediately.

"Bagon," he said in amazement.

"Yes, a young one as well. He's just about ready to fight. If you have a free spot on your team, I can transfer the ownership to you immediately." Drake took out his Pokedex, but Ash grabbed his hand before he could type anything.

"Stop, please. Let me talk to it first."

The Elite Four member's eyebrows were raised in mild astonishment. He soon chuckled, knowing he should have expected something like this and gestured towards Bagon. Ash knelt before the tiny dragon.

"Hey, I'm Ash. I'm a Pokemon Trainer and I want to be the best there is. Drake here has decided to entrust you with me, but I wanted to Ask you first. Do you want to come with me? There'll be a lot of battles and intense training and I promise to take care of you," he said earnestly, putting both his hands forwards palms up.

Bagon blinked at him before looking at Drake, who nodded with a small smile. The dragon gave a happy squeal and put his own, digitless hands into Ash's. The teen grinned in joy and, instead of recalling him to his pokeball, scooped him up and put him on his right shoulder. The Rock Head Pokemon held onto his head with his stubby arms, looking quite comfortable.

Ash turned to Drake "Thank you so much!"

"Consider him an incentive... and a reminder," he responded with a smirk and started typing into his Pokedex. When the teen accepted the transferal of ownership on his Pokedex, the older man spoke up "Now let's go outside and rejoin your friends. You can tell me how you plan to go about things later, after you've been given some time to think about it."

Ash nodded and stepped outside with Drake in tow, his new Pokemon riding on his shoulder.

There you go! What do you think?

I know I've made Ash seem a bit stupid in this chapter, but it was a lecture. The one at the end of it always looks like an idiot.

This was a dialogue only chapter, as planned, so I'm sorry if it was a bit on the boring side. I really feel that Ash would have needed this at that period of time.

Until next time, folks!