The next morning Ash was awakened by a beam of sunlight that shined through his window. He pulled the covers over his head as he didn't really feel like getting up, but a few seconds later he moved them. He let out a yawn as he raised up and turned sideways on his bed setting his feet on the cool floor of his little apartment. Ash looked around his little apartment that he had been moved into which what basically the same size as his apartment while he was in the Hidden Shadow. He then looked over at the head of his bed at Pikachu who was still fast asleep on a large orange pillow which he had bought several day earlier at the market.
Ash stood out of the bed to stretch and he felt even muscle in his body suddenly reverberate with pain causing Ash to stagger a bit. His body ached from his brutal training session with Dante, Kristi, Koga and Zafiero. He remembered his training with Timothy and though it wasn't as painful it was still pretty bad. Kristi and Dante are extremely powerful seeing as they are part dragon and due to Koga's connection to Zafiero he's a lot stronger than any normal human. Training with them was fun, but it was still painful thought Ash as he stood back up and walked over to the bathroom.
When Ash got into the bathroom he jumped into the shower which lasted only a few minutes before he got back out. He dried himself off before wrapping his towel around his waist before standing in front of the sink and mirror where he began bushing his teeth. After he was done he left out of the bathroom and walked over to his dresser where he got his clothes where.
"Pika." yawned Pikachu
Ash took a pair of boxer and blue jeans out of the dresser and turned around toward Pikachu who was now sitting up on his pillow.
"Have a nice nap buddy?" asked Ash as he put on his boxer.
"Chu...Pika...Pi." noted Pikachu as he stretched a bit.
"Yea...i know what you mean. I'm still a bit sore as well." chuckled Ash
Ash put on his pants before walking over to his room window and opened the curtain letting the ray of sunshine fill the room.
"Ka...Pikachu?" asked Pikachu
"It's a little past ten o'clock." replied Ash
"Chu...Pika...Pi...Chu." reminded Pikachu as he jumped off of his pillow and onto where Ash was laying.
"Yea...i remember so let's go ahead and get us a little breakfast before we head out." nodded Ash
"Pika." nodded Pikachu
As Ash and Pikachu went into the small kitchen of his apartment he thought about where he was suppose to got with Dante and Kristi today. Yesterday he had asked Dante, Kristi, Koga and Zafiero about how one would become a rider as he was curious about the bond that they shared. Dante offered to take Ash to the a special cave where people would go to see if they would be chosen to become a rider. He was suppose to meet Dante and Kristi at the park around eleven so they could take him to the cave and show him around.
Ash fixed Pikachu and himself a bowl of cereal which they both scarfed down so they could get ready to leave. Afterwards he washed back out their bowls before rushing back into his room and grabbing a shirt and hat out of the dresser and putting them both on.
"Alright Pikachu lets go." urged Ash
"Pika." nodded Pikachu
Pikachu jumped on his shoulder as Ash headed for the window and opened it letting a blast of chilled wind into the room. He leaped through the window as it closed behind him and landed on a nearby roof where he stopped and looked down at the street below. It was bustling with activity as people and dragons alike made their way through the streets. After staring down at the streets for a few minutes Ash began to make his way across the rooftops of the village heading toward the park to meet Dante and Kristi.
After a few minutes of jumping from rooftop to rooftop he jumped from the last building of the town part of the village and hit the ground running toward the park. It soon came into view with children and young dragons playing before he notice Kristi and Dante as well as a Yui and her partner Furuya waiting near the park tree.
"Hay we're here!" shouted Ash
"Glad to see you finally made it." greeted Dante
"Yea, we thought that after last nights training that you two might not come." noted Kristi
"Maybe before I started training with Timothy, but we're good. Just a little sore." laughed Ash
"Pikachu...Pi." agreed Pikachu
"Hay Ash, Pikachu this here Yui and her partner Furuya." introduced Kristi
"Hi." greeted Ash
"Pika." greeted Pikachu
"Its nice to meet you." greeted Yui
"Yui's knows more about the subject that I do so she decided to come along." said Kristi
"That' fine." nodded Ash
"Alright then...let's go." urged Dante
Yui jumped into the saddle that was on Furuya's back and took to the sky with Kristi, Dante and Ash right next to him.
