So, I went through and did an edit, some heavier some lighter, from chapter 8- now. A few of you pointed out some naming problems, and honestly, every time I think I've gotten them all, I find a new one. I think, maybe, big maybe, I finally have all of them at this point. I cant promise anything, but I'm pretty sure we're good. Okay, here's the list.

Deino- Barastyr

Seadra- Oceanius

Dratini- Nephthys

Gabite- Silvanus

Krokorok- Anubis

Larvitar- Icelos

Bagon- Megara

Axew- Hades

Cleffa- Pandora

Vibrava- Viridios

Froakie- Triton

Litten- Erebus

Fearow (With Bill)


"Ice beam." He muttered out, bored as Triton took down yet another Pokémon. He was in another battle, this one against yet another idiot who thought that they would be the greatest bug catcher in the world.

The girl, Brandi, hadn't even bothered to evolve her team all the way. She had challenged him to a three on three and had used nothing that had given him any trouble. Triton, so far, had taken down a Kakuna and a Metapod. He was half curious what her third would be. She was so smug that Ash was tempted to have Triton use Ice beam on her instead of her Pokémon.

She tossed her third Pokéball and his eyebrow raised. Somehow, this girl had gotten her hands on an Ariados. It was large, venomous, and seemed meaner than the other two Pokémon she had sent out.

Still, Ariados usually used speed to win their fights, and that wasn't going to happen against Triton. While not being built for power, the Froakie was built for speed. It was easily his fastest Pokémon, and he knew how to use that speed to his advantage.

Triton was getting close to his evolution, not that he was surprised. Still, Ash hoped that by being forced to battle stronger and stronger opponents, he would give into the call of evolution. Hopefully. Maybe.

"Strat 6." He commanded clearly, knowing that Froakie would know exactly what he meant by it. He had been working with the little water type and had been pleasantly surprised that the Pokémon had no difficulty remembering which strategy belonged with each number.

In this case, 6 was designed for speed fights. Triton could do all sorts of surprisingly cruel things with his attacks, and one combination used double team to speed up, and encircled his prey with a mix of icy wind and water pulse. The combination ended up leaving an almost web like substance made of ice that trapped those too slow to avoid it and knocking out the other Pokémon with little effort.

A well trained Ariados would have no problem getting away and trapping Triton, but this one wasn't good enough. He watched smugly as Triton trapped it and started hitting it with the frozen attacks as well as the strong bursts of water.

Ariados hissed, not trying to escape, but instead sending a wave of poison towards Triton. It hit his little water type, pushing Triton back several steps. The Froakie wasn't pleased with the spider Pokémon, and was suddenly enveloped in a white light, limbs elongating, and colors darkening in places to a deep navy color.

Triton, now a Frogadier, was pissed.

He could hear Viridios above them laughing sadistically as Triton decimated his opponent. The frog Pokémon didn't take kindly to his prey trying to fight back.

Ash shook his head as Triton stood on Ariados' back, one fist raised in victory as the spider laid unconscious on the ground. He felt kind of bad encouraging Triton to befriend V, especially since both Pokémon had started becoming more sadistic as their friendship grew.

The girl withdrew her Pokémon, sniffling in horror as she handed over some money to the trainer who had hurt her precious bugs. She ran off towards her camp, most likely.

Ash whistled sharply, drawing V to his side as well as Triton and Silvanus, who had been hiding away from the girl, watching diligently for danger. V chittered in congratulations at his friend while Sil just nodded.

The dragon- ground type had gotten more serious, more protective, and more possessive since his evolution. It was, admittedly, a little bit miserable. He turned to walk back towards his own camp where Barastyr and Anubis were guarding the perimeter. Even Icelos, his one cold, distant Larvitar, had gotten it in his head that Ash needed to be protected.

He wondered if it was possible for his Pokémon to smother him with protectiveness. Still, he hoped it would level out sooner or later. Then again, it had been a week since he left Cerulean, and it had just gotten worse.

