Village of Dragons

It was the sound of movement that alerted me back to my senses. I was lying on something soft, in a cabin of sorts as evident by the sounds of boots that lightly treaded a wooden floor. The backs of my eyelids were burning, so to will myself to open my eyes was nothing short of agonising. Instead I heaved a light moan and rolled my head on a pillow that somehow smelled familiar.

A shadow came over my face and I felt the light touch of fingertips on my forehead. "How are you feeling?"

I didn't need to open my eyes to see who it was. His darkness that blocked my psy-senses was evidence enough.

"Like I've just had a run-in with a faint attack… or two," I murmured.

I heard his light chuckle as I finally mustered the strength to open my eyes. Sunshine bore down on me in this tiny room, reflecting off his red hair and setting it ablaze.

For a moment I squinted until he leaned in and kissed me gently on the lips. "I've missed you."

Despite the headache that pounded between my temples, I smiled, enjoying the moment of closeness before another thought came to mind. "Where am I?"

Lance placed himself down on the bed beside me as I pulled myself into a sitting position. There was a bandage wrapped around my arm where the Liepard had slashed me, and I was lacking my clothes.

"And where are my clothes?"

"We're currently residing in the Village of Dragons, and your clothes were taken away to be washed and repaired. However," he signalled me to a chair across the room where there was draped across it a Dragon Clan styled tunic. "We have alternatives for you."

"Village of the Dragons?" I questioned as I hesitantly staggered from my bed and started to dress, only just realising how hungry I was. What time was it?

"It's a village located not far from where they found you."

I stopped at that. "They? But I thought I saw Dragonite?"

Lance nodded. "You did. Your little run-in with Team Plasma attracted the attention of Alder; Unova's regional Champion. Dragonite was with him at the time. She was the one who recognised you."

I was still confused and the look on my face made it evident. Lance merely smirked at me, as though to secretly make fun of my ignorance with regards to the business of Champions.

"When a Champion travels, it's generally custom to introduce himself to the regional Champion." He pulled himself to his feet. "Now come on, your saviour is keen for an introduction."

Dressed and somewhat decent, I followed the Dragon Master from the tiny, wood cabin and into a village that found itself surrounded by the greenest mountains I had ever seen. The air here was crisp and clean and like Blackthorn and Silver Village, I could tell we were high up, possibly in a valley in the mountains. The late-afternoon sun was beginning its descent and everywhere I looked I saw the brilliant colours of flowers in bloom and trees bearing various fruits. And there were Dragons; Unova natives predominantly, but they wandered the village freely and interacted happily with their Human companions.

Keeping pace with Lance, I followed him in silence until we reached a larger building that more than likely housed the village's Elders. In front of it were two mighty, Dragon-like statues, one black and one white. Dragons that I could only assume to be Legendary in nature. There was a middle-aged man standing there, watching these statues. Thick red and orange dreadlocks were pulled back into a ponytail and he wore what looked to be a poncho with Pokéballs hanging from his neck.

"Kair, this is Alder, he is the regional Champion of Unova," Lance dispensed with the introductions.

The man named Alder smiled at me with gentle eyes and extended a hand to shake. "Ah, it's good to see you're up and about, young lady. We had a bit of a scare with our run-in with those bullies."

I smiled in return, stealing a glance with Lance before accepting his hand. "Thank you," I replied.

There was something about him – compassion but also a sadness that seemed to emanate from him even as we stood there. I sensed that he was troubled greatly and had been so for some time now.

"If you don't mind my asking, what where you were doing in the forest on your own?" he asked me.

"I was... looking for someone," I replied carefully and Alder nodded, understanding that this was all he would get from me.

"I've heard rumours of this Team Plasma; which seems to have sprung up out of nowhere. Unova has had no reports of large gangs like this in many years. I have to admit, I am worried as to what they're up to."

"Their hideout is next to impossible to find," confirmed Lance. "Even in their own ranks." He looked deflated which made it evident that he'd failed in his attempts at penetrating them.

For a moment, silence seemed to linger between us until a loud call from one of the village's inhabitants grabbed our attention. The woman was beckoning us to follow her. "We've prepared a banquet for our special guests," she beamed with great pride. "Now come, before it all disappears!"

'Banquet' was surely an understatement. There was enough food there to feed Giovanni's entire Team Rocket army. Behind brilliantly coloured hanging curtains, the banquet room was equipped with one great big table which we all sat around and shared stories of Dragons and legends. The young ones were especially captivated by Alder – their regional hero, and Lance – an esteemed Dragon Master. Older ones and young families seemed to make up most of the village. This was probably only one Dragon Clan settlement in several that lay spread out across the mountains of Unova.

We ate our fill of several fruits and roasted nuts all harvested from the land, and drank water so sweet it was like drinking heaven itself. Then after much begging from the younger ones, Lance and Alder decided to entertain the village with a Pokémon battle Champion style.

Even though I'd seen Lance fight on several occasions, I would be lying if I said the idea of watching two Champions battle it out didn't excite me at least a little. The Champions just smiled at each other knowingly and signalled for the kids to lead the way.

They brought us to a clearing just outside the village by a quiet lake. By now the sun had disappeared and made way for an immaculate moonrise. Torches were lit and placed on poles that lined the edges of the battle field, and we all took up residency on a grassy hill to watch.

Alder and Lance stepped up to their sides of the field and as tradition dictated they both bowed and wished each other a good battle. For the sake of the younger ones and the fact that it was already getting late, this was to be a two-on-two battle. But to make things interesting, they both decided to make it a double battle.