"Wow...how do you fly without wings or a dragon?" asked Yui as she looked a Ash.
"That's because I'm using ki to fly." replied Ash
"Ki...what's that?" asked Yui
"Don't you remember Yui...Ki is the intangible force that is inside every living being." reminded Furuya in a soft toned male teenage voice.
"Oh yea...you mean the Life Force." remembered Yui
"Yea." nodded Ash
"Wait how did you learn to manipulate Ki to fly?" asked Kristi
"Timothy taught me...he also Brock, Misty and the rest of us." noted Ash
"Wow...i knew that it was possible to manipulate once Ki, but I didn't really think somebody was actually capable of it." said Dante
"Oh trust me...you don't know the half of what I can do with my Ki." laughed Ash
"Chu...Pika...Pikachu." nodded Pikachu
All of a sudden something blew past them in a sudden burst of speed nearly knocking them out of the air with the force that it had exerted. After regaining their stability while hovering they looking off into the direction of whatever had speed of passed them.
"Wow...what was that?" wondered Ash
"Pika?" agreed Pikachu
"It was Timothy...i know from his scent." said Kristi
"I wonder where's he's off in a hurry to?" wondered Yui
"Who knows." replied Ash
"Must be something important if he's moving that fast." noted Dante
"Well whatever the case let's keep going." said Kristi
They continued flying on heading west in the village until the came they came to a large rock like formation in the center of a meadow. Ash looked around and found that the place had a strange feel to it, but he didn't know if it was because that a eerie looking cave which was out in the center of an open meadow or because of something else. They all landed in front of the cave and Ash noticed that on the top of the cave was a sign that had a picture of an red and black egg above it.
"What is his place?" asked Ash
"Its the Incubation Cave." replied Yui as she hopped off of Furuya's back.
"The Incubation Cave...what's that?" asked Ash
"Pikachu?" wondered Pikachu
"Come on." urged Kristi
They all walked through the entrance of the and into what seemed like the lobby of an office building with a few people and dragons walking around the place. Ash and Pikachu looked around the place as they weren't expecting the cave to looking as fancy as what they were looking at. They followed Kristi, Dante, Yui and Furuya over to the far left side of the room where they began to descend down some stairs.
"You see Ash...there could be no Dragon Riders if we didn't get along. Every so often dragons from within or outside of the village will bring a few of their eggs here. This way the egg will be placed in our care until it chooses a rider." explained Yui
"So do dragon's automatically choose partners or is there something else involved?" asked Ash
"Well Ash there are other variables involved. You see when an egg is first brought here it is already ready to hatch. A spell is then cast over the egg to prevent it from hatching, until the young dragon has found a suitable person to bond with." replied Furuya
"But preventing them from hatching sounds kinda wrong." noted Ash
"Trust me Ash, when I tell you that it doesn't affect us in the least." assured Furuya
"Well what about choosing a partner...how long would that take?" asked Ash
"Well that can vary from dragon to dragon...it all depends on if we can find a person with a personality or motive that we like." replied Furuya
"I see...how old do you have to become a rider?" asked Ash
"Age is not an issue...I've seen some Riders who were younger than 5 and have been chosen by a dragon. Me myself I was only 8 when my mother brought me here and I was chosen by Furuya to become his partner." smiled Yui
"Wow...i wonder if I can become a Rider?" wondered Ash
"Well its hard to say, but who knows...their might be an egg waiting for you." noted Dante
Just then they got to the bottom of the stairs and came to a intersection that had several tunnels splitting off from it. Ash noticed above the tunnels was a sign each one corresponding with the different colors of dragons that he knew.