He huffed as he was herded towards their camp, Sil growling at the wind.

Suddenly, his team froze, making him go very still as he tried to figure out what had spooked his Pokémon. It took a second to recognize the chittering of several Rattata, and the low hissing of a boss Raticate. Ash resisted the urge to groan. That was the last thing he needed. Usually, Rattata were timid, but when there was a Raticate with them, they became bullies, ganging up on other Pokémon and killing them, sometimes for food, sometimes for fun.

He tilted his head towards the sound and cursed himself. Why couldn't he leave well enough alone?

Gesturing for his Pokémon to follow him, he headed towards the noise. He couldn't let a Pokémon get slaughtered just because it was weaker than a pack of Rattata. He wondered what they had encircled, knowing that there weren't very many different species that made their homes on Route Five.

Soon enough, he could see just what they had caught. There were at least a dozen Rattata surrounding the two unfortunate victims. One was an Abra, apparently asleep and bleeding from at least a dozen bite marks on its tan coat. The second was a Shinx, a rare, but not unseen, Pokémon not native to Kanto. It was clearly a runt, and was trying to fight off the other Pokémon, but it was failing horribly.

Ash sighed. "Triton, Silvanus, Viridios, get rid of the rats."

He walked easily towards the electric cat and the sleeping psychic. He knew without a doubt that his team would clear a path for him, and they did. The cat hissed, sending a bolt of electricity at him, making his body jolt slightly. It wasn't enough to even knock him over, he thought sadly.

He knelt down, staying a few steps away as he held out a hand gently watching as dark, distrustful eyes kept him in sight. "Its okay, little one, I just want to help you and your friend. You protected Abra, and I want to help both of you heal. I have some potions on me that will help with your wounds." He muttered calmly, drawing from his experience with Anubis as a hatchling. The Shinx was young, so very young, in pain, and scared of everything. Even the sleeping Abra seemed to be in pain.

It only took a few seconds for the electric type to nod slightly towards the Abra. Ash took that to mean he had permission to help the psychic. He pushed his bag off of his arm and dug around for the potions he knew were in it. Finally, he dug out a few of them and picked up the first one, running a soothing hand on Abra's arm to hopefully keep it from flinching.

He carefully sprayed every single bite mark and bandaged the bigger wounds that would take a little more time to heal. It took three potions to take care of the psychic type. Once Shinx was reassured that he wouldn't hurt it, the cat Pokémon stayed still as Ash sprayed its wounds as well.

When he finished, he looked around, checking for any sign of the rats that his team had chased away. He looked at the two young Pokémon and let out another sigh. He couldn't leave them alone for the night. He just couldn't.

"Would you like to spend the night at my camp? I promise, I won't catch you two, and you can leave whenever you want to, but you could use a good nights rest before you go back to wherever you came from." He questioned, keeping his voice low, and calm. He couldn't afford to raise any more babies right now, as he still had Pandora and Erebus to raise up. Still, the Shinx reminded him of Anubis.

He remembered when his powerful sand croc was just a tiny baby, needing protection and trying to roar but squeaking instead. He had been tiny, helpless, and in need of someone willing to give him the time and attention he needed to get stronger.

Still, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't rescue every Pokémon that he came across. But he could keep them safe for a few hours while they healed. That was possible. He watched as the Flash Pokémon shook its head and ran off, dragging a floating Abra by carefully biting its leg.

Ash sighed to himself and watched them go, before straightening his spine and heading back towards his camp for the night. He was less than a day and a half from Saffron, and he was more than ready to switch out his team again. If only so he could get a break from their overprotective natures.

It only took a few minutes for him to find his camp. He shook his head as he watched his Pokémon grumbling at each other. He was tired, and they had spent the majority of the day training, working on getting stronger. Now that Triton had finally evolved, he would be able to keep up with the others a little bit better.