Lance was quick to release Dragonite and, much to my pleasure and surprise, my Charizard with which he'd decided to bring with him to Unova. Alder on the other hand, and in keeping with the Village theme decided to release a Dragon type called a 'Druddigon', and then something a bit more chilling; namely a giant ice cream sundae called a Vanilluxe. There was a simultaneous shiver that seemed to go down the spines of everyone watching. This was going to be an interesting battle.

Because Lance was the visiting Champion, Alder allowed him to make the first move, which sent him straight into the offensive. Ordering Charizard up into the sky, the fire lizard prepared for an areal attack while Dragonite sized up her opposition.

Druddigon started out with a Dragon Claw aimed at Dragonite but she was quick on her feet and managed to evade most of it; the Druddigon's claw only nicking her in the shoulder. Charizard responded with a swooping fly attack that sent Druddigon tumbling backwards into the grass.

Vanilluxe and its Icy Wind was next which it used on Charizard in order to slow him down. But for the moment, Lance seemed to be concentrated on taking out just the one Pokémon; namely the Druddigon. He ordered Dragonite to use a Thunderwave on it which it copped full force and partially paralysed one of its wings. Druddigon replied with a Dragon Rage on Charizard. The force of the wave knocked Charizard out of the sky and winded him when he hit the ground. He was ordered into a Flamethrower on Vanilluxe but it wasn't as powerful as it could have been and he quickly ran out of breath.

Needless to say however, Vanilluxe didn't seem to appreciate Lance's sudden change of tactics and it especially didn't like the fire lizard's sneaky attack. It responded with a Mist, blowing a light hazy cloud out of its head that covered it's half of the battle arena.

This time it was Dragonite's turn to take to the sky, using a sharp Wing Attack on Druddigon that sliced right through it. "Hurrrrh!" it howled its disapproval, though still nothing could stop it from forming a full blown Rock Climb that ploughed hard into the gut of my Charizard. Without so much as a wheeze, Charizard hit the ground several feet back, tumbling head over heels before he finally fainted and left Lance with only one Pokémon.

The crowds roared and cheered, every eye glued on the battle. Dragonite was sent right into the defensive against two of Alder's best Pokémon; both of which were her weakness. A Blizzard compliments of Vanilluxe formed and blew through Dragonite, freezing her wings on the spot and instantly preventing her from utilising any further flying attacks. I hadn't realised it at the time but Dragon types were all cold blooded, so without warmth in their blood, they were as good as useless. It was also for this reason that Charizards (even though they possessed Dragon characteristics) were not considered Dragons due to their warm blooded nature.

But while Dragonite was grounded, she wasn't down for the count just yet. Instead she summoned her most powerful attack - an attack known by only the highest trained Dragons - a Draco Meteor. There was nowhere they could hide. Instead, Druddigon and Vanilluxe had to cop the full force of giant, flaming rocks that tore from the sky and shredded everything in their path.

A roar of applause erupted through the audience, and as the smoke cleared we got to see that of Alder's two Pokémon only one was left standing.

Vanilluxe summoned an Icy Wind that blew through the arena, dousing any flaming meteors that now lay imbedded in small craters in the ground. Lance used this brief distraction to send an almighty Hyperbeam at the Vanilluxe which it took full force and hit the ground with a loud squeal.

But it fought back, drawing in the energy it had taken in the Hyperbeam to put toward a Mirror Shot, aimed at impeding Dragonite's accuracy. But in the blink of an eye Dragonite responded with a Protect.

"Dragonite, Fire Punch!"

Alder could only smirk at Lance's quick thinking, though he wasn't going to be counted out just yet. In a shocking move and just moments before the fire punch hit, he ordered his Vanilluxe into an Acid Armour so that it liquefied and took minimal damage from Dragonite's attack.

"Hyperbeam!" Lance's retaliation sounded aloud across the field and the brilliant bolt of light started to form in Dragonite's mouth.

"Ice Beam!"

The two, brilliant beams struck mid field exploding on each other and sending sharp, icy shards all over the two Pokémon and their masters. Another Fire Punch compliments of Dragonite directly hit Vanilluxe and sent it into the air. Her blood pumping and warmed up from the exercise, Dragonite soon found her wings in working order again and took to the sky, throwing down on the Vanilluxe a Twister attack just as it conjured another Blizzard.

Blizzard hit Twister and the two joined to form one mighty snow storm that rained down on both Vanilluxe and Dragonite. Snow and Ice sprayed across the field and into the audience and we found ourselves having to cover our faces from the force of such a cold front. It took agonising moments for the storm to clear only for us to find the entire battle arena covered in a thick blanket of snow and ice. Dragonite let out a loud snort from her nostrils, her breath forming light billows of steam from her mouth. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she hit the ground, leaving Vanilluxe the last Pokémon left standing.

All at once the entire village erupted into a roar of cheering and applause. Their excitement beyond all reasoning at what they'd just witnessed. The Unova Champion could keep his title.

The two Champions recalled their Pokémon before meeting in the middle of the field and shaking hands. I got to my feet and bolted for the duo, tackling Lance into a playful hug and laughing at him evilly, "I can't believe it! The Kanto/Johto Champion's best Dragonite just lost to an ice cream sundae!"

Alder could only laugh, "That was probably one of the most enjoyable battles I've had in a long time."

"Likewise," Lance said in reply, before giving me a brief nudge in the side. "Unlike some people, I'm not used to this thing called losing."

"You put a lot of heart into your battles, Lance. It's good to see. You take your job very seriously."

Lance had to nod at this, knowing this fact all too well.

Alder continued with a gentle smile, "Perhaps a little too serious. Sometimes you just need to take the time to lighten up and enjoy your Pokémon as true friends as well as battling companions." He took both of us into his gaze, his expression full of meaning and compassion, "After all, you only have each other for a short time."