"Each of these tunnels lead to a Incubation Chamber which was built specifically for the color of the dragon to make the dragon in the egg more comfortable while waiting for it partner to one day come for them." said Kristi
"Cool...let's go see one." urged Ash
"Chu...Pika...Pi." agreed Pikachu
"Ok...let's go see some green dragon eggs." urged Ash
"Alright then." nodded Yui
Ash followed them down a tunnel that had the sign Green Dragon Eggs on it and for the most part the tunnels was just a stone wall. When they finally made it to the end of the tunnel Ash and Pikachu were shocked to see that the area was like a large room that had a forest light forest in it. To Ash it sorta reminded him of Timothy Pokémon Resort as he looked at the variety of of eggs that were lined up in front of him. He walked up to where the eggs where and though they had a few extra colors in them the eggs where primarily green in color.
Ash noticed that the egg had a bunch of leaves on them and when he picked one of them up he noticed that the leaf was damp like a wet towel.
"What's up with the leaves?" asked Ash
"Different colored dragon's like to raise our young in different environments. Green Dragons like to keep their eggs in either an acidic solution of bury them in leaves moistened with rainwater." explained Furuya
All of a sudden Ash and Pikachu began to feel a light mist and when they looked up over them they noticed several blue dragon spew water from their mouths.
"Wow..this is so amazing!" stated Ash
"Pikachu...Pi." agreed Pikachu
All of a sudden one of the blue dragons that was in the sky headed toward them and landed on the ground not to far from them. It was a blue dragon with water blue skin and a greenish-blue water colored skin with white fur on parts of its body. It had four antenna on on the top of its head and for butterfly like wings as well as two long whiskers coming from its mouth. Just then a light skinned woman with long light brown hair wearing a brown hair and a short light brown and maroon dress jumped off the back of the dragon.
"Hi Malene and Inge." greeted Yui
"Nice to see you again Yui. That goes for you all as well Furuya, Kristi and Dante, but might I ask who's your friends are?" She asked
"Nice to see you to Malene...this is Ash and his buddy Pikachu. Their new in the village." introduced Kristi
Malene walked up to Ash and Pikachu as she petted Pikachu on his head.
"I can tell...its not always that you see a pokémon in the Hidden Dragon Village. My name is Malene and my partners name is Inge. We're the head caretakers of the dragon eggs here in the Incubation Cave." said Malene
"It's nice to meet you." greeted Ash
"Pikachu." greeted Pikachu
"Ash and Pikachu here wanted to know if it was possible for him to become a rider." noted Yui
"Well it all depends on if a Dova here likes your personality and motives." noted Inge as he walked up beside Malene
"That's what I was told." said Ash
"Well we usually hold a Special Choosing Ceremony every few month, but I think I can make an exception." smiled Malene
"What's the Special Choosing Ceremony?" asked Ash
"You see every few months we hold a special ceremony in which people from all over Athas to see if they would be chosen by a Dova." said Kristi
"But since your all new here how about I let you all see for yourselves if one of the young dragons here will choose you." offered Malene
"Ok." nodded Ash
"I hope that you don't have anything better to do because there are a lot of chambers to go through." noted Inge
"I don't have anything to do today anyway. Hay how can you tell if a Dova egg will choose you?" asked Ash
"Well normally he young Dova with will lead you to them viva mental communication, but other than that...their egg will glow when you are near the one that you are destined to bond with." replied Yui
"Cool...let's go. I wanna see if I can be chosen to become a rider." urged Ash
"Alright then...well begin here and then make our way around the chamber." laughed Inge
"Ok." said Ash
Ash began to follow them around the huge clutch of green dragon eggs wondering if he'll be chosen by one of them. To be honest Ash didn't care if he got chosen by a green dragon or a dragon of a different color. He just wanted to see if he would get chosen by one to satisfy his own curiosity as well he wanted to know what it would feel like to share his mind with somebody else. With that said Ash and Pikachu continued to follow his buddy as he kept a close eye out for a egg that might turn out to be his dragon partner.
To Be Continued...