He laid down on his sleeping bag, grumbling as he felt Bara sneak his way inside the warm cocoon. Within minutes, he was surrounded again by his team. Oceanius and Anubis had worked together to create a six-foot-deep hole that the water type filled and used as a sleeping place. Anubis had crawled on his left, pillowing his massive head on Ash's soft stomach. Silvanus clung to him on the right, head half hogging Ash's pillow. Viridios had landed, and was sleepily laying on Ash's feet, keeping them warm. Icelos was by himself just a few feet away from Ash's head. Triton, the only one of his team that wasn't being an overprotective, possessive jerk, was next to his buddy, by Ash's feet, and croaking softly to V.

He huffed again, knowing that his team wasn't going to let him up any time soon. They expected him to fall asleep when he was being squished by five of his Pokémon. He was sad to say he was kinda used to it by this point. He closed his eyes, going through his plans to make sure he got to spend time with all of his team soon. He had two more gym badges to get within the next few weeks, then he could relax a bit.

He really wanted to spend a week or so in Saffron before he headed to his next gym. Still, he had to decide pretty soon which one it was going to be. Celadon or Vermillion? He knew that he wasn't going to have much trouble with Vermillion. Both V and Sil would be enough to, hopefully, get his badge. He wasn't sure what his other two Pokémon would be, but he was leaning towards Hades and Barastyr at the moment. There was no way he was using Nius though. That was just stupid, even if he was curious to see how powerful his first captured Pokémon would be at that time.

Stars twinkled above him, moving slowly across the sky as he watched restlessly. His mind just wouldn't turn off, and he had no idea why. Well, that was a lie, he knew exactly why his poor brain was obsessing, and it had nothing to do with gyms or where he was going next. It was because of the electric type he had ran into earlier.

Something about the cat Pokémon had called to his mind. It was a protector, and it was trying to be strong enough to be able to keep those it called friends safe. Unfortunately, there was a big chance that the Pokémon wouldn't make it another few months. It may have had a big personality, but it hadn't had the power, or the size, to back it up.

He hated that he was thinking about the baby Pokémon, it would ether get stronger and survive, or it wouldn't. He had no say in which way nature would lean. Still, what would happen to the Abra it protected when the Shinx finally died? Did the electric type have any other Pokémon under its protection? Where was its pride?

He let out a restless sigh and turned to lay on his side, staring directly at Silvanus, who hadn't so much as flinched at his movement.

He tried not to think about what kind of life his Pokémon had before he had gotten involved with them. He didn't want to know what had happened while Sil had been in team rocket's care. He didn't want to know how Barastyr had ended up in Professor Oak's custody. He didn't want to know who had twisted Viridios until he had become the creature Ash had met. He didn't want to know how Triton had ended up in that pond. He didn't want to know; it was better that he didn't. And yet, part of him did want to know.

Had his Pokémon been protectors before he had ended up with them? The only Pokémon he had that he knew the entire history of was Anubis, if only because he had seen him hatch, and watched him grow. But the rest of them? They were all a mystery to him, and he fought with himself to not wonder if Bara had been like the Shinx before he had ended up in Kanto.

Where Bara had come from was one of his biggest questions, one that bugged him not to know. As much as he loved his starter, and he did adore his Bara, the Deino wasn't typical. He didn't behave like a normal Deino would.

A normal Deino would have tried to escape by now, at least twice, if not more. A normal Deino would have ended up on the outskirts of whatever team they were on. A normal Deino would have gone on at least a few rages by this point. But not his. Bara wasn't tame, not by anyone's standards, but he was calm, controlled, and he had seemed more withdrawn during the days, while being clingy as soon as the sun went down. It didn't make any sense.

He had spent the majority of the last few years studying dragon types publicly, and dark types privately. Because of that, he had a very bad idea about what had happened to warp his starter so badly. Bara's life before they had met may have been a mystery, but the consequences of it were never going away. Bara may have been almost, well, tame now, but he would be even more vicious when he finally evolved. It was dangerous for both of them to put it off though.

The wind shifted slightly, making Ash freeze. His Pokémon had awakened and were snarling at whatever threat they sensed. Something was very wrong, and his team knew it. He peered into the darkness, trying to figure out what was making his instincts scream at him. Slowly sitting up, he kept an eye on the forest around them, while keeping an even closer eye on his Pokémon.

They had gotten up and surrounded him, keeping him safely in the middle of their insanity, but they weren't attacking. They just guarded him. That was extremely bad news. Something had triggered his Pokémon and their protective instincts, yet they weren't trying to destroy whatever had stumbled onto them, they were just trying to keep him safe. Which, unfortunately, meant that either whatever was coming was too strong for them to beat back, or too weak to be considered a threat.

He was just as tense as the rest of his team. Even his usual pranksters were on guard. Something, though, was barreling towards them. Silvanus let out a snarl, far more deadly than Ash had ever heard from his friend before. He understood why though, the second the Pokémon raced out towards his team.

A male Gabite, slightly shorter and stouter than Silvanus, had scented, and tracked, them. It roared back cruelly, making Triton back closer to his trainer. Ash's mind raced. What was a Gabite doing here of all places? They were known as mountain dwellers when it came to dragon species and were never far away from them.

Ash's eyes flickered to Silvanus, understanding making him pale. The Gible family never left the mountains, unless they had been captured. If he was right, there was a trainer nearby that was missing one of his teammates.

Great.

Now that he was listening for it, he could just barely hear someone coming closer to them, yelling for something, probably the Pokémon in front of him. The Gabite snarled again, raising its clawed hands in preparation for an attack. Sil wasn't having it and launched himself at the other male.

Ash bit his lip, knowing that there was no way he could intervene in this. Fights between two males, especially two male dragon types, were natural, cruel, brutal, but usually over quickly. He examined the other Pokémon carefully, trying to see what he could tell about the other dragon from the little that he could see. It was unbalanced, built more like a tank than a missile, like Sil. The Gabite bent down suddenly, and Ash yelped loudly. He knew that pose. The other Pokémon was going to try and use its hard skull to break Sil's bones.

That, he knew, wouldn't do much damage. The problem was, however, that once they got started, they didn't stop until they hit something, and it seemed to be coming straight for Ash.

He squared his shoulders, knowing he had precious seconds before the Gabite managed to break their defenses, and stepped forward. The Pokémon wasn't deterred, but Sil was hesitating. His Pokémon knew that when he looked at them like this, he expected obedience.

Ash glared at the intruding dragon, knowing that if this didn't work, Sil wouldn't waver anymore and simply tear the other dragon apart. This was the only chance that the other Pokémon would get to back down and return to its trainer.

With dragon types, all they respected was honor, loyalty, and power. Sil had probably known that this Gabite had been nearby for hours, but unlike the wild one, his had the respect for his trainer to stay by his side. The other Gabite clearly didn't respect his trainer.

So, it would have to respect him.

The only way to make that happen, though, was a battle. "Everyone but Sil, back up. V, keep an eye in the air for unexpected problems. Triton, find the Gabite's trainer and bring them here. Be nice, but don't let them push you around. Bara, Icelos, your job is to keep the wild Pokémon back, they're going to be attracted to the noise. Oceanius, you're on fire duty. Anubis, stay out of this, its Silvanus' show."

His team didn't like it, but they knew better than to interfere with a fight like this. If Sil had still been the same Gible that Ash had been introduced to, they would have been in trouble. Thankfully, he was more than able to defend himself, and his trainer, now.

Triton sent him a glare before disappearing into the woods. All of the team realized why he had been selected to find the other trainer, and it wasn't for his tracking skills. Ash still didn't trust him with the more difficult opponents. Which really wasn't true, but Ash knew better than to correct the thoughts.

Still, he had to focus on the fight in front of him. He would worry about how to make it up to his dark ninja later. He watched as the other Gabite raced towards Silvanus again, this time tucking his head lower. It wouldn't work, Ash knew that, but this brawl was about to get bloody.

"Slash. Grab it, then use dragon pulse." Did he feel bad when the other Gabite got hit in the face by the powerful dragon move? Yes, a little bit. Did that mean he was going to go easy on it? No way.

The other dragon took the first move to the back, where Sil twisted them around, before blasting the Gabite with dragon pulse. The royal purple energy landed explosively on the other dragon, making it go flying towards Ash. He ducked as Sil raced towards his side, catching his prey in his sharp claws and forcing him towards another tree instead.

"Duel Chop, Metal Claw." Ash commanded easily. This wasn't just a territory fight; this was a massacre. Still, Ash wasn't inclined to stop Silvanus any time soon. This dragon needed a reality lesson, and one in respect as well, and Sil was more than happy to teach it. "Finish it with Twister."

Sil had grown into a confident, protective, well rounded fighter. The way he played the other Gabite proved that their training was finally paying off. Sil wouldn't have any trouble against Lt. Surge, and he would be able to take on Erica as well. He had known that all of his Pokémon were growing, but he hadn't realized how much they had changed until now.

It would take some time, he knew, to realize that his team wasn't defenseless anymore. It also meant that he didn't have to turn down a battle when Lillian, Blake, Vesper, or Gary challenged him. A slow smirk grew on his face as Sil captured the other Gabite in his twister. No more having to be the weakest link.

He could get used to that.

Still, he had a lot more to work on before his team was actually ready to challenge the stronger members of the league. Right now, Bara and Icelos needed the most work. He was honestly surprised that his Larvitar hadn't evolved yet, especially because he was obsessed with getting stronger. Then again, Icelos had to be dreading the time he would spend as a Pupitar. He would have to be completely still, stuck in a cocoon of bedrock and metal. Eventually, though, he would have to give in and evolve if he wanted to one day be a Tyranitar. For an active Pokémon like Icelos, being confined like that would be hell.

Bara had the opposite problem. He wanted to evolve, he craved it so badly that Ash could practically taste it, but he couldn't. It had to be difficult to know that it was possible the rest of the team would be fully evolved by the time he became a Zweilous. It had to eat at him that he would be considered the weakest for so long. Ash, admittedly, didn't make things better for his starter. He used Triton more often than Barastyr, and he babied his starter more than the actual baby of the team.

He didn't mean to, but Deino were notoriously difficult to raise, and his was already forcing him to learn how to adapt. They were so easy to injure that they almost always had at least a dozen open wounds on them. Heck, he spent some time every single night spraying Bara with a potion or two so that he could sleep without pain. By the time they ate breakfast in the morning, Barastyr would already have a bleeding wound or two.

Because of that, Ash was more reluctant to use Bara in any type of battle that could get him hurt. He would have to learn to work around the need to keep his starter safe though, if Bara was ever going to grow strong enough to evolve.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and fought back a laugh. Sil had sat down on the other Gabite, just in case it woke up and tried to attack again. Viridios was still circling around above them, seemingly irritated about something. Oceanius had gone back to his hole to sleep. Icelos and Bara hadn't yet dared to move away from his side. Their instincts, along with Anubis, were screaming at them to get rid of the threat to their trainer.

He heard the brush moving and stiffened his spine. Triton was coming back with the other Gabite's trainer. Ash knew exactly how he would have reacted had he seen Silvanus in the same position as the other Gabite with enemy Pokémon surrounding him. He would have been furious and lost in a haze of bloodlust if one of his Pokémon had been captured.

Ash was expecting the other trainer to yell, scream, and attack. He wasn't expecting the other boy to look around, lock eyes with his Pokémon, and just sigh. The other trainer seemed to be around his age, with spiked green hair, grey- blue eyes, a white button up shirt, white traveling jeans, and a blue jacket. He was being escorted by Triton, who was glaring daggers at a Gallade. The psychic Pokémon seemed more exasperated than actually upset.

The boy shook his head slightly at the sight of his Pokémon as he walked towards Silvanus and his Gabite. Sil allowed it, which meant that he wasn't expecting the boy to be a threat to his master. "What did you get yourself into this time, Mordred?" He whispered to his friend, before recalling him. Once the strange dragon had been recalled, the boy looked sheepishly towards Ash. "I'm sorry about him. He just evolved yesterday, and he's been having trouble keeping out of trouble."

Ash just shrugged awkwardly. He wasn't good around people, nor did he want to be. Still, he had a few ideas how to help the boy with his own dragon, but he wasn't sure how well his advice would be received. "It's, uh, fine. You might want to have your Gallade beat him down a few times though."

The boy blinked at him in confusion, before straightening his spine. "Ah, sorry, I can't believe I'm being so rude. My name is Wally, Wally Ainsworth. This is Arthur, he's my starter. I'm from the Hoenn Region, by the way, and I just got here last week."

"Ash Ketchum. Nice to meet you." Bara grumbled by his side, catching his trainer's attention. Ash scooped up his starter automatically, before introducing him as well. The rest of his team looked just as uncomfortable as he felt, except for V, who seemed to want to test himself against Wally's starter, and Oceanius, who couldn't care less if he tried to.

"How many badges do you have, Ash?" Wally asked, curiously.

He just shrugged. "One for now."

Wally moved his stormy blue eyes over the other trainer's team, before looking back at Ash. The unspoken question was obvious, and one that he had been expecting to hear for a long time.

"They weren't ready." He answered, knowing that there was no way to answer the other boy's question without explaining that he was only using his dragons in official battles, and trying to make the boy understand that dragons grew so much slower than other Pokémon, something he should have already realized since he had a Gabite.

That was when he realized something strange, this boy seemed comfortable. He was completely and totally alright with being surrounded by dragons and dark types. That was extremely weird. No one was completely comfortable with his team besides him, but there was this green haired boy who was more than happy to come over to Ash's side, shake his hand, even though he had Barastyr in his arms, and sat down on a log that Ash had been sitting on a few hours prior.

Wally seemed to accept his answer, before tilting his head slightly, preparing another question. The green haired trainer glanced towards the Gallade, getting a nod from his partner, before turning back to Ash. "Would you mind if we stayed here tonight? Arthur thinks that you might be able to help us reign in Mordred, and the others, apparently, will get along with your team too."

Ash blinked at that. Arthur? Right, the Gallade. It was a psychic/ fighting duel type, and probably had mentally linked to his trainer forever ago, especially if Arthur was Wally's starter. He shrugged, more to himself than as an answer to Wally's question. He had never bothered sharing a campsite with anyone. He wasn't social enough to make people comfortable around him for long periods of time. No one wanted to hear what he had to say, and no one wanted his advice.

Except that, apparently, this other boy did. He was clearly a strong trainer, and he had a strong bond with his starter, but Ash was hesitant. He didn't like not knowing what to say, but he just shoved the feeling back. If Wally wanted to spend the night, or what was left of it, in his camp, then that was fine.

"Will your team mind if I send out mine?" Wally asked. Ash froze, making Wally backtrack with waving hands. "Except for Mordred. He needs a timeout. I meant my other Pokémon. I don't have any other dragons, so we shouldn't have any territory issues, and I don't have any Pokémon that will freak out on your team."

Ash glanced towards Anubis, questioning if he would be able to keep his temper, while keeping the rest of the team under control. All Anu offered was an indelicate shrug. He wouldn't cause any problems if they didn't bug him. Barastyr just grumbled at him in annoyance, agreeing with Anubis. As long as the other Pokémon didn't try to threaten their trainer, they would behave. "Yeah, okay."

Wally sent him a blinding smile as he tossed four Pokéballs overhead. The first to form was a giant red and grey bird Pokémon. That was the only Pokémon he didn't recognize. The other three were easier, Magneton, an electric type Pokémon that looked like three magnets that were stuck together, Roselia, a grass type Pokémon that had two roses as hands, Azumarill, a water type Pokémon that was mostly blue, except for speckles that seemed like it was dipped in white paint.

"This is Lancelot, he's a Talonflame. Then we have Percival, my Magneton, Guinevere, my Roselia, Gwaine is my Azumarill, Arthur, of course, and Mordred is my Gabite." At their names, each of the Pokémon bowed their heads. It was funny that Wally apparently had a team of respectful Pokémon who listened to him, except for one. "Lance is my first capture, and Mordred is my newest." He explained.

Ash watched the other boy for a few seconds, before he decided to return the favor. "Barastyr is my starter, Oceanius is my Seadra, and my first capture. Anubis is the Krokorok, Viridios is the Vibrava, never take an eye off him, Icelos is my Larvitar, Triton is one of my newest, he's the Frogadier, and Silvanus, of course, is my Gabite."

Wally waved to each of Ash's Pokémon, seemingly content with the introductions. As soon as his stormy blue eyes landed on Silvanus, though, they sharpened to a steely grey. "Silvanus must be pretty strong to be able to beat Mordred."

Ash bit back a laugh. "He's getting there. It takes some time for all Gabite to learn how to use their new bodies. Sil's had more time to get used to being more than just a giant mouth. He's built for speed compared to yours." He gestured for Silvanus to come to his side and sat down next to the dragon type. "He's a little taller, and a little thinner than yours. Mordred is broader, and stouter. Because of that, the way that they attack is going to be different. Sil is fond of getting in close, then slashing or blasting his opponents, before backing up again. He and V are my two fastest, Triton's getting there, and are almost impossible to catch if they are in the mood to torment."

"So how could Mordred have beaten Silvanus?" Wally asked, leaning his chin on his hands.

He paused for a moment, taking a second to think about the question. "Well, I'm guessing that your Gabite is physically stronger than mine, and once he has a hold on something, its probably almost impossible to get free. Your Gabite is built like a tank. Mine is built more like a missile." Ash tilted his head slightly, replaying the battle in his head. "As to how he could have won, if he had caught Sil when he was being hit by an attack, Sil probably wouldn't have been able to get away quick enough. Catching an opponent like Silvanus mid- hit is probably the best way to win against them."

"Huh, so you think in Mordred's case, having a stronger attack and defense would have helped him win?"

Ash just nodded. Triton croaked from across the camp, stealing his attention away from the other trainer. Huh. Well, okay then. Triton seemed to be trying to talk to the Azumarill, not that it was working very well. His Pokémon were just as awkward around strangers as he was. He felt kind of bad for his mischievous Pokémon, all Triton wanted was for an older water type to show him the ropes. Since there was no way that Oceanius would bother, he was kind of out of luck.

He glanced around, catching sight of his most anti-social Pokémon, Anubis, Icelos, and Barastyr, trying not to cause trouble when Wally's Gallade walked over to them and sat down next to the trio. V was chittering happily with the Talonflame while circling overhead. Ash couldn't stop a snort of laughter at that. If the other Pokémon wasn't careful, Viridios would try to cripple it. Sil was staying close by, never letting his boy get further than an arm's length away from him. While the Gabite would have enjoyed socializing, his instincts were still screaming at him that another Pokémon had almost hurt his trainer, and he wasn't okay with that. Until he got a chance to look his boy over, he wouldn't let anything get close enough to hurt him.

Of course, Oceanius was still hiding away from the others, ehem, denying them of the pleasure of his presence. He didn't hide. Nope, not him. He just didn't see the point in even pretending that he wanted to be around the others. That was what he was going with, and he dared any of the others to say that he wasn't telling the truth.

Ash was tempted, as always, to just have Oceanius alone for a while, just to see if his friend would lighten up again. He was the most regal, for now, and he knew it. Not that Ash was surprised in the slightest. Still, soon enough, he would have just the two of them relaxing somewhere together.

The dark-haired boy jumped as something touched his side, turning his attention back to the green haired boy whose eyes were lit up in silent laugher.

"You haven't been a trainer very long, have you?" Wally asked teasingly.

He just shrugged. "About a month and three weeks."

The green haired trainer seemed to freeze at that. "You've done all of this in less than two months?"

It wasn't as much as the other Pallet Town Trainers had done, and it wasn't that impressive to him, but he had managed to find and build his team. He had done a lot, and spent every single day working with his team towards their eventual goals. Still, he had done more than he thought. He had managed to evolve several of his Pokémon. He had helped some of them start to heal. He had Anubis back by his side.

He was still new to this kind of life, true, but he was happy, for the first time in a long time.

"I've been a trainer for over a year, and I've had Mordred for the better part of the last six months, and he just evolved. How did you already manage to-"

"I'm a specialist." Ash interrupted. "I've spent half my life now learning about dragons and dark types. Because I'm a specialist, I know how to help my dragons grow, what kinds of training works best, and how to encourage them towards their evolutions."

It was impressive, though, that Wally had only been a trainer for a year, yet he had a powerful team at his disposal. Both the Talonflame and the Gallade would have been practically impossible for him to beat at the level he was at.

The other thing that Wally hadn't considered is who's apprentice he was. As one of the Pallet Town Trainers, even without a typical Kanto Titan by his side, he was expected to go far. The trainers who didn't have a professor keeping an eye on them usually didn't even make it to the conference. He was trained by Professor Oak, and that meant he had a lot of pressure on his shoulders to make it to the tournament, just like Blake, Lillian- Rose, Vesper, and Gary probably all would.

It had been almost eight years since one of Professor Oak's Prodigy's didn't make it at least that far, and that was because the trainer in question had decided that they wanted to master the contest world instead of the battling one. Still, they all had an image to keep up for the man who had given them their licenses. He wouldn't be a disappointment to one of the few people who believed in him.

Even at their weakest, the five of them had more powerful starters than most trainers. It wasn't just because they were the Kanto Titans, but because Professor Oak was extremely picky about pairing certain personalities together. Practically all the Charmander's at the Ranch were related to Professor Oak's own Charizard. All of the Squirtle were related to the same Blastoise, one that supposedly could beat the Elite Four practically alone. Even the Bulbasaur were super powerful compared to the Pokémon found in the wilds. The five of them had no reason not to succeed.

He spared a few seconds to wonder where the other Pallet Town Trainers were, and how far ahead they had pulled while he was enjoying his time, relaxing, and training. If he was right, they had at least three or four badges by now, and their starters were all in their final stages. Probably. Well, besides Blake, the only other one of them who didn't have a titan at his disposal. His Solosis had probably evolved once, maybe.

He hid a sigh and stared into the darkness ahead of them. He hated being left behind.

"Where are you headed to next?" Wally asked randomly.

Ash glanced towards his starter. "Well, I was thinking about challenging Erica next, even though I'd probably have an easier time with Surge. I'm kind of curious to see how my team would do against her."

Wally hummed lowly, his eyes lighting up at that. "I'm headed towards Celadon myself. I've already got Surges Badge. I came up this way for some practice before I headed back towards Pokémon Tech. Do you maybe want to…?"

He blinked. Camping with another trainer was one thing, but traveling?

Before he could say anything, Wally turned back to him, eyes wide in a pout that no one who had a Pokémon, let alone a team, should use. "Please? You can help me with Mordred, and I'll let your team beat him up a few times. I haven't had a companion since I left Hoenn, and I'd rather have some sort of back up if I got into some sort of problem. Please? Pretty please?"

It was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Still, he could see just how lonely the other boy had to be to offer to share a camp with a total stranger. Ash let out a sigh of resignation. He knew that there was no way to get rid of the other boy, especially because they were going in the same direction.

Anubis let out a grumbling roar, practically daring his trainer to accept the offer. Especially because they both knew that Ash would get tired of the company after a few hours. The dark haired trainer could see Anubis' dark eyes lit up in a dare, one he was certain his boy wouldn't take.

Maybe it was just exhaustion, maybe it was because of the challenge. Whatever the cause, Ash agreed to travel together, for now, with Wally.